Two trade unions have filed an application in federal court to force the federal government to reverse its decision to grant some 200 work permits to temporary foreign workers from China that a Canadian company wants to hire to run a new mine in British Columbia. The International Union of Operating Engineers and the Construction and Specialized Workers Union, which together […]
Read moreCitizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced today that it will keep immigration levels at 240,000-265,000 in 2013, for the seventh straight year. The maintenance of immigration numbers from previous years amidst a growing Canadian population means Canada will have a lower immigration rate as a percentage of its population, and rebuff calls by several prominent organizations to increase immigration levels […]
Read moreA 13-member expert roundtable, appointed seven months ago by the government of Ontario to advise the province on the development of a provincial immigration strategy, submitted its report yesterday, and it includes 32 recommendations for the province. The key recommendations of the report are: Aiming to increase the proportion of economic class immigrants, meaning those who immigrate through skilled worker […]
Read moreCitizenship and Immigration Canada (CEC) announced on Friday that the 20,000th permanent resident under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program has recently been admitted. The announcement signals CIC’s intent to make the CEC a bigger part of Canadian immigration, in an effort to improve the long-term labour market integration of the typical Canadian immigrant. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was joined […]
Read moreA new shale oil prospect in the Northwest Territories potentially rivals the Bakken formation under Saskatchewan, Montana and North Dakota in its recoverable oil resources. The Canol shale formation could contain two to three billion barrels of recoverable oil according to David Ramsey, Minister of Industry and Transportation for the Northwest Territories. If the estimates are proven accurate, it would […]
Read moreCitizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the provincial government of Alberta jointly announced this week that the Alberta temporary worker pilot program will be expanded to include more occupations. The pilot project began in June 2011 and issues special work permits to foreign nationals who meet the program’s requirements, including being qualified in an eligible occupation, which allows them to […]
Read moreUnder current rules, a temporary foreign worker must have worked full-time for 24 of the last 36 months to qualify for permanent residence under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program. Under proposed changes, the required months of full time work would be reduced to 12. Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, speaking about the proposed change, said that “thousands of […]
Read moreAn article published on Sunday in the Globe and Mail, Canada’s largest national newspaper, argues that Canada needs millions more immigrants, and that the federal government should go even further in the changes it is making to the country’s immigration program and increase the number admitted into Canada each year. The piece, by Joe Friesen, summarizes the argument for immigration as: Between now […]
Read moreIn a visit to the Alberta manufacturing facility of Advance Engineered Products on Wednesday, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley announced the federal government’s update to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program that speeds up the process of acquiring work permits. Before a foreign worker can receive a work permit in Canada, their Canadian employer/sponsor must get a Labor Market Opinion from Human Resources and Skills […]
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