chrissyb

Brit who helped Canadian girlfriend with DIY ruled to be doing local out of a job | Daily Mail Online

Former Lancastrian

Its a Daily Mail article so there is another side of the story.
The business about having only 8 days to leave the country is somewhat concerning unless he was issued a Departure Order at the POE and gave him several days grace to collect his belongings rather than sending him back immediately.
Be aware that flag poling for other reasons than landing can not always work out as seems to be evidenced by this.
Now without knowing all of the details its possible CBSA were somewhat heavy handed as they could have used this

What kind of activities are not considered to be "work"?
An activity which does not really 'take away' from opportunities for Canadians or permanent residents to gain employment or experience in the workplace is not "work" for the purposes of the definition.
Examples of activities for which a person would not normally be remunerated or which would not compete directly with Canadian citizens or Permanent Residents in the Canadian labour market and which would normally be part-time or incidental to the reason that the person is in Canada include, but are not limited to:

volunteer work for which a person would not normally be remunerated, such as sitting on the board of a charity or religious institution; being a 'big brother' or 'big sister' to a child; being on the telephone line at a rape crisis centre. (Normally this activity would be part time and incidental to the main reason that a person is in Canada);
unremunerated help by a friend or family member during a visit, such as a mother assisting a daughter with childcare, or an uncle helping his nephew build his own cottage;

Now if he had been doing it for others I agree with CBSAs actions but one case in helping out his girlfriend well Im not in total agreement with their actions.
There might be a lot more to this story hence my opinion based only on the article itself.

colchar

Funny how the Daily Fail is the only newspaper reporting this.

BristolUK

That's interesting. I remember one of those border shows where the guy was visiting his Canadian girlfriend and he was going to help with something - in the basement or garage was it? He was told it was a definite "no" I believe.

Former Lancastrian

Because that is an interpretation made by the officer and how CIC describe this has an abundant GREY area. Perhaps the emphasis is on girlfriend and not family member though it does mention friend.
Anyway it wasn't me who made that decision

Pollyana

Be interesting to see how he proposes to sponsor her (and the two dogs) to join him with him having no job...... but then why should the Daily Fail et facts get in the way

BristolUK

On the other hand since it says friend or family member, he's arguably both.

One might think it was the 'size' of the job but since the example includes building a cottage that would seem to cover a fair bit.

R I C H

FL - how would you judge this scenario?: If an individual came over to visit and helped refit a basement as a help/favour to a friend or family member, and it could be shown that the homeowner didn't have the financial means to employ anyone, would it be a reasonable to expect a ruling from immigration that no work was being taken away from Canadian tradespeople? Does immigration differentiate between employment and an unpaid favour/kindness?

SchnookoLoly

I think this sort of thing has also come up when parents or parents-in-law come to visit from overseas for longer periods when there's an infant or toddler in the picture... how often is it construed as "child care" that you might otherwise pay for?

JamesM

Kick him out.

Last thing we need in Canada is another god damn hipster!

MikeUK

We looked into this just out of curiosity, we were told 'yes' if your relative is a 'trade' and came over to help and do a job as a favour its still work and still needs a visa
just because no payment is made financially doesn't stop it being work a Canadian could have done

Some of it factors in the type of work undertaken....

Tree houses seemed to be Ok.... basements not so much

Oink

Make them keep him, the last thing we need is another naffing hipster with a twaty beard back in the UK.

Former Lancastrian

Its how the individual examining officer interprets the CIC guidelines which of course is no help at times

The 1st step is to define work as per CIC
Definition of "Work" [R2]
"Work" is defined in the Regulations as an activity for which wages are paid or commission is earned, or that competes directly with activities of Canadian citizens or permanent residents in the Canadian labour market.

So just looking at that it could be argued that anything done work wise competes directly even if paid or unpaid.

2nd step is what is competes directly?

CIC say this
What is an activity that "competes directly"?
Officers should consider whether there is entry into the labour market. Questions to consider:

Will they be doing an activity that a Canadian or permanent resident should really have an opportunity to do?
Will they be engaging in a business activity that is competitive in the marketplace?
If the answer to either of these questions is 'yes', the foreign national intends to engage in a competitive activity, which would be considered "work".

So again we can argue that babysitting fits the above.

CIC then go onto state in their guidelines the following

What kind of activities are not considered to be "work"?
An activity which does not really 'take away' from opportunities for Canadians or permanent residents to gain employment or experience in the workplace is not "work" for the purposes of the definition.
Examples of activities for which a person would not normally be remunerated or which would not compete directly with Canadian citizens or Permanent Residents in the Canadian labour market and which would normally be part-time or incidental to the reason that the person is in Canada include, but are not limited to:

volunteer work for which a person would not normally be remunerated, such as sitting on the board of a charity or religious institution; being a 'big brother' or 'big sister' to a child; being on the telephone line at a rape crisis centre. (Normally this activity would be part time and incidental to the main reason that a person is in Canada);
unremunerated help by a friend or family member during a visit, such as a mother assisting a daughter with childcare, or an uncle helping his nephew build his own cottage;
long distance (by telephone or internet) work done by a temporary resident whose employer is outside Canada and who is remunerated from outside Canada;
self-employment where the work to be done would have no real impact on the labour market, nor really provide an opportunity for Canadians. Examples include a U.S. farmer crossing the border to work on fields that he owns, or a miner coming to work on his own claim.
There may be other types of unpaid short-term work where the work is really incidental to the main reason that a person is visiting Canada and is not a competitive activity, even though non-monetary valuable consideration is received. For instance, if a tourist wishes to stay on a family farm and work part time just for room and board for a short period (i.e., one to four weeks), this person would not be considered a worker. Work on a farm that is expected to extend beyond four weeks would require a work permit.

See also: Assessing Farm Work

We recognize that there may be overlap in activities that we do not consider to be work and those activities which are defined as work not requiring a work permit in R186. However, the net effect (no work permit required) is the same.

So as you can see its a very GREY area and how loosely worded it is. The actual IRPA regulations 186 and 187 further set out who do not require work permits.
So how do you determine what is considered not to be work when dealing with relatives and close friends who are helping out, doing a favour or whatever as opposed to trading off services which we see being done all over and referred to as the underground economy. If I had a relative who was skilled in a certain trade and was coming here on vacation and offered to help out then I would be pissed off if they refused entry.
Now then if I paid for his flight over and fed him etc etc and got hime here just to do the job then I might consider that as somewhat skirting with the law.
So really its left to the examining officer and what is presented to them as a story that determines the outcome.

Jericho79

Does the CIC handbook have a definition of the term "jobsworth"?

Former Lancastrian

No but the National Occupational Classification known as the NOC might but thats an ESDC publication