neilcumming

Permits expire today for 1000s of foreign workers and on 1st April ,what a joke.
I dont think Canada is sending out the right signals here for future immigrants or temp. workers.I know they are wanting to put Canadians 1st but maybe they should have thought of that 1st before bringing all theses people into the country.

ExKiwilass

the program had to end, it was being abused. I do feel for those who are caught out by this though.

ExKiwilass

maybe they should have offered them amnesty.

neilcumming

Apparently the biggest offender was McDonald and RBC was abusing the program but seems to me everybody has been tarred by the same brush.I feel for these people too who just want to work and have a better life.Whats happens to those people who maybe dont have the money to get back home?

MarkG

I had friends who left the company I worked for in the UK to work in America on temporary work permits. They got laid off, and had to leave within a few days. That's what the 'temporary' part means, and they knew that when they went. They just hoped it wouldn't happen before they got a green card, and some of them got another job from the UK and flew back out after a few weeks.

Sucks for the people involved, but 'temporary' is meant to be temporary.

scilly

there was a lot of abuse, and companies really were not honoring the law ................ they were just intent on getting cheap labour. That's shown by the apparent believable evidence that they were laying off Canadians, getting in temporary workers and paying them much less than the Canadian workers had been getting.

It's too bad that the foreigners got caught in the mess ............. but, IMHO, they were being taken advantage of by big businesses.


It is noticeable that the jobs in sectors which really are not taken by Canadians have not been affected by this ruling ..............


ie, the temporary agriculture workers will still be allowed in, and in-home carers are not expected to be much affected.

SchnookoLoly

This happened to my flatmate a few years ago. He was working for the same company as me, and then got laid off. As per the terms of his visa, he had 30 days to either secure a new visa, change to visitor status (subject to approval), or leave the UK. He got really lucky in that he qualified for the skilled worker visa at that point since he'd been employed long enough, so that saved him, but still -- I agree, "temporary" means "temporary". And as has been pointed out, the program was being severely abused.

ExKiwilass

In my previous job in fast-food company headquarters, there was an HR person whose sole job was bringing Filippinos in on TWPs for all the restaurants. She used to hog the scanner scanning all their passports. IT was definitely being abused.

Stupid program in the first place imo.

Zoe Bell

I can't help but feel that the IEC will be the next one under the magnifying glass, it was meant to be a visa akin to the Aussie WHV, now it seems it is mainly used as a way to get a foothold into the PR application system.

Before the hordes try to strike me down , I'm not judging per se , just pointing out that the visa is no longer used for its original intent.

ExKiwilass

I agree Zoe. You can tell that just by reading the IEC threads.

chrisro55

Fully understand and sympathize with those involved, but lets not forget they entered Canada as "Temporary Foreign Workers"....the clue is in the name.

Obviously in reality many extended Temporary 2 year permits more than once, and have grown "roots" in Canada; however the deal was "Temporary" and many, if not all have had adaquate time to pursue routes to PR, or to "upskill" into NOC O,A, or B roles which open up other routes to PR.

Fundamentally Canadians with adequate skills must be prioritized (and I say that as a British expat currently on an open work permit) if there is a true shortage of skills or labour availability, then processes are in place to deal with that.

Piff Poff

The clue is in the name TEMPORARY, as has been said many of these temporary foreign workers have extended their work permits, but until they take the steps to make that temporary permit into a permanent status then they have to be aware that at some point they have to return to their country of origin (or elsewhere if they desire).

We arrived on a TWP whilst our PR application was in process and until we were granted our PR we understood that at some point we may have to leave Canada if PR Status was not granted.

neilcumming

This what Farahnaz Bandali, a senior policy analyst with the Canada West Foundation says on CBC website. Bandali says that workers might have been temporary, but the jobs are permanent, and that the program created to fill temporary jobs has changed over the years.

"In some ways it's our own fault; these people were going to come in and fill temporary jobs and now they're filling permanent jobs, which is where the disconnect is happening."
And from a union guy same article,
Even though McGowan of the Alberta Federation of Labour thinks the program needs to be killed, he has sympathy for the workers still here in Canada.

"They didn't do anything wrong; they never deserved the treatment they got," says McGowan. "I've sent a letter to Jason Kenney asking that the temporary foreign workers currently in the country be grandfathered and be allowed permanent residency and eventual citizenship.

"They didn't do anything wrong, they were used as pawns by a broken program to drive down wages."
I totally agree,they didnt do anything wrong ,they didnt abuse the system the big corporations did.Alot of these people send money to families abroad in their home countries,these people will be affected also.

beckiwoo

Some of us do want to try for a new life out here like most people on this forum

scilly

so ................

does the Canadian government have any right to govern who enters the country, and how they enter?


It almost sounds as if some of you do not believe that.

If that is the case .............. then we could end up in a similar situation to the UK who do not seem able to govern who enters the country from Europe.




sympathy for the workers ................ yes

Grandfathering .............. I don't think.


If they kept renewing their TEMPORARY visas, they still knew they could have to leave at some point. So they should have been making attempts to change to permanent status