Canada hopes to encourage more tech workers to visit and work in the country. But in its effort to do so, critics of the plan have concerns that the rights of other migrant workers will get lost in the process.
In an announcement last week, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said the federal government is exploring a list of potential policies to encourage high-earning tech workers to tour the country and boost its tech sector, such as a renewed digital nomad scheme and dedicated open work permits.
While the initiative could help to bring in thousands of new workers to fill labour shortages and spur innovation, experts say the government risks perpetuating an inequitable immigration system that gives more mobility and freedom to some workers over others.
“If it’s possible to create open work authorization for the tech industry to allow flexibility for labour mobility … that same [principle] must be extended to all migrants,” said Syed Hussan, executive director of advocacy group Migrant Workers Alliance for Change who’s based in Toronto.
“Why is it that certain groups of people have more rights … and others don’t?”
Hussan and others who work in the field say open work permits and flexible work schemes given to tech workers should be made more available to all types of migrant workers — particularly those in industries experiencing their own shortages, such as agriculture, personal care and health care.
People in these industries — many from countries in the developing world who earn low wages — are typically given restricted visas that limit their stay in Canada based on their work with an employer, make it difficult to qualify for health-care coverage and restrict their ability to speak out against labour abuse over fear of losing their permits, he said.
Syed Hussan, executive director of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, says open work permits and flexible work schemes given to tech workers should be made more available to all types of migrant workers — particularly those in agriculture, personal care and health care. (CBC)
“Canada needs to have the ability for workers in any different wage category to be able to come here with the same rights — and that’s the fundamental issue,” Hussan said.
According to Statistics Canada’s latest data, the industries grappling with the highest job vacancy rates include agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting; health care and social assistance; and accommodation and food services. Ottawa recently launched a separate temporary foreign worker program targeting immigrants working in these industries, among others.
Divide between richer and poorer workers
Canada started prioritizing more highly skilled tech workers sometime in the 1990s due to the internet boom, said Valerie Ann Preston, a professor in the faculty of environmental and urban change at York University in Toronto.
She said this marked the start of extended perks given to highly skilled workers on temporary permits, such as not being tied to single employers, allowing their spouses to work upon immigrating to Canada and providing easier access to permanent residency.
Highly skilled workers on temporary permits in Canada have been given extended perks, such as not being tied to single employers, allowing their spouses to work upon immigrating to Canada and providing easier access to permanent residency. (Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock)
“What’s interesting to me is that we maintained the privileged position of high-tech workers,” Preston said.
Many of these tech workers disproportionately come from richer, more developed regions of the world, Preston said. They include North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. Meanwhile, other migrant workers often given more limited working visas disproportionately come from Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and parts of Asia.
They’re often highly skilled in industries from their home country but have a hard time transferring those skills to the Canadian market, which can be due to limitations in their work permits, so they end up making a “trade-off” by working in in-demand industries, Preston said.
“They may come with lots of skills and lots of experience, but they’re going into jobs that don’t offer pathways for career advancement … they’re going into jobs that are not well paid.”
How to correct the ‘2-tier’ system
John Shields, a professor in politics and public administration at Toronto Metropolitan University, said the government’s move toward enticing tech workers fits with its broader plan of using immigration as a way to address labour shortages — spurred by an aging population and a skills gap across the board.
But Canada risks encoding inequity into immigration law if it continues to give more leeway to those at the “so-called top” of the labour market without adjusting its acceptance criteria for those in different but equally important industries, he said.
Foreign workers trained for in-demand jobs like nursing are working in N.L. fish plants
3 months ago
Duration 2:19
Some temporary foreign workers arriving in Newfoundland to work in fish plants are certified nurses and early childhood educators — which the province desperately needs more of. Memorial University economics professor Tony Fang talks about skill mismatch.
“There is a bit of a two-tier system here where for those lower-skilled jobs, you see a lot of the emphasis on the immigration program on temporary migration, where people actually have a hard time being able to qualify for permanence,” Shields said.
“And yet … those areas are often in very high demand, and they’re not things that Canadian-born workers or immigrants who’ve been here for a longer period of time want to do.”
When asked if the government would consider expanding open permits to other migrant workers, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said while employer-specific work permits “protect” the Canadian labour market, it understands “the need for flexibility in this space.”
“Which is why since 2019, we have allowed foreign nationals with an employer-specific work permit to apply for an open work permit if they are facing abuse or are at risk of abuse in their workplace,” spokesperson Sofica Lukianenko said in an email statement, adding that people can also apply for new work permits and change employers quickly if they have another job offer.
But for Hussan, the government needs to shift toward an immigration system that gives all workers permanent residency upon arrival, forgoing a multiple-tiered system altogether. For Shields, increasing pathways to permanent residency for all workers is a start.
“We need to fill those gaps all through the labour market, and that includes in some of these other areas which actually should be also better recognized and more highly paid, too,” Shields said.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves for his first shutout of the season and 32nd overall, helping the Los Angeles Kings beat the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Monday night.
Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist and Anze Kopitar and Kevin Fiala also scored. The Kings have won two of their last three.
Juuse Saros made 24 saves for the Predators. They are 1-2-1 in their last four.
Kopitar opened the scoring with 6:36 remaining in the opening period. Saros denied the Kings captain’s first shot, but Kopitar collected the rebound below the goal line and banked it off the netminder’s skate.
Fiala, a former Predator, made it 2-0 35 seconds into the third.
The Kings held Nashville to just three third-period shots on goal, the first coming with 3:55 remaining and Saros pulled for an extra attacker.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:
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DEVILS 3 OILERS 0
EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his NHL career, helping the New Jersey Devils close their western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored. The Devils improved to 8-5-2. They have won three of their last four after a four-game skid.
Calvin Pickard made 13 saves for Edmonton. The Oilers had won two straight.
