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instAfter months of waiting, a federal program is taking years to process applications from refugees who live abroad and have a job waiting for them in Canada.
As a result, some Canadian companies are unable to fill jobs, while qualified refugees are also in limbo and at risk of exploitation.detention, arrest or detention.
In 2018, the federal government launched the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot Program (EMPP) so that employers facing skills shortages can recruit internationally among refugee populations. If approved, the person receives permanent residency and can immigrate to Canada with their spouse and children.
Since its inception, more than 1,200 people have been approved through the program to enter Canada, according to the federal government.
Ottawa has touted the speed of the program as one of its strengths, with processing times of just six months.s in most cases.
But those wWait times have increased to 54 months.according to a ministerial transition folder prepared in May for Immigration Minister Lena Diab.
Ottawa is no longer keeping its promise to employers and refugees, said Dana Wagner, CEO of TalentLift Canada, a Toronto-based nonprofit that helps Canadian employers hire refugees internationally when they can’t find suitable workers locally.
“It’s extremely frustrating to know the value of this program, its potential and the success it has had,” Wagner said. “Canada no longer treats this group of applicants as the skilled workers they are.”
Production cuts, loss of income
As part of a survey, TalentLift heard from more than 20 companies looking to hire through the EMPP and found that long wait times are leading to production cuts, delays in expansion plans, canceled projects and lost revenue.
Meanwhile, some refugees face arrest, deportation, eviction or struggle to feed their families while they wait to be accepted. in canada through the EMPP, Wagner said.
“These are really extreme situations that develop when people have a job offer in Canada waiting for them, a workplace waiting for them, and their visa is now, in some cases, a year over the promised processing time,” he said.
“It just makes you shake your head and say, ‘What’s going on here?'”
Last week, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the government aims to bring immigration to “more sustainable levels.”
“I think Canadians understand that we have reached our capacity (or sometimes even exceeded it) to welcome. [newcomers]” he said during a press conference before the budget was presented.
“On the one hand [we’re] saying, ‘Yes, we are returning to sustainable levels.’ On the other hand, we’re really focusing on attracting the best and the brightest.”
Some of the qualified EMPP positions include nurses, healthcare personnelProfessionals, engineers, agricultural workers and construction tradesmen.
Employers must first post the job to find workers locally, says Peter Veress, president of Vermax Group, an immigration consulting firm.
“We recognize that average processing times for the EMPP have increased, which can be a challenge. Currently, 80 per cent of completed EMPP applications are processed in approximately 17 months,” Mary Rose Sabater, spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, said in an emailed statement.
Processing times are influenced by immigration objectives, the complexity of certain cases and how quickly applicants respond to requests for information, among other factors, he said.
“The Government of Canada understands the importance of this pilot for refugees and displaced people, and also for Canadian employers and communities.”
Changing attitudes towards immigration
Overall, Ottawa has lowered targets for permanent and temporary residents over the next three years.
An Environics Institute poll released last month found that 56 per cent of Canadians say Canada is admitting too many immigrants, a figure that has risen sharply over the past five years.
In recent years, the overall increase in population growth has strained the housing market, healthcare capacity, and other government services.
A new survey from the Environics Institute suggests that more than half of Canadians believe the country accepts too many immigrants. The CBC’s JP Tasker discusses these findings. Additionally, Power & Politics asks former federal immigration minister Jason Kenney why the decline is more significant among conservative voters.
