Case Study : Sergio Gonzalez

In this documentary about Mexican’s workers experience in Ontario, Canada, Min Sook Lee addresses the issue of the Foreign Temporary Worker program. Specifically, El Contrado demonstrates how Mexicans come to Canada in order to work during several months under bad working conditions. Those workers have to leave their family constantly in order to help them financially. They work 8 months a year, which means that they are home in Mexico only for 4 months (El Contrado). Maximo left his family behind; unfortunately, he cannot even for four months in order to see his son as he is illegal in Canada. As those Mexican workers, Maximo experienced bad working conditions. Here he briefly talks about working conditions and explains how he wanted to get

Since the conservation government was completely defeated by liberty party, the disputed program, Temporary Foreign Workers program(TFWP), will continue to implement or not in which liberty government may top agenda. TFWP, the law has been started by conservative government on restrictive visas and do not have the rights to permanent residents from the fall of 2011 to now. Their purpose to the country and employment are trying to not taking jobs and opportunities away from Canadians.

In this Academic article written by Sandra Elgersma, she explains employers need to go through a whole process to hire a migrant worker. Migrant workers are hired for a specific job, location and employer. Employers need to obtain an LMIA which is a confirmation letter from a department in the federal government in Canada. Before they do, they need to show how many Canadian employers applied to the certain job, how many had interviews they’re had and why the Canadian worker wasn’t hired. As of June, 20th 2014 the cost of making a request to receive an LMIA moved from 275$ to 1000$ for each request made. (Elgersma, 2014) These changes happened because so many Canadian employers wanted migrant workers to come work for their business since they can pay them at a lower rate for extreme work because they don’t have a union or the same working rights as us Canadians do. Another reason that the prices went up for employers was to reduce having so many migrant workers found inside of a work place because the employer had to pay a lot more just for a request. Now since the new change has been brought into place there has been a cap on low-waged temporary workers, since this change there has been about 10% of low-waged workers found in each work place. (Elgersma, 2014)

In this person’s article, he/she discusses some of the hardships which many immigrants, may face in Canada. This person talks about how they at first had utopic dreams about Canada: that Canada did not have any “human weaknesses” and that they would find a job and be happy, free from racial discrimination. However, in the viewpoint of the author, this is far from the reality. The author warns about the difficulties of finding a job in Canada: difficulty in communication between the immigrant and the job supplier, lack of trust with the immigrants history in their home country, the fact that many of the jobs are not advertised in places where people can access them, and racism in choosing which person should get the job. Because of this sources personal experience, he/she warns others not to come to Canada. This is the reason that this source was created is to warn other people from facing the same dangers the author did in Canada. This author ends his/her article by saying that “work” is not something you can depend on to find in Canada. The main economic issue regarding immigration that this source addresses is that it is often very hard for newly landed immigrants to get jobs for many reasons. This is a very important problem as the main reason that the immigrants are let into Canada in the first place is to find a job and help Canada's economy.

Cundal and Seaman discuss the many ways in which the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) is abused and the effects of this misuse on the workers. Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) are working jobs that should be classified as long term positions, not short term. This incorrect classification affects a worker’s salary, healthcare plan, pension, vacation pay, and sick days. Cundal and Seaman also address the ways in which TFW are more susceptible to employer abuse than other workers. Temporary Foreign Workers must apply for a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) before switching employers, which can take up to five months; most workers cannot afford to live without a source of income for this length of time. This usually compels workers to keep serious issues private. Many workers are also uninformed about their basic rights, which often leaves them exposed to mistreatment or abuse by employers. Cundal, an immigration lawyer in Calgary and Seaman, a human rights and civil liberties researcher wrote an unbiased and fact based article using a wide variety of sources including articles, reports, and newsletters. Cundal and Seaman provided an extensive reference list in addition to footnotes to support their writing. The authors not only address the human rights issues faced by TFW’s, they also identify ways in which these issues can be resolved. Cundal and Seaman however, fail to provide information on how many TFW are affected by employer abuse and exploitation. This information is

Although the policies have since been abandoned, exploitation has not gone far. Judy Fudge (2011) gives an example of how the program takes away rights from workers in the fact that live-in caregivers are hired on contracts to one specific employer; this restricts them to working for one family, and if any problems arise it could take months before a solution is found and another contract is created. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives Canadian citizens the mobility rights to move and hold work wherever they please, but because migrant workers are not yet citizens, this does not apply. Prejudices can also be seen in the difference between the treatment of white domestic workers and those of colour. Sedef Arat Koc (1999) explains how white domestic workers are referred to as “nannies” and only expected to carry out caregiving jobs while receiving a normal pay wage and proper recognition for their work.

While Canada offers multiple programs for the purpose of aiding refugees and giving them a fresh start, a lot of employers complained about the shortage of labor. However, whether or not the reported labor shortage was factual or not can be disputed to this day. In fact, employer groups reported difficulties when it came to hiring worker that were suitable, while substantial wage increases, unemployed workers, and job vacancies with both refugees and immigrants were discrepancies that were scarcely documented. Despite this, Canada has been working to set up the Start Visa program, while suspending the Federal Entrepreneur and Immigrant Investor programs, for the purpose of attracting further innovation and investment into the country.

Throughout the last three decades, increasing numbers of Asians have migrated to Canada from all over the Asian continent. Currently, 44% of the Vancouver area population is of Asian descent (Statistics Canada, 2001). Immigrants commonly occupy skilled job positions that the host nation is unable to fill with its own citizens, and thus they offer many advantages to their receiving country. In a nation with a declining birthrate, such as Canada, their contribution can play a major role on multiple levels. The immigrants themselves often enjoy a greater earning potential than they did in their native country, which can be advantageous for those who wish to send money back home to support their families.

During 1967-1974, the Canadian government looked mainly for highly skilled immigrants. In 1966, the federal government tabled a white paper on immigration, recognizing immigration as a major contributor to the national goals of population and economic growth. To prevent high levels of “unskilled” immigrants to Canada, the paper recommended a preference for immigrants with skills that would be valuable in the Canadian labour force specifically. Canada has one of the world’s largest supplies of resources like lumber, oil, and metals. Due to this, Canada has a shortage in the number of labourers, which caused problems in the production businesses.

In Canada it is impossible to survive without working or having a way in which you are able to provide for yourself and your family. In today’s society everybody is in search of a job that requires minimal effort and includes outstanding benefits and pay. In this current economy it is very challenging since the hiring process is very selective and very prejudice. On top of that there are many additional things that do not allow us to achieve those preferred jobs or professions. Over the next 10 to 15 years, the most important demographic changes that will affect Canadian employers and workers are: an aging workforce, a better educated workforce, and immigration with greater workforce Diversity.

Employee skills and the ability of employers to attract and retain skilled workers will be a primary concern to Canada’s economy in the immediate future. A train overflowing with crisis is approaching, and we need to stop listening for it to come because it’s already bearing down on us. Labour and skill shortages in Canada can be attributed to: aging population, increased life expectancy, migration of highly skilled labour, and the disparity between the skills possessed by youth and the skills demanded by employers.

They are alienated as outsiders of Canadian citizenship because they are not a citizen or a member of the Canadian community, but they do not realize it is just an illusion that has been shown to them. This also means that these migrant workers are not part of the Canadian society and are excluded for any rights that a citizen of Canada would have. Gabriel and MacDonald (2014) acknowledges that Canada’s immigration view on migrant worker is referred to as precarious status, which means programs like SWAP use this status for many of the migrant farm workers because they cannot be a permanent resident, have the lack of rights and entitlements, and cannot bring any family to Canada. Due to globalization, there has been a citizenship gap that has been created which allows certain individuals to have the right to have claims, entitlement and status. This is not universal because again, migrant farm workers are alienated and excluded from this right. When looking at the struggles of migrant farm workers face for citizenship rights and human rights, there is correlation that these struggles are use against them to help Canada secure rights of agricultural

This article comprehensively analyzes how the Canadian government aimed to accomplish different policy objectives in order to make immigration processes simpler: “These programs generally increase the participation by the provincial governments and employers in the selection of immigrants; increase the use of temporary foreign workers, and give the federal government more authority to control the flow of immigrants of particular types.” . The Canadian government implements new programs in order to make the selection of immigrants much more efficient. The Canadian government states specifically how their future programs will increase the participation of various governments and employers in selecting immigrants. Secondly, the article describes how the difficulty of applying for immigration status has increased over the years due to Canada’s government regulations: There is a wide variety of criteria for the selection of economic immigrants. For example, the PN program has up to 60 streams in which an immigrant can apply, each with different criteria. There are many streams to which an immigrant can apply, meaning that these government agencies that aim to accept certain immigrants are all based on various criteria. They do not aim to accept all immigrants that apply for immigration, but

“An immigrant who can bring with him work for twelve people is to be welcomed with open arms even in a industrial colossus like the United States - welcomed anywhere it would seem but in Canada...Not only have the refugees brought work, but they have brought new customers”, (Document, 9).

Immigrants today now have the privilege of entering and residing in Canada but along with this privilege, there are also barriers that impede their integration and deprive them of equal opportunity in the society. The undervaluing of foreign education and credentials has emerged over the years as a huge obstacle faced by recent immigrants who seek employment in the areas that they have been trained, and worked in for decades in their respective home countries. For years, newcomers in Canada have been denied inclusion into the Canadian labour market simply because of policies that were