Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday (August 26) introduced that Canada is “decreasing the variety of low-wage, non permanent overseas employees” within the nation.
This choice displays a recent policy shift. Beforehand, the Canadian authorities had indicated that it plans to carry down the variety of such employees in Canada to five per cent of the inhabitants within the subsequent three years, as towards 6.2 per cent in 2023.
We’re decreasing the variety of low-wage, non permanent overseas employees in Canada.
The labour market has modified. Now could be the time for our companies to spend money on Canadian employees and youth.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 26, 2024
Who’s more likely to be impacted by this transfer? And what are its bigger implications?
Who’re these “non permanent employees” in Canada?
These embrace many alternative classes of people.
First are these on non permanent work visas. Such people come to Canada for a set interval, say two years, to work in jobs that usually pay between CAD 13-19 per hour (roughly Rs 800-1,200 per hour)..
Second are worldwide college students. After finishing their research, many college students stay in Canada on one to a few yr work visas, throughout which era they apply for Everlasting Residency (PR). College students additionally work (though there are restrictions concerning this) throughout their research.
Third are these with Partner Open Work Permits. Many worldwide college students carry their spouses to Canada, who work low-wage jobs beneath this allow.
Fourth embrace employees beneath Labour Market Impact Assessment or LMIA contracts. LMIA permits employers to rent overseas employees after they can not discover Canadians to fill openings.
Arrivals beneath particular humanitarian pathways akin to CUAET (Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Journey) and asylum-seekers, and individuals of reciprocal youth programmes which additionally permit Canadians to work in different nations are additionally thought of non permanent employees.
How will Canada’s coverage of “decreasing” such employees influence Indians?
This coverage shift may need a major influence on Indians, who, until final yr comprised round 40 per cent of Canada’s worldwide pupil inhabitants. This may particularly influence these from Punjab — greater than 50 per cent of Indian arrivals in Canada come from the state, together with college students, their spouses, and different low wage employees. Restrictions on non permanent employees would restrict alternatives for these people, affecting their earnings and future prospects.
In reality, till final yr, there have been no caps on the variety of worldwide college students that Canada would admit, or on the issuance of open SOPWs. Restrictions have since been imposed, and Trudeau’s newest remarks solely re-emphasis the coverage shift which may adversely influence Indians Canada as a migration vacation spot.
In a earlier assertion, Mark Miller, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship in Canada mentioned that there was a “sharp improve” within the quantity of non permanent residents getting into in Canada in recent times, with non permanent employees taking over essential roles in industries akin to development, early childhood training, and healthcare.
That mentioned, he additionally emphasised on the necessity to make the system extra environment friendly by guaranteeing a pathway to PR. Some specialists take this as a possible silver lining of the coverage.
“The coverage may go in two instructions. Canada has already taken step one in the direction of proscribing new entry of non permanent employees by closing the SOWP in a majority of undergraduate programs, and never renewing or extending work visas for these already in Canada,” Gurpreet Singh, a study-abroad guide specialising in Canada, informed The Indian Express.
“Alternatively, Canada would possibly present extra alternatives for non permanent employees to grow to be everlasting residents, integrating them extra totally into the Canadian economic system,” he mentioned.
With elections developing subsequent yr, numerous political and financial concerns would possibly decide which route Canada takes, specialists really feel.
