ACA Participates in Federal Consultation on Immigration

Federal Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Minister John McCallum, Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, and Edmonton MP Randy Boissonault hosted a consultation in Edmonton on August 18th on the levels of permanent residency openings for 2017, and the mix between economic immigrants, family reunification, and refugees.

ACA put forward the following points in the meeting:

• Even with a soft economy, there are challenges in employing suitably skilled and experienced Canadians for select trades, technical occupations, and supervisory positions that need to be addressed through both temporary and permanent immigration

• Immigration of skilled individuals provides a means to train Canadian workers and grow our economy

• Outside of creating a better pathway for TFWs to permanent residency, additional programs are not needed. What is needed is that current programs provide greater flexibility, and consistent interpretation by civil servants.  Employers do not have the resources to continually learn changing program requirements

• Differential processing fees charged to employers require service guarantees

• For select occupations and willing partners, experiment with 2 way immigration pathways where uniquely skilled personnel can voluntarily move back and forth between the partner countries (eg. Canada and Ireland)