Racial attack leads to guilty verdict

Professional motorcycle racer pushed Asian fishermen into water, sparking wild car chase

Gail Swainson Urban Affairs Reporter
The Toronto Star

Published On Wed Dec 16 2009

From: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/739389--racial-attack-leads-to-guilty-verdict

Trevor Middleton will be sentenced in 2010 for aggravated assault, criminal negligence.

A 23-year-old Georgina Township man has been found guilty of aggravated assault and criminal negligence causing bodily harm following a racially motivated attack on a group of Asian anglers in 2007.

The incident sparked a wild, early-morning car chase that left a young man permanently brain damaged and in a wheelchair.

An eight-woman, four-man jury found Trevor Middleton guilty on all six charges – two charges of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and four of aggravated assault at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Middleton, a professional motorcycle racer, was accused of repeatedly ramming his pickup truck into a Honda Civic driven by angler Ruohang Liu after a dispute following a "nip-tipping," a racist term used to describe pushing Asian fishermen into the water.

The incident started after Liu and his friend Charles Hogan were pushed into the water at a popular Sutton-area fishing spot.

Court heard Liu was fishing with Hogan and longtime friends Shayne Berwick and Shiv Kumar at the "Blue Bridge" of Mossington Park.

The family of Berwick – who suffered severe brain damage that has left him in a wheelchair after Middleton ran the car into a tree with his truck – held hands tightly and wept after the decision was read.

Outside the courtroom, Berwick's father, Colin, said the family is gratified with the conviction.

"Now we are just trying to get Shayne back to where he was before," Colin Berwick told a crush of reporters. "But we didn't see the (outcome) being any other way. The evidence was overwhelming."

Brad Lee, spokesman for a group of Asian Canadians, urged Justice Alfred Stong to give Middleton a stiff jail sentence in the hope it will act as a deterrent.

Since 2007, there have been 25 reported attacks on Asian anglers, many on Lake Simcoe, Lee said.

"We are hoping the judge will consider hate crimes as an aggravating factor in sentencing," Lee said.

Middleton's family and his lawyer Gerald Logan declined to comment.

Middleton is due back in court Jan. 4, when a date is scheduled to be set for sentencing.

During the trial, court heard that three truckloads of youths drove to the fishing spot in the early morning hours of Sept. 16, 2007, in anticipation of "nip-tipping."

The four friends and three others were fishing at the Mossington Park bridge when Middleton and his group of 10 to 20 youths arrived in pickup trucks and an SUV.

Witnesses testified Liu and Hogan were pushed into the water after the youths demanded to see their fishing licences.

Following a scuffle between Kumar and one of Middleton's friends, the four anglers piled into Liu's Civic, with Middleton in pursuit.

Court heard a frantic 911 call to the police from Hogan as the Civic was being rammed by the truck. Hogan said two trucks were trying to drive their car into Lake Simcoe.

Middleton testified he chased the vehicle to make a citizen's arrest after his friend was beaten up.

Liu testified that after his vehicle hit a tree and his friends were ejected, he pleaded for Middleton's help, but was refused. Middleton drove off without calling police.

Hogan was thrown from the vehicle into Lake Simcoe. Berwick suffered a fractured skull, a blood clot on the brain, 10 broken ribs and a punctured lung. He spent three months in a coma and is expected to need constant care for the rest of his life.

Colin Berwick said his son, now 26, was three years into his five-year electrician's apprenticeship when he was injured.

His son has no memory of life before the accident, Berwick added.

Justicia for Migrant Workers - Call for Support

To whom it may concern,

We are writing from Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW), a volunteer-run non-profit collective that strives to promote the rights of migrant workers. As students, community, and labour activists, we seek to build relationships of trust with migrant workers, support and empower them to address work-place issues, and to amplify workers’ voices to the public and decision-makers in Canada. We do this through: community outreach in migrant communities in rural Ontario, providing information to migrant workers about their rights, and engaging in ongoing training of legal issues affecting migrant workers.

The Supreme Court of Canada, based on our nine years of organizing to address migrant worker’s precarious status, recently granted J4MW intervener status in the upcoming Ontario (Attorney General) v. Fraser; an important legal challenge for the right to organize Ontario’s 100,000 agricultural workers. As interveners, J4MW will bring forth a unique set of arguments to address the specific plight of Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers and Temporary Foreign Workers. This will be the first time in history, that Canada’s highest court will hear arguments relating to the particular experiences of migrant workers.

We are asking for your support to help us ensure migrant workers’ voices can be heard by the Supreme Court on December 17th. The financial and in kind support will help us to cover the costs of transportation, food, lodging, and other materials associated with organizing a series of events for the day of our court appearance.


Background

Since 1966 thousands of workers from Mexico, Caribbean countries, and South and East Asian countries have come into Canada seeking employment on Canadian farms. However, the conditions of their contract prevent workers from accessing basic social resources like Employment Insurance. Workers are subject to low pay, long hours and dangerous working and living conditions that regularly lead to injury and even death. The exclusion from basic human rights legislation such as Health and Safety, and the explicit prohibition from collective bargaining make workers extremely vulnerable.

Furthermore, worker’s access to healthcare is difficult, given the lack of support and interest from the government, and growers to facilitate transportation to medical centres, and translation when needed. Injured workers are often repatriated back to their home country. In fact, any dispute with the employer typically leads to this unjustified resolution. Recently, legislative changes to immigration law will ban workers’ entry into Canada for six years, after they have completed a four-year period of continuous work.

Although it is widely accepted that migrant workers’ labour is a necessity for the survival of the farm industry, given that domestic workers are not willing or compelled to do farm work, migrant workers are systematically racialized, exploited and oppressed.

These are just some of the issues that governmental programs such as SAWP and TFWP represent for migrant workers. We consider it imperative that the Supreme Court hears arguments that illustrate the reality of overt and systemic racism towards migrant workers.

We are asking that your organization make a donation to help with our costs. Any amount is welcome. If your organization would like to arrange a presentation about this issue for your members please let us know. You may mail a cheque to,

Justicia for Migrant Workers
c/o Workers' Action Centre
720 Spadina Avenue, Suite 223
Toronto ON
M5S 2T9

Thank you for your support.

In solidarity,

Justicia for Migrant Workers
info@justicia4migrantworkers.org
http://www.justicia4migrantworkers.org

Elizabeth Ha for Vice-President, Workers of Colour

Trial begins for man on charges related to attacks on fishermen

Trial begins for man on charges related to attacks on fishermen
The Toronto Star
Peter Edwards Staff Reporter
2009/11/26 14:14:11

From: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/731254--trial-begins-for-man-on-charges-related-to-attacks-on-fishermen

The night of September 17, 2007 began as a bout of "nip-tipping," when three trucks full of Georgina Township youths planned to throw Asian fishermen into the waters of Simcoe Lake, a Newmarket Court heard.

It ended with several injuries, and one of the fishermen, Shayne Berwick, remains confined in a wheelchair, with permanent brain damage.

Trevor Middleton of Georgina Township faces four counts of aggravated assault and two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm, for a wild, late-night chase, in which Middleton is accused of ramming a Honda Civic repeatedly with his Ford F-150 truck until the Civic smashed into a tree and ejected Berwick and another passenger.

Berwick's parents were among those who packed the tiny courtroom as Middleton's trial began on Thursday.

Assistant Crown Attorney Amit Ghosh told the jury they would hear evidence that "nip-tipping" is a racist term used by some locals for attacks on Asian fishermen.

On the night that Berwick was severely injured, Ghosh said that Middleton led a group of 10-20 locals in three pickup trucks to the docks, where two fishermen were thrown into the water.

"Many of them had been drinking alcohol, although Mr. Middleton would have consumed little or none himself," Ghosh told the jury in his opening remarks.

All of the attackers except for one then ran to their trucks and drove away, Ghosh said.

The man left behind was severely beaten, and was lying in the road when Middleton returned in his truck moments later.

The trial is expected to last two weeks.

From Crisis to Justice Labour and Community Working Together

Posted on 11/23/09 at 5:53am by Benzinga Staff

From: http://www.benzinga.com/press-releases/m44103/from-crisis-to-justice-labour-and-community-working-together

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov. 20, 2009) - A special Forum bringing together community and labour activists will examine the impacts of the economic crisis on Ontarians, with a particular focus on the disproportionate impact experienced by Ontarians of colour.

The Forum, co-sponsored by the Colour of Poverty Campaign (COPC) and the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) will be held in conjunction with the OFL's Biennial Convention. The goal of the Forum is to build stronger connections between unions and communities of colour so as to broaden our shared understanding of, and to promote shared vision for, racial equity, economic fairness, good jobs and justice for all.

"What the employment statistics from the past year tell us is that while all Ontarians are struggling, racialized workers and their families have been hit especially hard," says Terry Downey executive vice-president of the Ontario Federation of Labour and one of the Forum's co-chairs. "Racialized workers have seen disproportionately larger increases in unemployment rates and disproportionately larger decreases in employment income. This is in line with what we know about the labour market disadvantages that racialized workers experience, even in the best of times."

Avvy Go, Clinic Director of the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic and the Forum's other co-chair, notes that while racialized workers could achieve greater job security and better pay from unionization they are less likely to be union members.

"We need to examine why that is so, and together, develop solutions to build communication and co-operation between communities," says Go. "The Forum will allow activists from unions and racialized communities to develop a common action plan that will bring about positive solutions that will benefit all workers. It will promote a "green collar", substainable economy that includes good jobs for all."

The Forum will:

- Link activists from unions and community organizations to advance a shared vision for social, economic and environmental justice in our workplaces and in our communities.

- Develop best practices and policies that can be implemented locally, provincially and nationally through collective bargaining and form the framework to lobby for effective provincial and national employment equity and for organizing legislation.

- Increase public awareness of the potential for "green collar" jobs to provide equitable pathways out of poverty, curb global warming, and transform the economy.

The Forum takes place in Toronto, on November 21, 2009 at the Sheraton Centre Hotel, Toronto, Ontario and will run between 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Guest speakers will include: Uzma Shakir, Atkinson Social Justice Fellow and outgoing Executive Director of the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALC); Fred Redmond, International Vice-President (Human Affairs) of the United Steelworkers, and Hamid Osman, Ontario Representative on the National Executive of the Canadian Federation of Students.

Trial to begin for man accused of attack, car chase

Trial to begin for man accused of attack, car chase
By MICHELE MANDEL
The Toronto Sun
November 22, 2009
From: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2009/11/22/11868236-sun.html


Shane Berwick was critically injured in an accident that left him with brain damage and in a wheelchair. (Veronica Henri/Sun Media)

After more than two long years, Shayne Berwick's family is finally hoping to see justice done.

Tomorrow morning, Terry and Colin Berwick will be in Newmarket court for the start of the trial of Trevor Middleton, the Sutton-area man accused in an attack on their son and his Asian-Canadian friends fishing off Mossington Bridge pier near Jackson's Point in the early morning hours of Sept. 16, 2007.

Middleton faces four counts of aggravated assault, four counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and two counts of unlawful act causing bodily harm.

It was a case that captured headlines and is being followed closely by Asian-Canadian rights groups.

"We'll be there every day," vows Shayne's dad.

But his 26-year-old son won't be at the jury selection tomorrow. He won't be testifying at the trial.


He still doesn't remember anything about the incident.

During an alleged car chase, Shayne was ejected from the back seat of his friend's Honda Civic after it hit a tree. He was left with such severe head trauma that doctors at Sunnybrook hospital gave him just a 10% chance of survival.

It's been a long, difficult way back.

Shayne spent four months in a coma at Sunnybrook and more than a year in intensive rehabilitation at Bridgepoint Health. He's had to relearn everything -- from his colours to his numbers. He has no long-term memory and no short term, either. He now recognizes his family but can't tell you what he did just a few minutes before.

"He lives for the moment," explains his dad.

Once an apprentice electrician in his own apartment, Shayne is now back living with his devoted parents in a newly wheelchair-accessible home they had to purchase for him last June. His stepmom recently decided to give up her 20-year career at a daycare to stay home and care for him around the clock. "Shayne comes first," she says, looking at him with love as the family sits around the kitchen table. "He's my main priority and I know I made the right decision."

By using ski poles or a walker, Shayne is slowly learning how to walk again. But he must still spend most of his time in his wheelchair and is busy five days a week with various therapy appointments aimed at one day bringing him back to the man he used to be.

"We always hold out hope," his dad says fiercely. "We can't quit now. He's got to get better. That's our push. And he is improving a lot."

It's what they live for, because looking back is just too painful.

His stepbrother, Mike Miceli, was the one who woke to the devastating phone call at 4 a.m. that morning two years ago from a friend telling him Shayne had been airlifted to the hospital and it didn't look good. He knew his brother had gone fishing because he'd asked him a few days before about a good spot, but he never imagined how the outing would end.

"I think it's a good thing that he can't remember what happened at the beginning because he was a mess," recalls Miceli, 24. "It makes me angry. They just went up there to have a good time; nobody deserves to have something like this happen to them. He's never hurt anybody in his life. To have this happen to him, it's terrible.

"He had to fight for his life, he had to fight to get out of his coma, he had to fight to learn how to eat, he had to fight to learn how to take his first step. It's 24 hours, seven days a week for these guys," he says, looking at his parents. "This is the outcome of that night."

He and his brother were always close, going out together, playing hockey, joking about girls. Their relationship has changed but the kidding and the love is obviously still there, as they sit beside each other, sharing smiles, exchanging high fives.

"The way you have to look at it is that he's still alive and he's doing really well right now so we're looking ahead," Miceli says. "It's still devastating, but we can't dwell on what happened."

He turns to his brother. "As soon as he starts walking, he knows I'll be taking him to a hockey game."

So this trial won't change any of that, but his family is anxious about it just the same.

"I just want to get this started," Colin explains. "We've waited a long time for this. We know there'll be stuff that comes out that will be hard to handle. But if we can deal with what we've handled since the beginning of this, we can handle anything, so bring it on."

His wife is looking forward to putting the court case behind them.

"I'm really nervous -- I haven't slept properly in a couple of weeks. It's just the unknown," Terry admits.

She gazes at Shayne, who is so blissfully unaware of that horrific night two years ago and the legal proceedings that now lie ahead.

"The thing that keeps me going is the positive progress I'm seeing in Shayne. He's come so far from two years ago."

And still has so far to go.

Minorities' view of police worsens: Canadian-born children of immigrants hold most negative opinions, U of T study finds

Minorities' view of police worsens
Canadian-born children of immigrants hold most negative opinions, U of T study finds

Jim Rankin feature writer
Published On Fri Nov 06 2009
The Toronto Star

From: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/722011--minorities-view-of-police-worsens

Unfavourable perceptions of police and the criminal justice system have grown deeper in Toronto, and the most negative views are held by Canadian-born racial minorities, according to a study by University of Toronto researchers.

The study by criminology professor Scot Wortley and doctoral student Akwasi Owusu-Bempah - published Oct. 23 in the Journal of International Migration and Integration - suggests new immigrants have a favourable view of the justice system when they arrive, but that this erodes over time, and that their Canadian-born children hold the most negative views.

Generally, residents of all racial backgrounds who were involved in the study have favourable views of the police, but negative perceptions were higher amongst black and Chinese residents. The study included a partial replication of a 1994 survey that, in part, served as a basis for the 1995 Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System. The follow-up survey was conducted in 2007.

The publication of the report comes as the controversial case of Chinese shopkeeper David Chen, who faces charges of assaulting and confining a shoplifter, winds its way through court.

Wortley and Owusu-Bempah say the study should serve as a catalyst to re-examine and measure the effectiveness of policies aimed at addressing bias, whether perceived or real. They answered questions by email.

Star: A lot, as you note, has apparently been done to try and make these feelings, which you might as well call a reality for many, go away. And it’s gotten worse. Why?

SW: I think it is important to stress that, regardless of racial background, the overall perceptions of police performance are positive. More positive, in fact, than public perceptions regarding the performance of the criminal courts. However, among Torontonians, the perception that the police and courts are biased appears to have increased between 1994 and 2007 for all racial groups - including whites.

For racial minorities, the perception of discrimination may result from family and peer group socialization experiences, vicarious contacts with the justice system, such as negative stories about justice system from family and friends, or actual personal experiences.

It is also extremely important to note that our own research, as well as the research of Wesley Skogan in the United States, indicates that negative experiences with the police have a much stronger impact on personal beliefs about the police than positive experiences. In other words, community policing, police officers in schools and other efforts to reach out to minority communities may not be able to erase the negative impact of contacts with the police that are viewed as aggressive, illegitimate or unjust. Many positive interactions with the police can be undone by a single negative experience.

It is therefore important to note that, in Toronto, at the same time that minority outreach strategies have been developed, a number of aggressive street policing strategies have also been implemented. Although such strategies may help reduce gun and gang crime in targeted communities, and perhaps save lives, they might also draw innocent people into the web of suspicion and directly contribute to the perception among some civilians that the police are biased or unfair. I think this is a topic that deserves more research.

It is funny, I have recently heard youth state that they like and admire the police officers who work in their school, but still have a negative view of the police overall. One African Canadian youth I spoke to recently said that the police officers who come to his school during the day are great - but he felt that they were just the “public relations” police. The real police, he said, come into his community after dark and they don’t treat youth as respectfully.

The question of why the perception of racial discrimination has increased among whites is very interesting. There are two likely explanations. First of all, over the past 15 years, white people may have become more aware of the issue of racism through the education system, popular music, television, movies and the news media. Research also indicates that interracial friendships are increasing. Thus, it is possible that white people are now more likely to be influenced by the opinions and experiences of their minority friends and colleagues.

Star: A summary of the study was delivered at a recent, closed session at a conference on racially-biased policing that was hosted by Toronto police. What was the reaction?

AOB: It was generally positive. A number of police services approached us to ask how they could obtain a copy of the final report. It’s also important to note that many police leaders who spoke at this conference acknowledged that racism was a serious problem within policing. A problem that deserves immediate policy attention.

Star: Your study suggests that the children of racial minority immigrants have the most negative views. What should policy-makers make of that one?

AOB & SW: In the past, many policy-makers were comfortable with the idea that some racial minority groups have poor opinions of the police and justice system in Canada because of their experiences in their country of origin.I think it was an attractive explanation because it deflected attention away from the situation in Canada. It deflected responsibility - it was a way of saying it is not our fault these people feel this way. I think our findings suggest that these perceptions are actually based on Canadian experiences - and thus deserve serious attention from Canadian policy-makers.

Star: You mention the importance of somehow auditing or measuring the efforts to deal with these perceptions, in order to ensure that these are not merely “window dressing.” How would one do that?

SW: In our opinion, many police leaders - including Chief Bill Blair and deputy chiefs Keith Forde and Peter Sloley from the Toronto Police Service - are truly committed to eliminating racism and improving police relations with racial minority communities. However, we are not aware of how these strategies - including race relations training - are being evaluated. I think it is important that more attention be given to monitoring police activities on the street and determining what anti-racism programs work and what programs require further development. I also think that all evaluation efforts should be transparent. I think such transparency will help convince a sometimes cynical public that the system is dedicated to change.
We also think that some patience is required. There may be a significant period of time between the implementation of anti-racism initiatives and an actual change in public perceptions. We call this a lagged effect. For example, current increases in minority hiring by the TPS may not have an immediate impact on public opinion - but they could have an impact a few years down the line.

Star: Your study comes with a few caveats, among them, that it only deals with those who identify as either white, black or Chinese. Also, since the benchmark study in ’94, we’ve had 9/11, and missing are perceptions of South and West Asians. Best guess, without further study, what do you see in the not-so-distant future for Canada in terms of perceptions of police and courts?

SW: For financial reasons, our studies have been restricted to three major racial groups. Future research, in our opinion, should address the opinions and beliefs of all major ethnic groups. For example, it would have been very interesting to document whether the opinions of South Asians and West Asians towards the Canadian justice system were impacted by the security response to 9/11.
It is hard to determine how perceptions of the justice system will evolve. Hopefully, recent policy initiatives will have a positive impact. But many people incorrectly assumed that things would have improved between 1994 and 2007. This underscores the need for future research and the importance of tracking these perceptions through the next decade.

'Guest worker' abuses blasted: Lax federal controls leave migrants open to exploitation, report says

"It's wrong, it's in shambles and it leads to exploitation," said MP Olivia Chow on the temporary worker system in Canada. Photo by TONY BOCK(TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO)

'Guest worker' abuses blasted: Lax federal controls leave migrants open to exploitation, report says

Les Whittington Ottawa Bureau
Published On Wed Nov 04 2009
The Toronto Star

From: http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/article/720829---guest-worker-abuses-blasted

OTTAWA–Lack of oversight by the federal government has allowed foreign workers to be abused by their employers, Auditor General Sheila Fraser says in a scathing report on Canada's immigration program.

Fraser said federal authorities do not follow up on job offers for foreign workers to see if the jobs offered are real, if the employer can afford promised wages and if there is a real need for the worker.

Fraser's report follows a year-long series of Star articles that chronicled the exploitation of temporary workers, often referred to as "guest" workers, and live-in caregivers, some of whom were charged as much as $10,000 by recruiters and ended up with bogus jobs with phantom employers.

In some cases, the Star found nannies were housed in high numbers in basement apartments and flophouses around the GTA, then forced to work illegally to start paying recruiters their placement fees.

Many were also forced to surrender their passports and social insurance cards to these agencies to obtain work with other employers.

"The problems we noted could leave temporary workers in a vulnerable position and pose significant risks to the integrity of the immigration program as a whole," Fraser said in a statement accompanying her report to Parliament.

For instance, she said newcomers admitted to Canada under the special program for live-in caregivers may tolerate abuse, poor working conditions and poor accommodations so as not to lose the opportunity to become permanent residents.

Lower-skilled temporary workers from overseas are particularly at risk of these problems because of "their economic conditions, linguistic isolation and limited understanding of their rights," the report said.

"We all have to recognize that many of these people are quite vulnerable," Fraser added at a news conference.

But Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said the government has been aware of the problems and has already responded with tougher regulations.

Last month, Ottawa moved to ensure that employers who abuse foreign workers will be blacklisted and denied permission to hire another foreigner for two years.

The new rules allow "us to share information with the provinces, provincial labour departments who are responsible for ensuring the enforcement of labour codes," Kenney told reporters yesterday. "And it allows us to penalize abusive employers."

Kenney defended the temporary workers programs, saying "there are tens of thousands of employers who tell me that they would go out of business if they couldn't find people to fill those jobs."

But New Democrat MP Olivia Chow said the Conservatives view immigrants as "economic units – basically, use them and throw them out."

"It's wrong, it's in shambles and it leads to exploitation," Chow said of the current system.

Overall, despite a decade of work and the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars, programs to bring temporary and permanent workers to this country are so badly run that would-be immigrants have no assurance their applications will be judged speedily, consistently or fairly, the auditor general says.

In particular, Fraser questioned then-immigration minister Diane Finley's overhaul of immigration policy in 2008 – reforms highlighted by the controversial decision to give the federal minister unprecedented authority to decide how applications should be processed.

The measures "were implemented without sufficient analysis," Fraser said.

But the reforms introduced by Finley and other measures did not have the desired effect of significantly cutting down the huge inventory of applications by those wanting to be admitted to Canada.

As of late last year, 620,000 would-be immigrants were waiting to see if they could come to Canada under the skilled workers' application process, with the average processing time of their applications at 63 months, the auditor said.

Lack of strategic planning by the government has also skewed the system so that the type of workers being admitted permanently to Canada is changing without significant thought being given to the overall impact on immigration patterns and the country's needs, the audit also found.

Because of strong economic activity prior to 2009 and lengthy delays for skilled workers applying under the Federal Skilled Worker program, increasing numbers of newcomers are being admitted under a patchwork quilt of provincial government immigration programs and as temporary workers.

"There is little evidence that this shift is part of any well-defined strategy to best meet the needs of the Canadian labour market," the auditor said.

Fraser also said officials at Canadian missions abroad are buried under mountains of paperwork because the federal government, despite spending more than $300 million over 10 years on planned information technology updates, has yet to install modern systems for handling immigration cases.

The report also targeted Canada's emergency preparedness, criticizing Public Safety Canada for failing to exercise leadership in planning and co-ordinating emergency responses.

Fraser further reported:

Ottawa is failing its responsibility to oversee environmental hazards on native reserves.

The federal government lacks the power to force companies to recall children's jewellery containing toxic levels of lead.

The foreign aid arm of the federal government – the Canadian International Development Agency – continues to struggle in its 15-year effort to use Canada's financial assistance to make a bigger impact in poor countries around the globe.

AUDITOR'S REPORT

* Echoing the findings of Star investigations, Auditor General Sheila Fraser found the Temporary Foreign Worker program is open to abuse.
* A response plan to deal with emergencies such as the H1N1 outbreak is still in the draft stage almost six years after conception.
* Ottawa's foreign aid program is bogged down by bureaucracy and has failed to provide effective help to the world's poor for the past 15 years.

Part1: How we're creating an illegal workforce Controversial federal program brings in foreigners for temporary jobs, but leaves them ripe for abuse

Tony, 29, from Honduras, now works illegally in Toronto. He "escaped" an Alberta farm where he spent 12 hours a day on his knees picking green onions.
Photo by VINCE TALOTTA/TORONTO STAR

How we're creating an illegal workforce
Controversial federal program brings in foreigners for temporary jobs, but leaves them ripe for abuse

Sandro Contenta & Laurie Monsebraaten, Staff Reporters
The Toronto Star
Published On Sun Nov 01 2009

From: http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/article/719355--how-we-re-creating-an-illegal-workforce

HOW THE TEMPORARY FOREIGN WORKER PROGRAM WORKS:

The program is made up of four streams: the Live-In Caregiver Program, the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, and programs for high-skilled workers and low-skilled ones.

The hiring of a temporary foreign worker begins with employers asking Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) for a "labour market opinion" (LMO). Without an approved LMO, Citizenship and Immigration Canada won't issue a work permit.

The LMO assessment includes verifying whether the foreign worker fills a labour shortage, whether the employer has advertised the job for a minimum of 14 days on the national Job Bank, and whether wages offered are in line with what Canadians or permanent immigrants are getting for that work. There is much debate about how well the LMOs are conducted.

A new LMO is required if a foreign worker wants to switch employers. Since April, employers can no longer ask to extend an existing LMO; they must apply for a new one.

Pressure from employers led to three recent changes: the maximum amount of time for work permits was extended from one year to two years (for those in the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program the maximum is eight months); foreign workers no longer have to leave the country for at least four months while their employers apply for a new LMO; and in Alberta and B.C., LMOs have been fast-tracked in 33 jobs – including carpenters, roofers, front-desk clerks in hotels, residential cleaners and sales clerks – and promised within five days.

The federal government is now proposing to cap the stay of foreign workers at four years. After that, they would be barred for six years from re-entering the country.

With low-skilled foreign workers – for jobs that require no more than a high school diploma or up to two years of on-the-job training – employers must sign a contract with the worker outlining wages and working conditions.

The contract must also note that the employer will pay for travel costs from the home country and back, will not recoup recruitment costs from the worker, will help the worker find suitable and affordable housing, and will provide medical coverage until the worker is eligible for provincial health coverage.

But the federal government says the contract is governed by provincial labour laws and largely washes its hands of enforcement.

Taxes are deducted from their paycheques. But they're not eligible for welfare if laid off. They can receive unemployment insurance, but in practice, few who apply do. And in Alberta and Ontario, seasonal agricultural workers are barred from joining unions.

It's easier for high-skilled temporary workers to bring over their families while working in Canada than it is for those in low-skilled categories. High-skilled workers can also apply to become permanent residents under the Canadian Experience program, set up in 2008. Low-skilled workers can't.

Their best bet for permanent status is through Provincial Nominee Programs. Some allow low-skilled foreign workers in designated industries to be nominated for permanent residency by their employers. Ontario's program, set up last February, does not nominate low-skilled workers for permanent status.

Live-in caregivers can apply for permanent status after two years of work.

– Sandro Contenta

'GUEST WORKERS' 3-DAY SERIES

Today: How "guest workers" are gravitating to Toronto's underground economy.

Tomorrow: Abuses happen. Meet the Indian cook who was swindled by employers, and is now in a homeless shelter.

Tuesday: How Manitoba does it differently – and provides hope of a future for hundreds of meat plant workers.

Foreigners in Canada on temporary work permits are being pushed into Toronto's underground economy by the recession and a controversial federal program that leaves them vulnerable to abuse, a Star investigation has found.

They include people like Tony, a 29-year-old Honduran, who left his Alberta farm job after complaining of long hours and lower-than-promised wages. He rode a bus to Toronto in mid-September with two fellow Hondurans from the same farm. He now works illegally renovating homes, and his friends work illegally cleaning schools.

"I want to be someone, to do something with my life – that's why I'm here," says Tony, who fears being deported.

Also citing employer abuse is a Salvadoran couple fired from their Halifax hotel jobs when the woman got pregnant. They moved here to look for work in September.

In another case, 20 Filipinos arrived in Vancouver last May after each had paid a recruiter $5,000 plus airfare. But the factory where they were to work had burned down a month earlier. No one bothered to tell them, or to notify the government to cancel their work permits. At least two of them are now working illegally in Toronto.

Others find themselves in positions similar to the 120 migrant workers at Rol-Land mushroom farm near Guelph, laid off last December when the recession hit. "Closed" work permits barred them from jobs with other employers. Thirty of them remained in Canada to face precarious prospects in the underground economy.

Unemployed temporary foreign workers add to the pressures on the city's own "guest workers," hit by the recession and an unemployment rate of 10 per cent.

The trend has intensified concern about a federal program that – virtually without debate – has almost doubled the number of workers entering Canada with temporary permits since 2003. They are here to fill labour shortages identified by employers and Ottawa.

Last year, 192,519 foreigners came with work permits of up to two years – almost as many as the permanent residents Canada selected through the immigration system.

According to an official count, on Dec. 1, 2008, there were 251,235 temporary foreign workers in the country.

The program is widely criticized for being poorly monitored and for leaving the workers vulnerable to exploitation. Some experts say it smacks of the failed guest worker programs in Europe, which developed generations of marginalized and resentful residents.

Employers, on the other hand, insist that regardless of the economy's ups and downs, labour shortages are real and longterm.

BUT IS THE Temporary Foreign Worker Program the best way to fill the need?

For many who study the program, the recession's impact on foreign workers has made that question more pressing.

When times were good, foreigners could renew work permits with the same employer or get federal approval to switch jobs. When times got bad, and domestic unemployment rose, the government began closing the tap on the program.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) must conduct labour market opinions (LMOs) when employers seek approval to hire workers abroad. LMOs are supposed to determine whether local citizens or permanent residents could do the job. In 2008, HRSDC approved 176,368 positions with LMOs.

But the first three months of this year saw a 25 per cent reduction in the number of jobs approved with LMOs (29,607) from the same period last year (40,020).

LMOs rejected in the first half of this year included ones involving employers who wanted to renew work permits for those already on their payroll – forcing the employers to lay them off instead.

They also included employers prevented from hiring foreign workers already here and out of a job. (Workers can remain in Canada until their work visas expire, but can't legally work for another employer without a new LMO.)

For many jobless foreign workers, returning home isn't much of an option. They left lives of poverty, are often burdened by debt from money paid to recruiters, and have families back home who depend on remittances.

"For the average Canadian worker, the economic downturn is a crisis, but for the temporary foreign worker, it's a catastrophe," says Naveen Mehta, a lawyer with the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

Gauging the impact of foreign workers on the underground economy is difficult. Officials at Citizenship and Immigration Canada insist that the "vast majority" return home before their permits expire. But they can't prove it.

The government doesn't track when – or if – foreign workers leave the country. Nor does anyone track the number of those laid off. But it does advise employers to lay off foreign workers before Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

"We've got a growing illegal workforce," says Yessy Byl, an expert on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in Alberta, the province that experienced the biggest increase of foreign workers in the past three years. "It's growing by leaps and bounds.

"You've got a hugely growing group of destitute people," adds Byl, who is also a labour lawyer with the Alberta Federation of Labour. "They have to work to survive."

Byl says the worst is yet to come: many of the 365,000 foreign workers who came to Canada in 2007 and 2008 will see their permits expire next year.

In a 2007 report, the RCMP estimated the number of undocumented workers in Canada ranged from 200,000 to 500,000. Toronto is widely seen as having the largest concentration.

St. Christopher House, a downtown social service agency, is bracing for an influx of underground foreign workers and has hired a new coordinator who recently completed doctoral studies on migrant workers.

"We are trying to get out in advance of that train coming down the track because we believe this issue is going to be big," says executive director Maureen Fair.

Francisco Rico-Martinez, co-director of Toronto's FCJ Refugee Centre, says every month he sees two or three temporary foreign workers looking for help. One week in September, he met Tony, the Alberta farm worker, and the Salvadoran couple from Halifax.

But settlement agencies are in a bind. The federal government doesn't fund services for guest workers. If agencies help, they're diverting scarce funds from refugees and landed immigrants.

HISTORICALLY, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program was a relatively small federal initiative that brought in mostly high-skilled workers for specialized jobs. The live-in caregiver and seasonal agricultural worker programs were the only exceptions.

All that changed in 2002 when Ottawa allowed employers to bring in a wide range of low-skilled foreign workers to toil in the hospitality, food services, construction and manufacturing sectors.

Increases have been especially steep since 2006, under the Conservative government's watch.

"It's a priority of Stephen Harper's government to have immigration tailored more to the needs of Canadian employers," says Jeffrey Reitz, an immigration expert at the Munk Centre for International Studies.

The economy was hot, and employers – from Tim Hortons franchises to developers of Alberta's oilsands – scrambled to find workers. They turned to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

"They were doling out work permits like lollipops," says Toronto immigration lawyer Sergio Karas.

The most persistent criticism of the program is that it has addicted employers to cheap, disposable labour. In August, the federal government told a parliamentary committee that "overuse" of the program is the cause of many of its problems.

But it defended the program as necessary, noting that seasonal or cyclical jobs – vegetable picking or work on the oilsands – don't require permanent employees. The Harper government also described the regular immigration system as woefully inflexible and unable to meet labour market demands.

That system, which considers only workers with highly developed skills for permanent residency, is groaning under a backlog of some 900,000 applications. Decisions can take six years.

In 2007, at the peak of a revved-up economy, Canada let in 41,251 skilled workers as permanent residents – 17,660 fewer than in 2001. Meanwhile, 165,000 guest workers were brought in – the majority of them low-skilled.

"The temporary foreign worker program has become the faster and preferred way to get immigrants to Canada to meet long-term labour shortages," the bipartisan report of Parliament's Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration noted in May.

Some argue that the service industry is bringing in foreign workers to flip burgers, pour coffee and clean hotels simply to avoid offering the higher wages needed to attract domestic labour. What seems clear is that many are doing jobs few Canadians want – for example, dismembering pigs on "disassembly lines" in meat plants.

Yet, while high-skilled temporary workers can apply to become permanent residents under federal or provincial programs, most low-skilled workers can't (live-in caregivers are the big exception).

"The attitude is, `We don't want none of them riff-raff here,'" Byl charges.

Governments are rejecting the kinds of people who largely built the country after immigrating in successive waves through the last century, says Toronto immigration lawyer Elizabeth Long.

"Good enough to work, good enough to stay," is a slogan widely used by advocates of giving low-skilled workers a route to permanent status.

The Harper government is doing the opposite. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney last month proposed changes that would cap at four years the amount of time foreigners could work in Canada on temporary permits. They then would be barred from receiving another permit for six years.

The proposals have been widely panned. The parliamentary committee had recommended a path to permanent residency for all guest workers, at least those already here. It also called for "open" permits that would allow workers to switch jobs in the same sector.

Observers say foreign workers are much less likely to leave Canada if they're allowed to stay four years, as Ottawa is proposing. As one slogan, based on the experience of Europe and the U.S., says: "There is nothing more permanent than temporary foreign workers."

Germany stopped recruiting guest workers in 1973. But many stayed and brought over their families. By the mid-1980s, the program was largely responsible for having increased the number of permanent immigrants in Germany by almost 4 million. Left without settlement services for years, many live marginalized lives.

Jenna Hennebry, a sociologist at Wilfrid Laurier University, has researched temporary foreign workers for years. She believes a majority who lose their jobs stay in Canada beyond the time allowed by their work visas.

Some get advice from consultants to apply for refugee status. That clogs up the system but buys them time to stay and work in Canada. Others become undocumented.

Last spring, the Canadian Border Services Agency launched raids at several farms in southern Ontario, detaining about 100 people who had overstayed or violated the conditions of their work permits.

After one raid, about 40 workers from Thailand with expired work permits were sent to a detention centre in Rexdale. Immigration lawyer Long, who represented one of them, said most were deported without getting a chance to speak to a lawyer or file an assessment – guaranteed by the Charter of Rights – of the risk they faced if sent back.

Long said her client had borrowed $17,000 from "loan sharks" in Thailand to pay recruiters. Yet he was paid far less money than promised to work an overnight shift six days a week catching free-range chickens. He, too, was eventually deported.

Union officials and immigration experts say the size of Toronto's undocumented workforce keeps official employer demands for temporary foreign workers in the city – other than nannies – relatively low.

"Why would an employer go through the hassle of a temporary foreign work visa when he can draw from that pool of undocumented workers?" says Diego Mendez, spokesperson for the Greater Toronto local of the Service Employees International Union.

Toronto immigration lawyer Amina Sherazee believes the growing pool of undocumented workers suits Ottawa just fine.

"It's almost a deliberate attempt ... on the part of the government to keep a competitive workforce here who can be exploited cheaply to meet the needs of the market," she says.

Rico-Martinez notes that undocumented workers make up half of his centre's caseload. "We try to talk to the government about this issue, but they're in total denial."

Part 3: Manitoba welcome host for guest workers in Canada Migrant workers get fair shot at future thanks to meat plant, province's unique policy

Some 1,500 migrant workers are employed by Maple Leaf Consumer Foods in Brandon, Man. They toil on the "disassembly" line, dismembering animals, but as one worker says, it "pays well and has good benefits."
Photo by SANDRO CONTENTA/TORONTO STAR

From: http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/article/720163--part-3-manitoba-welcome-host-for-guest-workers-in-canada

Part 3: Manitoba welcome host for guest workers in Canada - Migrant workers get fair shot at future thanks to meat plant, province's unique policy

Sandro Contenta, Staff Reporter
The Toronto Star

Published On Tue Nov 03 2009

BRANDON, MAN.–By any measure, William Cruz is a success story. He has realized a dream as old as Canada.

In 2002 he came from El Salvador with almost nothing. He braved the winters in this prairie town and the hard slog of its meat plant.

Back home, he had been a cellist with a symphony orchestra. Here, he was cutting out the big bone from a pig's shoulder, a new one arriving on the "disassembly" line every 16 seconds. Virginia, also from El Salvador, did the same nearby with a smaller bone. How could they not fall in love?

They married in 2007 and bought a two-storey house. Cruz, 30, notes with pride that it takes an hour to mow his corner lot.

"Only rich people have a house like this in El Salvador," he says.

When not working, they participate in the city's winter festival – he plays instruments, Virginia does folk dances – and volunteer helping newcomers settle.

Last year, Cruz became a Canadian citizen. Virginia hopes to become one soon.

"I felt great – I felt free," Cruz says. "We say we are very lucky to be here."

And Canada is lucky to have them. But does the federal government think so?

For years, Ottawa has barred low-skilled workers like the Cruzes from entering Canada as landed immigrants through the regular points system. Only high-skilled workers get a shot at that privilege.

The Harper government argues the low-skilled are less likely to integrate and succeed. Others insist that's turning our backs on the kind of people who built the country.

Want them or not, Canada appears to need them.

The immigration system, groaning under a massive backlog, is widely seen as incapable of meeting labour demands. So last year, 192,519 foreigners were brought in with work permits of up to three years – almost double the number that arrived in 2003.

The majority were for low-skilled jobs that require less than a high school education. They serve coffee, clean hotels, drive trucks and, like the Cruzes, slaughter and dismember animals.

Canada's Auditor General, Sheila Fraser, is to issue a report Tuesday that, in part, examines how the government manages the immigration system and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. The latter has been widely criticized for being poorly monitored and leaving low-skilled migrants vulnerable to abuse.

With the exception of live-in caregivers, low-skilled "guest workers" are largely barred from becoming landed immigrants.

Provinces can nominate migrant workers for landed status, but most reserve that privilege largely for high-skilled ones. Manitoba is the exception, having opened the process to all migrant workers recommended by employers.

Last year, Manitoba welcomed 11,221 landed immigrants, about 4.5 per cent of Canada's total. Fully 71 per cent of them came through its Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). (Of those who became landed immigrants in Canada last year, 13 per cent – 14,075 of them – did so through provincial programs.)

Manitoba's PNP allowed the Cruzes to realize their dream. But where once they might have felt indebted to a government or political party, the Cruzes have Maple Leaf Consumer Foods to thank.

The company has 1,500 migrant workers – 75 per cent of its Brandon workforce – slaughtering and dismembering pigs at its plant here. They come on permits that allow them to work only at the Brandon plant.

Plant manager Leo Collins dismisses talk of foreigners taking Canadian jobs. Before migrants arrived in waves, beginning in 2002, the plant's turnover rate was huge.

Killing, gutting and slicing pigs is heavy, dirty work. Yet the retention rate for foreign workers is 85 per cent. The enticement is a shot at landed status.

Maple Leaf can sponsor an employee for the PNP after six months. The province forwards the nomination to Ottawa for approval.

"It's never been a Temporary Foreign Worker Program for us," Collins says. "Our goal is to have them stay here and bring their families."

By 2011, officials estimate, Brandon's population of 41,000 – stagnant just a few years ago – will jump a stunning 14 per cent.

Allowing employers to determine who gets on the path to citizenship, critics say, is no way to build a nation. Tell that to Cruz and others like him, Collins replies.

One thing is certain: This once conservative prairie town without Sunday bus service is being transformed — fast.

THE WELCOME

The workers come from Latin America, Africa, China and Ukraine. Their biggest hurdle is English. The biggest shock for most is winter. Then there's the fact that Brandon's sidewalks seem forever rolled up.

"The first impression is this is not Europe," says Sergii Smagytel, 35, who arrived from Ukraine in April 2008. "We were scared. Nobody walks on the sidewalk. It was very, very strange for us."

Collins says each migrant worker costs Maple Leaf about $6,000. That includes recruitment, medical exams, permit application fees, one month's rent, a month-long bus pass, free cafeteria food for a week, and a bed with linen and pillows.

It's a lot, but not everything.

Local St. Vincent de Paul Society volunteer Lawrence Dubois once met some newly arrived Salvadorans living in the same apartment, sharing one plate and waiting their turn to eat. He filled a garage with donated furniture, and newcomers had their pick."If it wasn't for those people," says Kerselin Fumier, 36, who arrived in 2008, "I would have returned to Mauritius."

No one reports serious incidents of racism.


THE STRAINS

The sprawling Maple Leaf plant is a 15-minute drive outside of town on a road with an unpaved shoulder and an 80-km/h speed limit. When a large group of Chinese workers arrived, they wanted bikes, and the company obliged.

Next thing you know, pickup trucks are swerving, honking and weaving past cyclists on their way to work during pre-dawn hours.

"We're a truck town," says registered nurse Nancy McPherson, an analyst with the Brandon Regional Health Authority. "This became a huge issue."

More serious is the housing crunch.

Brandon's vacancy rate is 0.1 per cent. Prices have skyrocketed. Developers are building large, expensive family homes instead of rental units. With accommodation eating up more household income, the Samaritan House food bank has served 30 to 60 new families every month this year.

Governments and service providers have been slow to respond, McPherson says. It's starting to happen.

A language cooperative has been set up with 12 certified translators, available for $25 an hour. The school board has extended English as an additional language to all schools, where enrolment is going up after years of decline.

The crime rate is down, police say. Officers are kept busy, however, explaining laws, laying impaired-driving charges, and stopping motorists without a provincial driver's licence.

"We get a lot of drivers who produce a Maple Leaf card," says Const. Tanis Basaraba, with the Community Policing Unit. Newcomers are also victims. Scott recalls one from El Salvador cashing his first paycheque and lining up the bills on a shopping mall bench to count. A thief scooped them up and was gone.

The Chinese have learned the hard way to lock their bikes. And there have been incidents of extortion: some have had their families back home threatened for money.

THE WORK

The plant opened in 1999 and kills 85,000 hogs a week.

At work, Kerselin Fumier looks like a modern version of a medieval knight: hard hat, white lab coat and protective steel-wire mesh apron. He works saws and machines that cut carcasses in half, break the shoulders and slice them off.

Half a pig can weigh 200 pounds. Fumier spends hours pulling and tugging them into the right position. Repetitive strain injuries, the union says, are the most common.

His friend Sony Bottebell, also from Mauritius, works the "front end kill" section of the line. He flips hogs and fits their hind legs to hooks that raise and dip them in scalding water.

Bottebell makes $13.55 an hour and Fumier, $15.50.

"All Canadians will tell you that Maple Leaf will kill you," says Fumier. "It's a hard job ... But it's the only place that guarantees a job, pays well and has good benefits."

The plant's union fully backs Maple Leaf's migrant program. But union rep Ray Berthelette says low wages make attracting Canadians difficult. That dates back to the mid-1980s, when the North American hog industry broke unions and rolled back wages.

In a recent study, Simon Fraser University economist Dominique Gross concluded the migrant program contributes to keeping higher unemployment rates in some parts of the country.

Turning to migrants spares employers the higher wages and other incentives that would make it worthwhile for the unemployed to move for a job, Gross says.

About 10 per cent of Maple Leaf migrants decide the job is not for them and head home, Berthelette says. Many of those who stay muse about getting other work once they're landed.

THE ARTIST

Juan Zavaleta arrived from Mexico with the first group of Maple Leaf migrant workers in January 2002. It fulfilled a dream that had little to do with a new life in Canada.

Years earlier, he had created works of art from horse carcasses. Maple Leaf was a chance at hands-on research. He lied about being a butcher. "It was a messy job – a lot of blood," he says. "For me it was just wonderful."

A fascination with death helps: fake skulls and skeletons decorate Zavaleta's living room. He married in 2003 at a goth wedding in his backyard. The bride and groom wore black.

Zavaleta, 38, says his "honeymoon" soured when he suffered a rib injury on the job. One day, back pain reduced him to lying down on the shop floor. The "disassembly" line was stopped for two hours.

The migrant program, he insists, counts on submissive workers, fearful they'll be sent back to desperate lives. He quit in 2005 and stayed in Brandon to focus on his art.

One project involved thousands of disposable paper towels with patterns of blood collected while he worked. Another was made of bloodied Maple Leaf uniforms Zavaleta bought at a garage sale and wore on the job.

"I investigated 21st-century slavery in First World countries," Zavaleta says. "It's a very strange way to enslave people; very brand new and totally legal."


O CANADA

Talking with Maple Leaf's foreign workers could serve as therapy for anyone cynical about Canada.

"People have told me for years they feel it's like winning the lottery," says union official Zara Pople.

Since June, Jose Armijo has been vacuuming excrement from pigs for $13 an hour.

He sends $200 a week to his two children and wife in Honduras, where he had lost his job in a print shop. He shares a house with six workers, dreams of bringing his family to Canada, and can't seem to stop smiling.

"When my wife comes, I want to have a typical Canadian dish waiting for her," he says.

In his prime, Eduardo Navidad, 43, was a boxer in El Salvador, living in a leaky shack. Then he sold slush from scraped ice in a pushcart. He says he thought of killing himself.

"I can't say I have a lot of money," says Navidad, who came four years ago and has landed immigrant status. "But I feel I have everything."

Sergii Smagytel was a beekeeper in Ukraine. "We always knew at school about Canada, that it is a great country," he says in English. He's planning on buying a house and bringing over his wife and their two kids, 4 and 1.

"I came not because I wanted to," he says. "I came for my children. I know that if they get an education in Canada, the whole world will be opened to them. I believe so."

Part 2: A temporary worker's Catch-22 Temporary permits leave foreigners open to exploitation

photo by Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star

Part 2: A temporary worker's Catch-22
Temporary permits leave foreigners open to exploitation
The Toronto Star

Sandro Contenta & Laurie Monsebraaten, Staff Reporters
Published On Mon Nov 02 2009

From: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/719602--star-investigation-a-temporary-worker-s-catch-22?bn=1


Mac Akela, who cannot be shown for legal reasons, has been forced to work illegally after abuse by employers.

In Mumbai, Mac Akela was a top chef at a luxury hotel, running a department of 72 people and preparing meals for the rich and powerful. Life was good.

He had a wife and three children. And his $15,000 yearly salary got him far, particularly with the rent-free home his employer provided.

One day, a visiting Toronto restaurateur fell in love with Akela's cuisine. He offered him twice his salary, and by November 2007, Akela was cooking up a storm in a north Toronto restaurant. Six months later, he was broke and living in a homeless shelter.

He blames much of his downfall on Canada's controversial Temporary Foreign Worker program. It tied him to his Toronto job, preventing him from working for anyone else, even when his employer swindled him out of half his promised salary.

Asking for his money got Akela fired and kicked out of his employer-owned, one-bedroom apartment, which he shared with two other workers for $400 a month. That set him on an 18-month ordeal of government red tape, largely illegal work and more abuse from employers.

"I am fed up," says Akela, who fears being deported and asked that his real name be withheld. "I came to this country with big dreams. I used to be treated with respect back home. Here it's nothing but lying and cheating."

"I thought Canada was a fair country," he adds.

Fair isn't a word commonly used to describe Canada's controversial program for foreigners working here temporarily. It's widely criticized for being poorly monitored and for leaving workers vulnerable to abuse.

Canada's auditor general, Sheila Fraser, issues a report Tuesday that, in part, will examine how the government manages the program.

Virtually without debate, successive federal governments almost doubled the number of foreigners coming to Canada with temporary work permits since 2003. Last year, more than 192,000 came in – almost as many as the permanent residents Canada selected through the immigration system.

On Dec. 1, 2008, Ottawa counted 251,235 foreigners in Canada with valid temporary work permits, many of which can last two years. The workers come to fill labour shortages identified by employers and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC).

Officials at the department say they reduced the influx when the recession hit and unemployment rose above 8 per cent nationally. But employers insist labour shortages are long-term, and the Conservative government is committed to keeping the "guest worker" program.

There is widespread concern, however, that protection for migrant workers has not kept pace with the program's rapid expansion. The anxiety is over low-skilled workers, who toil in jobs requiring no more than a high school education. They're the majority of migrant workers to Canada.

Often ignorant of Canadian labour laws, they're left vulnerable by a federal government that washes its hands of enforcing program regulations and provinces that have been slow to wake up to the abuses many suffer, advocates and union officials say.

Stories of recruiters gouging migrant workers with fees of up to $10,000 are well known. Yet Ontario is proposing to ban those fees solely for nannies, who make up less than a third of the 66,600 guest workers who came to the province in 2008. In Alberta, where recruitment fees are banned for all migrant workers, the province is investigating more than 280 complaints against agencies, most for charging fees.

Abusive employers are a minority. But mistreatment doesn't just happen in "mom and pop" businesses.

In April 2007, two Chinese workers on a $10.8 billion oil sands project were killed when the roof of an oil storage tank collapsed. The site, north of Fort McMurray, Alta., is owned by Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.

The victims and 130 other Chinese on temporary permits, were working for SSEC Canada Ltd., owned by China's Sinopec Shanghai Engineering Company Ltd. Last April, the Alberta government laid 53 charges against the three companies under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

It was also discovered that SSEC paid the foreign workers just 10 per cent of the $34 hourly rate specified in the union contract. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has since agreed to hand over $3.17 million and provincial officials are trying to find the workers, now back in China, to give them the money.

Also well documented are examples of migrant workers having their passports seized by employers while earning lower wages and working longer hours than promised.

Yet only last month did the federal government propose to blacklist abusive employers and deny them foreign workers for two years. Until that becomes law, the federal official in charge of the program suggests Ottawa is powerless.

Last year, a parliamentary committee asked whether the government could deny "labour market opinions" – needed to hire workers from abroad – if employers mistreated foreign workers in the past.

"To the best of my knowledge, at this point we don't have the authority to assess past performance when we're checking on new labour market opinions," replied Andrew Kenyon, head of the temporary foreign worker program at HRSDC.

This didn't stop the department fast-tracking approvals in 33 job categories – including roofers and sales clerks – for migrants to Alberta and British Columbia in the fall of 2008.

HRSDC officials declined a request for an interview for this story. In an email response to questions, they contradicted Kenyon. A "more systematic" way to withhold foreign worker permits from abusive employers is being put in place, they said. They also noted initiatives that "encourage" employers to attest they're complying with regulations.

In an information sheet for employers, HRSDC notes it has "no authority to intervene in the employer-employee relationship or to enforce the terms and conditions of employment. It is the responsibility of the employer and worker to familiarize themselves with laws that apply to them and to look after their own interests."

Advocates say that's outrageous, given the power employers have over foreign workers here temporarily. The result is vulnerable workers fearing deportation and sometimes suffering in silence.

Last May, the bipartisan report of Parliament's Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration called for "open" temporary permits that would allow migrant workers to switch jobs in the same sector.

It's not a move popular with employers, who spend money recruiting and training migrant workers. They already complain that it's too easy for other employers to poach their guest workers.

Francisco Rico-Martinez, co-director of Toronto's FCJ Refugee Centre, says employers are increasingly recruiting from countries where workers are considered more desperate and so more pliant.

"It's a nasty concept they're applying: Take the most vulnerable and they will obey better the rules," Rico-Martinez charges.

He insists that explains the rise in the number of workers coming from Guatemala – from 13 in 2002 to 3,303 in 2008. There, the International Organization for Migrants, a multi-government agency that includes Canada, charges recruits $500. They lose the money if they remain in Canada illegally.

Guatemalans are also getting the message that if they don't return, their relatives, their village or even their country will be banned from accessing Canada through the migrants' program, adds Rico-Martinez, who works widely in Latin America and has interviewed temporary workers heading to Canada.

It's impossible to know how many employers are abusive because enforcement usually depends on complaints. And guest workers are often too afraid to speak out.

Akela did. A shelter worker helped him take his complaint of unpaid wages to the Ontario Labour Relations Board in May 2008. It was settled when the restaurateur paid him about $2,000, some $6,500 less than what he was owed.

"There is no incentive for employers to obey the law, because if they are caught, they are rarely penalized," says Deena Ladd of the Workers' Action Centre in Toronto.

Akela, 43, boasts a repertoire of more than 400 dishes, from Tandoori and Mughlai to Asian-Italian fusion.

"I'm an artist," he says. "I have my own creations."

He came to Canada with the hope of one day becoming a permanent resident and opening a restaurant of his own. The plan got off to a shaky start. The restaurateur who brought him here insisted on paying him cash, leaving no official proof he was working and paying taxes.

Stunned at being fired and thrown out of his apartment, he wandered the streets for two nights, before entering the homeless shelter where he still lives. Akela quickly found a new employer and started working again. But this second restaurateur balked at getting government approval to hire him legally. Akela tried to do it himself. He paid an immigration lawyer $1,470 to file the application. But when he checked with HRSDC six months later, he discovered the lawyer had filed no papers.

He had arrived in Canada with a one-year work permit. This was about to expire. Then Akela answered an ad last fall for a new restaurant downtown. The owner got government approval to hire a migrant chef, gave Akela the job, and said he would help renew his work visa.

He began work last January and was paid $3,000 a month, but it was also in cash. Then Akela's OHIP expired. To renew it, he needed a work visa. He says the employer wouldn't give it to him. One thing led to another and in April, Akela was fired – again.

He doesn't know what to think. One minute he believes the employer withheld his work visa to prevent him from working with a competitor. The next, he wonders if the employer ever obtained it.

He tried to get Immigration Canada to issue him a copy but got nowhere. With a family in India to support, Akela reluctantly joined Toronto's growing pool of underground workers.

He worked three weeks at a fourth restaurant, but says he wasn't paid. A fifth restaurant promised better. But after two weeks on the job, Akela slipped on a wet floor and smashed his elbow, landing him in hospital with no OHIP coverage. Medical help cost him $150.

He was off work for almost two months. He's now back on the job, undocumented, with a sixth restaurant. He's turned to Toronto immigration lawyer Elizabeth Long for help getting some kind of status.

"My daughter is 7 years old," he says, shaking his head. "When I left she was 5. I am missing her. I should be preparing to bring them here by now. But everything is in ruins."

Angling for justice

Globe and Mail, Oct. 3rd, 2009

From: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/angling-for-justice/article1310986/

JOE FRIESEN

LINDSAY — From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published on Saturday, Oct. 03, 2009 12:00AM EDT Last updated on Wednesday, Oct. 07, 2009 3:05AM EDT

The 12-year-old boy shuffled toward the judge with the timid reluctance one would expect of a child called to answer before authority.

Barely four feet tall with a bird-like frame, his tiny stature - unusual even for a boy his age - took the Lindsay, Ont., courtroom by surprise.

The judge, peering down from the bench, explained that he had been charged with a criminal assault. "Do you understand what that means?" he asked in a tone adults reserve for small children.

"Yes," the boy replied.

The child stands accused of being the latest and youngest villain in a peculiar crime wave.

"Nipper-tipping," as it is known to its perpetrators, emerged into the public eye two years ago during a spate of attacks on Asian-Canadian fishermen. At first, the act of pushing an unsuspecting angler into the water was viewed as a sophomoric, racist prank: The name itself combines an anti-Japanese epithet with the rural hilarity of cow-tipping. After increased scrutiny and public pressure, a zero-tolerance policy seems to have emerged, culminating in the trial of a frightened, pre-adolescent boy.

His alleged involvement could be described as a copycat crime. In April, 2007, an Asian man and his 13-year-old son fishing at Jackson's Point on Lake Simcoe in Georgina, Ont., were accosted, the latter pushed in the water. That summer, four similar events took place from July to August. Each time, the victims had only their hobby and their ancestry in common.

The breaking point came on Sept. 17 of that year when a similar incident at Jackson's Point led to a car chase in which a racially mixed group was pursued by locals. Their car crashed, leaving 23-year-old Shayne Berwick with a serious brain injury.

"Nipper-tipping" became a political flashpoint.

Chinese-Canadian leaders demanded that the cases be prosecuted as hate crimes. York Regional Police responded with helicopters to patrol popular fishing holes and Asian police officers went undercover as fishermen (they weren't attacked but reported being subjected to racial slurs). The Ontario Provincial Police responded by assigning hate-crime investigators to any incident involving Asian fishermen. The Ontario Human Rights Commission weighed in with a report, Fishing Without Fear, that graded more than 20 organizations involved in the events.

Did tolerance end at the GTA border? Or were white locals applying vigilante tactics to outsiders they accuse of illegally depleting fish stocks? As the multicultural city extends further toward areas relatively untouched by immigration, these flare-ups may be a symptom of deeper unease.

Fisheries have long been a source of conflict between whites and Asians. At the turn of the century in B.C. there was a fight over Fraser River salmon that led to violence, and in 1907 there were anti-Asian riots in Vancouver. There was also an anti-Chinese riot in Lindsay, Ont., in 1919. Patricia Roy, a historian who has studied the history of the Chinese and Japanese in Canada, said these kinds of tensions are not uncommon anywhere in the world. Locals are often hostile to outsiders if they believe they're infringing on a scarce resource, and that hostility is more easily focused if the outsiders belong to an identifiable racial group.

"I wouldn't say it's what Canada is, I would say it's what people are," Prof. Roy said. "I think it's more human nature than Canadian."

In the Lindsay courtroom last week, the 12-year-old's parents stood with him in court, laying their hands on his shoulders as though trying to keep his fidgety torso pointed in the right direction. They told the judge they planned to hire a lawyer to defend their son, but declined to speak with reporters for fear of jeopardizing his case.

The decision to prosecute a child is the strongest signal yet that police and justice officials are serious about cracking down on a practice that remains an open wound for many Asian-Canadians.

The victim is a 46-year-old Chinese-Canadian from Markham who was on a day trip this August to the Kawarthas with his family. Fishing at the side of Canal Lake, he was approached by two boys. When he turned his attention to his fishing rod, one of the boys allegedly ran up and knocked him into the water, which was two metres below. The victim's wife, who along with his son and daughter watched the attack unfold, chased and caught the boy and then called the OPP.

Still, a criminal-assault charge in this case is somewhat surprising. Officers typically have a great deal of discretion to either arrest or caution young suspects. But with the scrutiny of the Toronto media and the Human Rights Commission, as well as governments pledging these attacks will be taken seriously, the police may feel they have no choice but to lay charges.

While the authorities have been cracking down, prosecutors have been criticized for easing up. Last week another high-profile assault prosecution came to a sudden and - in the eyes of the Chinese community - unsatisfactory end.

Scott MacEachern, a 21-year-old business student from Georgina, had been charged with three separate attacks on Asian fishermen in York region during the summer of 2007. In each case, he had allegedly shoved someone into the water. Mr. MacEachern pled guilty to only one of the charges, the others were dropped, and he walked free with a sentence of 12 months probation.

"I'm shocked that he was let go," said Mike Ma, co-ordinator of the Peterborough Community and Race-Relations Committee. The news of the sentence was splashed on the front pages of Chinese-Canadian newspapers, and call-in shows lit up with angry responses. York police said they did their best, but witnesses in some cases couldn't identify the accused.

Mr. Ma, who has lived in Canada nearly all his life, said he worries about his own safety now when he fishes in the area outside Peterborough.

"My sister and brother-in-law and their family came to visit me a few weeks ago and we went fishing," he said. "The whole time in the back of my mind I'm thinking, 'Am I safe?' because of the way I look."

Very few locals are willing to speak on the record for fear of being branded as racists. But they say their complaints are legitimate: Many Asian day-trippers are fishing without a licence, trespassing on private property and ignoring catch limits. Some of the fishing is happening at night, which can only mean they're up to no good and the catch is being sold in Toronto's Chinatown the following morning.

In their view, a centuries-old local fishery is being depleted by outsiders, and the Ministry of Natural Resources is doing nothing to stop it. Confronting the fishermen, pushing them in the water, spraying graffiti - such as the message on a Hastings, Ont., bridge that read "Fuck You Nips!!, fish thieves" - are all misguided but understandable attempts to redress injustice, they argue.

Mr. Ma said he's still shocked by the number of people who characterize these incidents as youthful pranks or a legitimate conflict while down-playing the racial overtones.

"Why is it that these attacks are uniformly on Asian-Canadians?" he asks. "It's been quite uniform."

The attacks have been concentrated primarily in the Township of Georgina, near Lake Simcoe, and more recently to the east in the Kawartha Lakes area. While Toronto has a visible minority population of 45 per cent, it's just 3.9 per cent in Georgina, and 1.6 per cent in Kawartha Lakes.

The number of incidents reported to police involving Asian fishermen has declined, from 10 in 2007 to five in 2009 - but the threat hasn't abated.

This week a Toronto woman born in the Philippines was fishing at a Pigeon Lake resort when she was approached by three men who demanded to know what she was catching and whether she had a licence - typical harassment many Asian fishers describe. The police said the woman fled the area and called for help. The OPP said the incident "may have involved physical contact," but they didn't have sufficient grounds to lay an assault charge.

They later issued a press release asking people who fish not to resort to vigilante enforcement. Concerns should be taken up with natural resources officers, they said.

Ontario's Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield said one of the most important steps taken by her ministry was to meet with the Asian anglers association and have the province's fishing regulations translated into Cantonese to prevent misunderstandings.

"Obviously there has been some level of discomfort in the communities - both communities - it's not one or the other," Ms. Cansfield said. "We live in a very cosmopolitan world, especially in Ontario, and we have to find ways and means of how we live together."

TRIEC Executive Director takes questions on immigrants and jobs

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council


Globe and Mail, Tuesday, Jul. 28, 2009

From: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/immigrants-and-the-job-market/article1231322/

Last updated on Tuesday, Jul. 28, 2009 02:31PM EDT

In a special weekend report on the two sides of Canada's economic recovery, Tavia Grant and Jennifer Yang chronicled the plight of immigrants in the work force .

While an astonishing 60,000 more women age 55 and over successfully entered the labour force , immigrants are losing their jobs at more than three times the rate of Canadian-born workers.

The story found that, for Canadian-born workers, employment fell 1.6 per cent over the past year. By comparison, immigrants who have been in the country five years or less saw a decline of 5.7 per cent. The story also said that immigrants will spend more time looking for a new job.

Tavia Grant and Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, took reader questions on the topic on Tuesday at noon.

Thank you to everyone who submitted questions and posted comments.

TRIEC creates and champions solutions to help integrate skilled immigrants into the Greater Toronto Region labour market. Ms. McIsaac has worked with the council since it was launched in 2003. On the issue of immigrant labour market integration, Ms. McIsaac has most recently co-authored Making the Connections: Ottawa's Role in Immigrant Employment and Integrating Immigrants in Canada: Addressing Skills Diversity.

Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length or clarity. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on participants in these discussions, that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.

Claire Neary, Reportonbusiness.com: Hi, Elizabeth. Thanks so much for joining us today. Globe and Mail workplace reporter Tavia Grant, who wrote about immigrants’ experiences with Jennifer Yang for our Saturday paper, is also joining us.
Their story sparked a lot of debate and reader questions. Elizabeth, did you have any initial thoughts on this topic or on Statistics Canada’s findings that unemployment in Canada has risen much higher among immigrants who have been in the country five years or less?

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: First, thank you for the opportunity to participate in this online discussion about an issue that I believe continues to be of critical importance to the future productivity and prosperity of Canada and its cities.
I think that Tavia and Jennifer did an excellent job of bringing to light the complexity of this issue. The numbers from Statistics Canada confirm what we had been hearing anecdotally and knew intuitively, that immigrants are being disproportionately affected by the recession. Of course this is not surprising, as this played out similarly in previous recessions.
What is of growing concern for Canada, and in particular Canadian cities, is that today immigrants constitute a core element of the general population and by extension the labour force – almost 50 per cent of residents in the Toronto Region were born outside of Canada. What happens to them in a recession and a much anticipated recovery will have significant bearing on our overall productivity and prosperity. The skills and experience that immigrants bring to our economy offer promise for our competitiveness going forward. But if these very skills and experience are not effectively utilized in our labour market, our region will not reap the benefits that immigration can bring.

Claire Neary, Reportonbusiness.com: Thanks, Elizabeth. Tavia, did you have any initial thoughts?

Tavia Grant, workplace reporter: Hi Claire. Thanks for hosting this discussion. A few thoughts on reporting this story -- the trend was something many people theorized was happening, partly because we know it happened in previous recessions, and partly because, if you go to any job fair or jobless networking group these days, it's quite apparent. But without Statscan's help in crunching the numbers, we wouldn't have had much of a story. So a thank you to them.
One element we didn't include -- we got the data after the story was filed -- is that immigrant men are particularly hard hit. This is likely due to the fact that many newcomers are working in industries -- manufacturing and construction -- that tend to have employ men. The broader idea of the "he-cession" or men losing their jobs faster in this recession than women, is something the Globe has reported on before.
The part of the story I found fascinating is what we've learned from past recessions: that newcomers who land in Canada during a downturn often never get back on track, and that for the broader immigrant population, re-entering the labour market even when the economy recovers poses extra challenges. Underemployment is a problem that will linger for years, and that has a host of ramifications -- from more newcomers sliding into low-income status, to the fact that our economy is losing out what's supposed to be a key source of labour in the coming years.

Claire Neary, Reportonbusiness.com: Thanks, Tavia. We'll get straight to some reader questions now.

Sridhar Nadamun, Toronto: Hello Elizabeth McIsaac. I have been in Canada for over 7 years (immigrating in June 2002 from India as a Medical Writer) and find that jobs are insecure in this part of the world more than anywhere, what with employers hiring and firing their employees at will, regardless of the individual’s qualifications, expertise or contributions! And I have been working on contracts, to keep myself going, and with all the upsides and downsides of being self-employed. What, in your opinion, is the solution to this employment conundrum in Canada?
Incidentally, I would like to know if the Globe and Mail employs any minorities (?) or has any hard statistics to report, in this regard?

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: The solution to any employment conundrum is complex. Unfortunately I don’t think there is a single silver bullet that will fix the issue in either the short or long term. In fact, some of the challenges you have described, particularly short term contract work, reflect some of the structural changes to the labour market that are evolving globally.
In this context it is important that immigrants - just like the Canadian-born - have the opportunities and the supports they need to succeed. There are specific programs that show real promise and demonstrated success. Bridging programs, for example, have been developed for a wide range of occupations and professions, and focus on filling any knowledge or skills gaps that may exist, enhancing occupation-specific language skills, and creating initial linkages to employers. Many of these programs have show high levels of success, in terms of participants finding full time employment in their field. But there will be challenges even for these programs during this recession.
Programs that link new immigrants to employers also demonstrate high levels of success. Internship programs that provide individuals with their first Canadian work experience (an elusive and sometimes tacit requirement in the labour market) offer immigrants a strong platform from which to launch their careers (see www.careerbridge.ca ). At TRIEC we have also created a mentoring program (www.thementoringpartnership.com ) that creates occupation-specific matches between a new immigrant and their established professional counterpart (i.e. sales manager with a sales manager). Over the course of four months, mentors offer advice on the local market and how to navigate a job search, share professional networks, and provide encouragement and support. The outcomes have been very impressive, with both mentors and mentees finding value and benefit, and employment opportunities becoming more accessible.
So back to your question, what is the solution? It is in our best interest to continue investing in initiatives that are successful in providing immigrants with opportunities, and where possible expand and replicate them. Many successes in one part of the country are not shared elsewhere. As well, I think we need more solutions. There is a need to continue to work with employers directly, and try new approaches that reflect their needs and help link them to talent that they may be missing out on.
In your particular case, Sheridan College offers a one-year bridging program for internationally-trained writers http://www1.sheridaninstitute.ca/programs/0809/pjitw/ . You may also benefit from connecting with other immigrant professionals who can share their strategies for success. CAMP (www.campnetworking.ca ) is a networking organization for internationally-trained professionals in communications, advertising and marketing that meets regularly with employers and industry associations, and shares job leads.

Claire Neary, Reportonbusiness.com:Thanks Elizabeth. And Sridhar, to answer your question about The Globe and Mail, our Human Resources department says that Statistical information, while not publicly shared, is internally tracked and referenced to inform practices around recruitment/selection/promotion and, more broadly, diversity and inclusion.
Beyond its required compliance with the Government's Federal Contractors Program, The Globe and Mail has been actively diversifying its employee base, creating opportunities to hire, promote and develop editorial talent as well as other professional and semi-professional roles in our organization. This has involved an integrated and collaborative approach that considers images and text in our content, as well as our advertisements and our climate as a workplace. As Canada’s national newspaper, we are committed to representing and reflecting the growing diversity of our country.

Carolyn: How well do you think a Canadian would do in a foreign country looking for a Job?

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: Just as there are many factors which affect how well an immigrant to Canada will do (and many do very well), I think the same is true for a Canadian who goes overseas. It will depend first on their skill level and occupation, and whether they are entering the labour market as an unskilled labourer or seeking a mid-career level professional position. If it is the latter, it will be affected by how well they speak the language(s) required and whether they require recognition of their credentials (doctors, lawyers, teachers and engineers will often have to be recognized by local jurisdictions in order to practice their profession). It will be affected by whether they have connections and linkages to employers and have an active professional network. And it will vary from country to country, local labour market demands, and particular approaches to foreign workers. In short, unless they are well connected or have active job leads waiting for them, I think they will face some of the same challenges that immigrants to Canada face.
What may be very different, however, is the fact that their pursuit of employment will not likely be accompanied by an invitation to become a citizen of that country. Canada is among a small group of countries, that provides opportunities for citizenship after a short residency period. In so doing, we actively invite prospective immigrants to become part of our national story. When compared to other countries, Canadian attitudes are much more positive towards immigration and immigrants. We understand the contribution that immigration has made to our past, and we know it will make an important contribution to our future prosperity.
It would be a missed opportunity for a country that would not take advantage of a skilled Canadian – just as we are missing an opportunity when we do not recognize the skills of immigrants. If we want to continue to attract the best and the brightest, we need to signal to the world that we are welcoming and open for business.

Tavia Grant, workplace reporter: Hi Carolyn. I'm sure the experience of Canadians looking for work in other countries varies widely, depending on who you are and where you go. By far the largest destination for working Canadians is still the U.S. As a Canadian, I've worked in several other countries, and each time had huge difficulties in finding a job because of either language challenges, work permits or not having a network in the country I was living in. The importance of networks can't be overstated: some studies show up to 80 per cent of jobs are "hidden," meaning they are unadvertised and publicized through word of mouth.
If you're interested in more about Canadians working abroad, here's a Statscan report published last year on the topic. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/080313/dq080313c-eng.htm.
Migration is spiking all over the world as trade becomes more globalized, and consequently many countries, not just Canada, are wrestling with how to most effectively integrate newcomers into the work force. Among industrialized countries, this issue is likely to become more pressing as the population ages and labour shortages grow.

Claire Neary, Reportonbusiness.com: Some of our readers raise interesting points via online comments. Here are a few.

Ana M (via online comments): Those statistics are not surprising, my husband and I came to this country 5 years ago and have not been able to get a job in our field even though we have the qualifications and have acquired the so called “Canadian experience” through volunteering, which by the way does not take you anywhere, since in the environmental sector most of the companies operate through volunteers. We have applied to every job that we have the skills for and have received no response at all. We have tried all the job search programs through different agencies available in the city, but at the end all they want, is that you get a job in anything (not exactly in your field), so they can increase their own statistics and keep receiving their grants.
It is very disappointing to go to a meeting in be advised to change your careers for nursery or plumbing, because there is where the jobs are, after you have passed through the university and work hard to learn and get the skills you have.
I am going to tell you what is left for us as immigrants, two ways, one is going back to the university and getting into a huge debt hoping to make enough connections and that the title helps you somehow, and the other (what most of the people do) is to start cleaning “your houses and offices” and being underpaid for the rest of your life.

Tavia Grant, workplace reporter: Hi Ana. Thanks for your insights. One challenge you alluded to is just how swiftly the labour market changes -- often by the time people go through retraining and do the volunteer work, the skills shortages will have shifted and the hiring moved elsewhere. It's a conundrum not easily resolved. But at least one national body is investigating this issue -- the Advisory Panel on Labour Market Information, which is being headed by Toronto-Dominion Bank chief economist Don Drummond. Its recent report strongly recommended Canada improve its system of collecting and sharing information on labour market trends. Hopefully, the recommendations of this panel will go some way towards improving our understanding of future labour needs.
You mentioned volunteering and going through job searches…to those I would add mentoring -- finding someone in your field willing to take time to provide advice -- along with networking in any capacity you can. There are more and more ways to network, especially online, and many people in this recession have been able to land a job thanks to networking.

juvarya8 (via online comments): I agree - despite all the talk of Canada being open to immigrants, my experience has been a tough slog with little help along the way. I had a degree from the University of London and over 4 years of relevant work experience when I moved here. I moved here for school and got some Canadian educational experience as well as some temp jobs along the way. Result? Nothing. If it wasn’t UBC or SFU employers did not have the imagination to understand my qualifications.
I have highly qualified New Zealand friends who get turned down for simple administrative jobs because they ’have an accent’. The job market here is provincial and insular, and the immigration policy seems to be to welcome over qualified people then make them drive cabs. The safest place to have a heart attack in Vancouver is in the back of a taxi as your driver is probably a fully qualified physician.
My dad is a psychiatrist - a highly in demand profession - and he is only allowed to work on a temporary permit. How do people make life decisions when everything is temporary? Plus, on losing a job the immigrant doesn’t just have to face unemployment, they may have to repatriate to a country where, after 4 or 5 years, they don’t know anyone and leave a fully developed network in Canada. I faced this situation last year after a re-structuring and was told I had 4 weeks to find another job - that was also open minded enough to sponsor me - or to go home. After 4 years of living here and over $30,000 in university fees, and 2 years of paying taxes and EI! Shame on the Canadian immigration system and so called support services.

Far Side (via online comments): We need to have filters for sure and we do need to be flexible enough for new comers to get certified in their field in a standard manner. My beef is with the OMA which systematically puts up barriers to take care of their own first. A good example is the OMA which will allow doctors from third world countries such as South Africa to get through quickly but put up high barriers to those who graduate from England and Europe. Somehow, it seems as there is disproportionate discrimination and we want to have this systemic behavior exposed and explained Of course this is a touch subject but can someone please explain why doctors from South Africa or Israel are better trained than those from England and Europe?

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: Unfortunately the experiences posted in the comments are neither unique nor new. The fact of skilled immigrant underemployment speaks to a labour market failure that we are seeing across the country. The accounts posted here are important because they highlight the barriers and challenges that many immigrants face; no Canadian work experience, credentials not recognized, lack of networks to tap into the hidden job market, and discrimination. Some of the particular occupations mentioned require a longer or separate debate, like doctors. They are complex and involve many players.
I think that in many cases we have seen change happen over the last 10 years. There are regulatory bodies taking steps to be more effective at recognizing credentials, in Ontario a Fairness Commissioner has been appointed to oversee the regulatory bodies, more employers are actively involved in finding solutions, and governments are working more together on the issue. Initiatives like the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council are focused on bringing these players together and to initiate action that will better connect immigrants to employers and vice versa. But there is much more still to be done, and it will be important to keep this issue on the radar so that we can continue making progress and change happen.

Claire Neary, Reportonbusiness.com: Thanks, Elizabeth. Can you tell us about what is being done to prepare immigrants for the job market in Canada before they arrive. What overseas programs/initiatives are under way?

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: The federal government has funded an overseas initiative called the Canadian Immigration Integration Project (CIIP) http://ciip.accc.ca/ which provides information, referral and counselling services to immigrants approved for visas in Guangzhou (China), New Delhi (India) and Manila (Philippines). These services are supporting the skilled worker program so that better information and more effective linkages can begin before immigrants arrive.
As well, the Foreign Credential Referral Office of the federal government has an online platform www.credentials.gc.ca for providing information to immigrants before they arrive and once they are in Canada, and also information for employers. On this site there is a very useful online tool, Working in Canada, that allows an immigrant to input their occupation and explore the opportunities and requirements by province and even community. Information on licensing requirements, labour market opportunities, salary expectations and more can be found using this tool.

John Meyer, Midland: Dear Elizabeth, Through out my 45 year working life I've seen scores of examples of immigrant labour being used to undercut wage rates and do "the dirty low paid jobs" Canadians don't want to do. This seemingly unlimited pool of cheap labour has resulted in the Canada having the lowest rate of productivity increase in the OECD and lowest rate of percapita income increase for over 30 years.
It isn't surprising that immigrants are seeing the highest rate of job loss since the jobs they hold are the least valued and they are the first to go. Also, they are being displaced by the continued high rate of immigration (Canada has the highest percapita rate in the world over 40 years).
Are you looking at the problem from a perspective of slowing down the rate of immigration to a level which will allow the slack to go out of the unemployment pool and for wage rates to go up?

Tavia Grant, workplace reporter: Hi John, thanks for the question. Without getting into a policy discussion here, I'd like to make two points: as Canada's work force ages and our population growth slows, our government is banking on immigrants to fill key gaps in the labour market. By 2011, for example, the country will depend on immigration for net labour growth. That's the longer-term plan. In the short term, given that we know immigrants who arrive during recessions tend to face scarring in terms of their future career prospects, adapting policy is a huge challenge. Last week, the Toronto-based Maytree Foundation published a report on this very topic. The link is here: http://www.maytree.com/policy.

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: It is true that we can likely attribute much of the current unemployment figures being experienced by immigrants, especially those who have arrived in the last ten years, to that fact that they are highly represented in the manufacturing sector, which has taken the biggest hit in this recession. And I would also agree that underutilization of skills available in the market will have a negative effect on productivity.
But I am not sure that we can say that they are being displaced by high rates of immigration generally. It is well established that we will need to grow our population, and in particular the skills in our labour market, if we want to be able to compete in a global market. As such, I would not suggest that the answer is to slow down the rate of immigration, but rather to invest in the effective utilization of those skills so that the local economies can grow, compete and prosper. It is absolutely in our best interest and in the interest of productivity to get those skills to work.

Claire Neary, Reportonbusiness.com: And what would you say is the role of employers in addressing these statistics?

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: Employers need to be creative in this challenging time. Immigrants and the skills they bring are one way to do this. They bring skills (including language skills), knowledge and social networks that can help us to reach out to emerging markets like China and India, particularly at a time when the U.S. economy is faltering. There are many examples of how companies are doing this already.
For example, Nytric Limited, a Mississauga-based innovation-consulting and venture technology firm, with input from their Indian-born staff, altered a family DVD game to reflect the colloquialisms of South Asian cultures and increased the product’s marketing appeal overseas. Employees fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese help the company negotiate with Chinese suppliers and oversee international manufacturing. http://www.hireimmigrants.ca/who/1/3RBCea
In addition, employers need to be need to be recovery-ready. With the Bank of Canada reporting that the end of the recession is in sight, employers need to be thinking about their long-term talent strategies.
The Canadian-born workforce is shrinking and by 2011 all of our labour force growth is predicted to come from immigration. In this context, employers need to figure out how best to maximize the talents of immigrants. Resources like www.hireimmigrants.ca can help employers.

Tavia Grant, workplace reporter: Many employers by now are aware of the business sense of diversifying their work force. Implementing it, though, poses other challenges. The strategy won't work without some frank and open dialogue, not just about the importance and benefits of diversity but also the fact that culture does shape behaviour, and we may not all go about things the same way. We may not speak English as a first language. We may have different notions of time, personal space or humour. It's an ongoing process, and there are plenty of success stories -- from Steam Whistle brewery in Toronto to IBM Canada. It's certainly an opportunity to set a global example of how to manage a truly international, diverse work force.

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: Tavia, Steam Whistle Brewing and IBM Canada are strong examples and also online at www.hireimmigrants.ca/who.

Cíntia: Canada wants to attract skilled workers and professionals to join the country’s skilled workforce, however when most immigrants with those skills are here, they find it very hard and sometimes impossible to find a job that suits their qualifications since they are not able in many cases to obtain a proper recognition of their credentials in Canada. Professional associations have very Canadian criteria and fail to have the international perspective to be applied to foreign professions. Then, after the professionals immigrate they find it to be almost impossible to find a job in their field due to the lack of Canadian professional credentials. Because of this, Canada’s policy to attract skilled professionals fails to reach its primary objective which is to have new skilled professionals joint the country’s skilled workforce.
How does the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council see this problem and how is it working to find a solution for it? Thank you.

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: Cintia, you rightly point out many of the challenges and barriers that immigrants face. And I agree that these run counter to the objectives of Canadian immigration policy. TRIEC was established with primary purpose of bringing together all the stakeholders that have a role to play in this issue, and they are many (employers, professional associations, occupational regulatory bodies, credential assessment services, community agencies that serve immigrants, immigrant professional groups, labour, and all three levels of government) to find ways of working together to find solutions.
Our belief is that with all the players at one table, we are more likely to develop win-win solutions. Some of the initiatives that we have been able to develop with stakeholders have included Career Bridge www.careerbridge.ca , The Mentoring Partnership www.thementoringpartnership.com and www.hireimmigrants.ca . As well, we work in partnership with community agencies that serve immigrants directly and that provide effective employment programs for skilled immigrants. Links to these agencies can be found at http://www.thementoringpartnership.com/about-us/partner-organizations/

Claire Neary, Reportonbusiness.com: Thanks, Elizabeth. Here's another interesting online comment from a reader.

MyViewPoint (via online comments): CanuckDoug is onto part of the problem with immigration. Sham lawyers and "immigration consultants" operate a huge industry in most countries around the world where locals want to leave for a host of reasons - not the least of which is to find a (better) job.
These businesses charge (sometimes outrageous) fees to assist with the immigration process, and of course inflate the hopes and dreams of their clients with outright lies so they'll continue paying for "advice and assistance" until they are on a plane bound for one of our airports. Perhaps embassies in counties that are huge sources of emigrants should should "get the word out" that life in a new country isn't as easy as these promoters suggest.

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: You have highlighted a real problem that immigrants face. It is particularly challenging because it operates outside our jurisdiction. The Government of Canada has taken steps to address the issue, including the establishment of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC), an independent and self-regulating body for immigration consultants, tasked with identifying the various problems within the immigration consulting industry http://www.csic-scci.ca/ .
But this situation can also be addressed by ensuring that the good information about immigration is provided directly to prospective immigrants. Work that I mentioned above with CIIP and the FCRO are good examples of these efforts by the federal government.

Don: How do you account for the exodus of Chinese back to China and what are the figures?

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: While I am not familiar with the statistics specific to the Chinese community, I do know that the research tells us that not all immigrants who arrive to Canada decide to make this their permanent home. According to a recent study, about a third of male immigrants who are between the ages of 25 and 45 when they arrive decide to leave within 20 years.
Most problematically, half of these leave within their first year in Canada. Not surprisingly, the rate of departure is higher during economic downturns, suggesting that the motivating factor is a lack of economic opportunities. If we want to be able to keep this talent, and build this country from immigration, then we need to pay attention to these facts and create better strategies for including them in the economy.

JMS: Hi Elizabeth, In the wake of Naomi Alboim’s recent report on the stare of our immigration system, I dub a little further into what some of the outcomes were of the shift towards immigrants coming in through the Provincial Nominee Program and the Foreign Temporary Worker program. While Canada’s overall demographics (our population pyramid now looks like a pine tree) indicate that immigrants should have an easier time finding employment in the coming years, the numbers available from BC suggest an immigration dynamic that seems to run counter to the nature of CIC’s Foreign Skilled Worker stream: these programs result in a de facto pre-screening mechanism that could be reinforcing the systemic biases that have made it difficult for FSW immigrants to find skills-appropriate employment.
For example, BC’s PNP has the following percentage breakdown for its top five source countries:

UK: 36.3%
USA: 23.5%
China: 17.6%
Germany: 11.8%
Korea: 10.8%

Whereas the top five source countries for immigrants coming to BC through the FSW stream is as follows:

China: 36.8%
India: 23.1%
Philippines: 17.6%
USA: 11.8%
Korea: 10.7%

As PNP immigrants need to have a job offer in place before applying, this would seem to suggest that employers’ preferences for attributes such as accent-free language skills and North American or European work experience are now de facto admission factors. This makes employment prospects for FSW immigrants even dimmer. What are your thoughts on how to address this paradoxical reality?

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: Thank you for this question, it is important. Since the 1970s, our federal immigration policy has intended to be as bias-free as possible, and it is very debatable that a system that relies on individual employers to select immigrants can produce the same effect. As Naomi's report points out, there have been no formal evaluations of the various Provincial Nominee Programs. But we do know that skilled immigrants who are selected on the basis of their human capital by the federal government have the best labour market outcomes of all immigrants to Canada. The growth of the provincial nominee programs and the temporary worker program at the expense of the skilled immigrant program therefore is something that we should all be concerned about. This is not to say employers shouldn't play an important role in immigration. But it is the federal government that should define our national interest and use immigration as a tool to meet these objectives.

Sean: Is there something being done to encourage employers to look at people with foreign credentials? It is a proven fact that diverse teams are more successful but that does not seem to be the logic in the Canadian market.

Tavia Grant, workplace reporter: Hi Sean. The recession tilted things upside down. Before the recession, many employers were more willing to recognize foreign credentials -- particularly in Alberta, where labour shortages caused by a booming economy were so acute. Then the downturn happened. Companies starting laying people off. The few that are hiring now have a huge pool to choose from. As Karol Adamowicz, director of careers services and research at the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, told me last week, "there's a lot of people for employers to choose from now, so they're not willing to take a risk on an immigrant whose credentials may or may not be clear. Employers are being more picky.”
That trend should shift again once the economy recuperates, hiring picks up and employers compete over attracting the best people. That, however, will take months and possibly years. In the meantime, the federal government allocated more funds towards recognizing foreign credentials in its latest budget; I have no idea how effective that has been.

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: Thank you Sean. You are right, research tells us that diverse teams are more innovative, more creative and more productive. Encouraging employers to look at hiring individuals with foreign credentials is a matter of communicating the business case to them.
In Toronto, we have found some of the larger employers understand the business case -- they know their markets are diverse and that they need diverse teams to effectively reach their market. Larger employers have the capacity to develop strategies and approaches to this.
TRIEC works to get this message to small and medium sized employers. It is quite possible that given their limited human resources capacity, there could be a role for government to support them in this and even create incentives.

Claire Neary, Reportonbusiness.com: Elizabeth and Tavia, thanks so much for taking the time to answer so many diverse questions from our readers.

Tavia Grant, workplace reporter: Claire, thanks for the chance to field questions on such a pressing issue. And thank you to Mohammed, Mehdi, Sanjeev, Bhagwan and others who shared their personal stories of hope and frustration. Their accounts of the struggle to find meaningful work, to be contributing members of Canadian society, and to provide better lives for their children, were profoundly moving. This is an important macro story for all Canadians. But the micro side -- the individual experiences -- are what breathed life into the story. T.

Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council: Thank you again for including TRIEC in this discussion.
It is very important that we have these kinds of open discussions on immigration, on what’s working and what can be improvedThis recession is affecting many people, both new Canadians and the Canadian-born. Increasingly, and particularly in Canadian cities, immigrant employment is not a separate issue from overall workforce development; immigrants have become a central part of the country’s labour force strategy. The focus for policy makers and employers must be to recognize the skills that immigrants are bringing. This will ensure that as the recovery unfolds, we are ready to increase our productivity and compete internationally.

Claire Neary, Reportonbusiness.com: Thanks as well to all of our readers who took the time to send in questions and post comments on our discussion.
Elizabeth has provided some helpful links where more information can be found:

For employers:
Visit www.hireimmigrants.ca where you can find tools and resources to help your organizations better recruit, retain and integrate skilled immigrants, as well as case studies on businesses that have already leveraged this talent pool.
To learn about what initiatives are happening in your community, visit www.maytree.com/allies.

For immigrants who haven’t yet found work in their field:
In the GTA: Learn about The Mentoring Partnership at www.thementoringpartnership.com
Find out about internships at www.careerbridge.ca
Job search support, language training and other programs at www.casip.ca
Read immigrant success stories here www.triec.ca/20journeys

For programs in Ontario visit: www.settlement.org

Across the country: www.goingtocanada.gc.ca


Related Information
* Immigrants take brunt of recession, recover less quickly Friday, Jul. 24, 2009 10:29PM EDT
* Why women are ‘the reserve army of labour' Friday, Jul. 24, 2009 10:52PM EDT
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Latest Comments

fridge

7/28/2009 7:54:47 AM
This is a fascinating topic that I've had quite some experience with. I'm an Australian ex-pat who married a New Brunswicker and who had 15 years' experience in my field when I arrived. After my first few job applications, (the companies that got back to me) told me that my international experience "didn't count" because I didn't have any Canadian qualificiations.
I didn't give up, however; I packed my family up, took a job that apparently no Canadian wanted in my field (the position was in the North) and built my credentials all over again.
While yes, it was a frustrating experience, ultimately it's worked out well. I worked my way back up in my field and have found a great place to work in Nova Scotia.
I guess my point is this: the corporate world in Canada does indeed seem to discriminate against "foreigners", even if they do "speak the language" (thanks, Jason Kenny) and have relevant qualifications.
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MyViewPoint​

7/28/2009 7:35:18 AM
CanuckDoug is onto part of the problem with immigration. Sham lawyers and "immigration consultants" operate a huge industry in most countries around the world where locals want to leave for a host of reasons - not the least of which is to find a (better) job.

These businesses charge (sometimes outrageous) fees to assist with the immigration process, and of course inflate the hopes and dreams of their clients with outright lies so they'll continue paying for "advice and assistance" until they are on a plane bound for one of our airports.

Perhaps embassies in counties that are huge sources of emigrants should should "get the word out" that life in a new country isn't as easy as these promoters suggest.
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Guy Olivier

7/28/2009 7:00:41 AM
I think "poor immigrant" is a phony individual. I think he is someone playing the part of an immigrant and posting negative stereotypes. He wants to move to LA... hugely expensive city because he can make it there and spewing hateful comments on every story. Then he posts "When humans show teeth it's a smile, when an animal does, start running" in perfect english. I think it's someone playing on illiterate stereotypes.
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Shamim

7/28/2009 4:13:14 AM
The sad part of the story is that an Immigrant is encouraged with dreams to leave everything back home and come to Canada , but when he comes here he finds that all his experience and degrees are good for nothing ? its quite rampant to see an Engineer or IT Proefessional with tons of experience working as a Labor , even now when any company is asking for Labor a Degree +PC literacy and highly polished interpersonel communications skills are appreciated ? I can understand it would be difficult to trust a Doctor with alien degree ? but not each and every profession ? 99 % of the people I know fall into this group, and are working as menial labor ? what an insult?
One intresting point to note ,that it seems many big companies in Canada have Managers who does not have any work to do except taking interviews , its not uncommon to imagine 12 interviews for an opening in labor category ? well I can understand having couple of interviews for a highly paid jobs ? but for hiring a sales person ???
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B_.

7/28/2009 1:32:50 AM
I am sure that it is difficult to pass into the bar or become a doctor when you're an immigrant, but considering a lot of these countries give drivers licenses out of a cereral box (as long as you pay a bribe for it), I surely don't want to see a lot of third world medical degrees valid in Canada. However, they should start recognizing things from countries that have standards the same or greater than ours.
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Editor's Note: Thank you to everyone who submitted questions for our discussion.