58 LEXPERT MAGAZINE
|
OCTOBER 2017
| IN-HOUSE ADVISOR: HIRING FOREIGN TALENT |
were more likely hiring foreigners to over-
come domestic retention problems. "In our
opinion, this type of situation appeared to
be a retention problem and not a labour
shortage problem. ... ese findings matter
because … Canadians expect the [govern-
ment] to manage the program in a way that
makes sure the [TFWP] is used to respond
to real Canadian labour shortages."
GLOBAL SKILLS STRATEGY
Business immigration lawyers, meanwhile,
emphasize that highly specialized for-
eign workers, provide essential skills and
help the economy grow, ultimately creat-
ing more jobs for Canadians. Abusers of
the system are few, but provoke dramatic
headlines while obscuring the value of the
Temporary Foreign Workers Program to
the Canadian economy. Some even suggest
that sensitivity to headlines has led to more
layers of unreasonable processing.
Lawyers who spend their days trying to
make the system work for their corporate
clients say the federal government's newly
announced Global Skills Strategy, de-
signed to fast-track approvals for the most
highly skilled, highly-paid positions, is a
welcome step on the road back to accessible
foreign talent.
Ottawa has pledged to reduce wait times
to 10 working days each for Labour Market
Impact Assessments (LMIAs) and another
10 days for the work permits that are pro-
cessed only aer favourable LMIAs have
been received. But business immigration
lawyers say time will tell whether the gov-
ernment can meet its own 10-plus-10-day
processing targets.
Caroline Phan, in-house counsel and
global manager of trans-border recruit-
ment for Montréal-based Bombardier Inc.,
says the global train and plane manufactur-
er only uses the TFWP when local recruit-
ing and inter-company transfers have not
found the necessary skills. At any one time,
she estimates Bombardier counts about
300 foreign workers in its Canadian work
force of about 17,000 people. She says her
employer is looking at using the new pro-
gram, in particular for bringing in top-level
technology specialists. But in Québec, she
says, 10-day LMIA processing is not yet a
reality. e federal Labour Market Impact
Assessment is combined with provincial
documentation, and the two levels of gov-
ernment have not yet agreed on a harmo-
nized process.
Phan says Canadian employers should
be aware that the Canadian process is "eas-
ier than in other countries [and] Canadian
authorities made a lot of efforts to improve
the program," accommodating employ-
ers while protecting the Canadian labour
market from potential abuse.
Chantal Arsenault, a business immigra-
tion specialist with Norton Rose Fulbright
Canada LLP in Montréal, says the new
Global Skills Strategy is "certainly an in-
dication that employers are being heard"
and that "everyone wants it to be success-
ful." But she says immigration lawyers have
heard 10-day promises in the past. "ere
was already a 10-day process. I say that with
a little bit of a smile because the 10-day pe-
riod starts when they say it starts," Arse-
nault says. "It starts when they open the ap-
plication. I've seen cases where it was more
than two weeks before the 10 days started."
One seasoned business immigration
lawyer calls the new Global Skills commit-
ment to 10-day approvals for certain high-
skill, very short-term positions "absolutely
brilliant." But he says the approval process
and the employer compliance review sys-
tem are still far too rigidly administered.
"Global Skills does nothing to address
that," he says. "e Labour Market Impact
Assessment is still there." But he adds, "e
current government is likely headed in the
right direction, especially if it addresses the
unduly harsh enforcement regime set up
under the former government. "Humanize
it," he urges. "Allow officers to exercise dis-
cretion and use common sense."
Jennifer McRae, a business immigration
lawyer with ompson Dorfman Sweat-
man LLP in Winnipeg, agrees there was a
definite "clampdown" on foreign-worker
approvals aer 2011 "due to a noticeable
abuse of the Temporary Foreign Worker
Program." Employer compliance reviews,
which were previously almost unknown,
CHANTAL ARSENAULT
>
NORTON ROSE
FULBRIGHT CANADA LLP
It's not a question
of cheap labour. It's costly
and time-consuming to hire
a foreign worker. They don't
do that when they have
a candidate in Canada
who could do the job.
ILLUSTRATION
BY
DAVID
SENIOR
