Since last July, Community Outreach Services has seen a significant increase in the number of temporary foreign workers coming into its office looking for help with visitors visas, while they seek other employment opportunities in Jasper.
Lisa Darrah is the manager of COS. She said that temporary foreign workers often come to her looking for help, but the volume of people coming in since July is new.
She speculates that the increase is the result of recent changes to the temporary foreign worker program announced last June.
Those changes were a result of an overhaul of the program by Minister of Employment and Social Development Jason Kenney.
When the Canadian government initiated the temporary foreign workers program it was originally indented to bring temporary employees to regions lacking a suitable work force.
But over the years the program grew significantly in size and scope, and Kenney’s crackdown came after a ballooning of the program and media reports of systemic abuse of TFWs by some business owners.
In a press conference, June 20, Kenney announced a long list of changes that he said were designed to limit use of the temporary foreign worker program, so that hiring temporary foreign workers becomes a “last resort” for business owners.
For the most part, Jasper business owners—many of whom have used the program heavily—are still trying to wrap their heads around the new rules, and none were able to tell the Fitzhugh with certainty how they believe the changes will eventually impact Jasper.
But if the flow of workers to COS is any indication, those changes are already making their mark.
Bernhard Schneider, the general manager of Mountain Park Lodges, pointed out that the June overhaul changed the nature of the program, leaving many temporary foreign workers who are already in Canada in limbo.
In the past, Schneider said, Labour Market Opinions—commonly known as LMOs—were good for two years, and employers had the option to extend them to a total of four years. But the New Labour Market Impact Analyses that replaced LMOs are good for only one year, and can’t be extended to the previous four years.
Because of the new rules, re-applying for an LMIA for existing employees is also much more difficult.
In the past, the temporary foreign worker program used to offer a viable path to permanent residency in Canada, and it wasn’t uncommon for TFWs in Jasper to bring spouses or children to Canada not long after arriving here, with the hope they would eventually become permanent residents.
The changes to the program have left many of the workers who envisioned that path worried about their security, and unsure if they will be able to stay.
“For this short time, while there’s this transition, we’ve seen a lot more workers coming in maybe trying to find a new employer, or trying to navigate the new system,” Darrah said. “People are scrambling.”
“[Having to leave Canada], making that sudden life change for people after they’ve got their kids here and maybe their husband or whatever else is scary,” Schneider said. “They’re looking, I think, through [Community Outreach Services] to help them through that.”
The reason COS has seen many of these people come through its doors is that there’s no official support for temporary foreign workers through the Alberta government.
Workers here on LMIAs—many with limited language skills—are desperate to find a way to stay, but have very little resources to navigate the system here in Jasper.
Darrah pointed out that while COS exists to help everyone in the community, it’s not exactly properly equipped to help temporary foreign workers.
“Community Outreach Services is here to assist, but a lot of outreach workers haven’t been trained in navigating those systems,” she said.
She said she would like to see more funding for Family and Community Support Services—which funds COS in Jasper—to allow them to provide more professional help to clients.
But until that happens, and the fate of workers hired though the temporary foreign worker program is no longer up in the air, it’s likely COS will continue to be the best option for them.
Trevor Nichols
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