City Council is in favour of supporting calls to delay potential changes to the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program.
Earlier this year Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced it was decreasing the number of temporary residents in the country from 6.5 per cent to five.
In September, the IRCC announced additional measures are coming to manage the amount of temporary resident arrivals.
One of the changes is updating the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program (PGWP) to better align with immigration goals and labour market needs.
At the November 13 Inter-Governmental Affairs Committee meeting organizations, including the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission (CEDC) and Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) expressed concerns over the reforms.
“From a presentation that the CEDC made to intergovernmental affairs, they, along with the Chamber of Commerce, are incredibly concerned and alarmed with regard to the decision by the federal government on the immigration piece,” said Committee Chair, Councillor Kristen Oliver. “They’re concerned that this seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to dealing with immigration without taking into consideration the ramifications on this on a larger scale.”
“The impact that we’ll see in some of the smaller communities like Thunder Bay is that we won’t have the workforce to support a lot of the jobs that we have vacant right now.”
According to the committee, programs at Confederation College that are aligned with the needs of employers in northwestern Ontario, including fields such as engineering, dental hygiene, early childhood education, and business are being excluded from the update to the PGWP.
“It’s important to understand that the postgraduate work permit program does not displace domestic students,” explained Oliver. “It does not impact the students that we have living here in this region… but what’s very concerning and we see this every day, is that fields such as engineering, dental hygiene, early childhood education and business are experiencing significant skill shortages right now and it is threatening businesses.”
The committee feels that northwestern Ontario, unlike urban areas in other parts of Canada, may be better positioned to welcome new residents and address labour shortages without overwhelming resources like housing.
The hope is that directing immigration efforts toward the region will help to revitalize local economies and contribute to the region’s growth.
The organization that met with the committee have submitted letters to the Prime Minister and Minister of Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship, urging the Federal Government to delay implementing the PGWP reforms beyond November 1.
They believe this delay would allow for meaningful engagement with stakeholders to ensure the program meets the region’s unique labour market needs and prevents disruptions to businesses and educational programs.
At Monday night’s Committee of the Whole meeting, council voted in favour of submitting their own calls to the government to delay the implementation.
Barring approval at City Council, the plan is to send a copy of their concerns to the Prime Minister and Minister of Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship as well as to the Presidents of Confederation College and Lakehead University.
