CIMM Committee Report

During the Thirty-Ninth Parliament, Second Session, the Committee travelled across Canada from March 31 to April 17, hearing from witnesses on temporary foreign workers and non-status (or undocumented)[1] workers, along with two other topics. Over a three-week period, we received over a hundred written briefs (see Appendix B) and heard from dozens of witnesses (see Appendix A) in the 12 cities where we stopped: Vancouver, Edmonton, Moosejaw, Winnipeg, Kitchener-Waterloo, Scarborough, Toronto, Dorval, Québec City, Fredericton, Halifax and St. John’s.  The present Committee felt it important to finish this work during the 40^th Parliament.

Temporary foreign workers and non status workers have different stories of entry to Canada, different legal statuses, and different opportunities for social and economic participation in Canadian life. However, they share non-permanent status and vulnerability to abuse, meet some of the same labour market shortages, and both face barriers to attaining permanent residency.

Part I of this report focuses on Canada’s immigration programs for temporary foreign workers. It addresses the current situation and vision for the future, opportunities for transitioning from temporary to permanent resident status, and various aspects of the temporary foreign worker programs themselves, including administration, worker protection, and worker experience.

Part II of this report focuses on non-status workers, a term adopted by the Committee in the course of this study. It addresses means of stemming the growth of the population of non-status workers.