issues: Immigration reform
Canada’s Building Trades Unions is wholeheartedly supportive of immigration. The contribution of immigrants to Canada’s construction sector is incalculable. CBTU advocates for an immigration system that focuses on permanent and sustainable immigration that provides all newcomers with a path to permanent residence, citizenship, and full participation in Canada’s unionized construction sector as a prerequisite of any holistic immigration policy. We oppose all programs that do not provide a realistic pathway to citizenship for immigrants who come to Canada to help build our country.
Canada’s Building Trades Unions also recognizes that many global skilled trades workers may wish to undertake work in Canada, but not make it their permanent home. Canada’s Building Trades Unions supports cross-border mobility programs and temporary foreign worker programs only where there is a lack of available Canadians who can undertake the work, and so long as the individuals who are visiting Canada to work earn the prevailing wages and benefits that a domestic Canadian worker could expect.
Canada’s Building Trades Unions believes reforms to improve the permanent immigration system are needed: to address systemic selection bias, to effectively target immigration towards addressing long-term demographic-driven skilled trades labour shortages, and to build a strong and resilient skilled trades labour force for the future.
Our reccomendations
- The levels bias in immigrant selection must be addressed. Invitations to apply under Express Entry remain disproportionally weighted in favour of university graduates. A systematic review of the underlying NOC TEER classification system is required to address systemic bias.
- The government should make changes to the Federal Skilled Trades Program, and conduct additional targeted intakes in cooperation with Canada’s Building Trades Unions and industry.
- Reforming Express Entry to significantly enhance points for arranged skilled trades employment and aligning National Occupational Classification (NOC) labour force demands, so sectors dependent on skilled trades can better utilize immigration programs to build a sustainable, permanent, skilled trades workforce.
- Lowering the Federal Skilled Trades Program’s language requirements. CLB Level 5 is overly onerous and contributes to a barrier-to-entry for FSTP applicants. Canada’s Building Trades Unions would like to see CLB Level 4 applied to the FSTP program.
- Canada’s Building Trades Unions would like to see additional points awarded under Express Entry for validated job offers from employers in remote, rural, and smaller urban centres to address acute labour shortages. These projects typically have long lead times that align with the length of processing for applicants.
POLICY IN DEPTH
In Depth: Skilled Trades Immigration Reform is Neccessary
Skilled trades immigration is necessary to meet growing labour market demand and to address the aging skilled trades workforce. According to BuildForce Canada, the construction sector will be short approximately 85,000 workers by 2033. This gap must be filled, but it must be done sustainably. While industry recognizes the issue – the Federal Government’s overall immigration programs and attempts to address the forecasted decadal gap in labour supply for skilled trades has been lackluster.
Of the four ‘economic class’ immigration programs run by the Government of Canada, each have failed to address the unique needs of the construction sector, including the Federal Skilled Worker Program, to attract permanent residents to work in the skilled trades. Instead, provinces have resorted to using their Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) to fill acute gaps in skilled trades labour force needs. Canada’s Building Trades Unions believe systematic reforms are necessary to sustain the unionized construction workforce in Canada over the next decade.
The systemic flaws in Federal immigration policies have also exacerbated national challenges with temporary residency programs being used in the construction sector, with employers using these programs to acquire cheap foreign labour and suppress wages. CBTU believes significant reforms are necessary.
In Depth: Selection Bias in Immigration Programs
For the past two decades, the construction industry has been grappling with regionalized and temporarily acute labour shortages. Driven by spikes in industrial investment in Western Canada, these challenges first emerged in the early 2000s’ and became common across Canada, affecting nearly every province and region. While temporary labour shortages are not unique to the construction sector, the shortages have been exacerbated by Federal immigration policy.
Over the last decade, the selection criteria for landed immigrants have focused increasingly on individuals with post-graduate educations. People with skilled trades experience and certifications have struggled to meet the points requirements for entry under federal programs. While Journeyworkers will have spent an equivalent amount of work-study time acquiring their Red Seal, an individual with a post-graduate degree will be classified as significantly ‘higher-skilled’ in National Occupational Classification (NOC) Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) codes, and thus disadvantaged in immigration programs under the primary federal permanent immigration programs.
Evidence from BuildForce suggests there is a strong, systemic bias within the Government of Canada’s immigration department against skilled trades workers. According to the Express Entry Year-End Report in 2022, there were few, if any ‘Invitations to Apply’ (ITAs) for landed immigrant status for the construction sector under the Federal permanent immigration pathways.
Of the 46,539 ITAs issued, 46% were candidates with Master’s Degrees, 40% for individuals with Bachelor’s Degrees, and 4% to individuals with PhDs. Software engineers and designers received the largest number of ITAs at 3,848, but there were few, if any ITAs issued to individuals with skills in the construction sector. This is despite the fact there is a known decadal demand issue, and recent struggles with labour supply. No construction professions ranked within the top 15 professions of those with approved ITAs. Canada’s Building Trades Unions believes a review of National Occupational Classification (NOC) Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) codes is required to address systemic bias against skilled trades workers.
