August 15, 2008

Canadian Construction Association

CCA welcomes proposed Canadian Experience Class program

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

Residency, work experience and language skill requirements in the proposed Canadian Experience Class program, designed to help foreign workers become permanent residents, meet industry concerns, says the Canadian Construction Association (CCA).

“We support these program measures,” said Michael Atkinson, president of the CCA. “They will allow some foreign workers who have gained experience in our industry to apply for residency without being exposed to a point-based system.”

Immigration Minister Diane Finley announced the details of the proposed Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program earlier this week. It aims to ease the transition to permanent-resident status for foreign workers experienced in a skilled occupation in Canada.

The program also applies to foreign student graduates with Canadian work experience.

“This new proposed avenue for immigration would also go further to spread the benefits of immigration into smaller centres across Canada,” Finley said in a statement.

Under the proposed CEC requirements temporary foreign workers would need to demonstrate the following minimum requirements under their occupational skill level:

•Temporary resident status in Canada at the time of their application

•Two years of skilled, professional or technical work experience

•Moderate or basic language skills, depending on occupational skill level

The requirements would be based on a pass/fail model with no point system like that of the federal Skilled Worker Program. If all the minimum requirements are met, the applicant is eligible. The proposed CEC requirements have been published in the August 9 edition of the Canada Gazette for a 15-day comment period.

“Construction firms that recruit abroad will benefit from this,” added Atkinson. “If they have workers they would like to see stay, this gives them another avenue because the only current one they really have is the Provincial Nominee program.”

The language proficiency requirement had been at the top of a list of concerns about the CEC at CCA’s annual conference this year in Victoria.

Various industry stakeholders wondered how large a part language proficiency needed to play if a foreign worker had been working safely and effectively on a Canadian construction site for two years.

Under the proposed CEC requirements presented this week, a worker in a skilled trade or technical occupation would have to prove basic language skills.

“Basic language skills means the applicant can communicate in predictable contexts and on familiar topics, but with some difficulty,” the CEC proposal states.

The federal government estimates that the CEC could help add 30,000 skilled immigrant workers to Canada’s workforce by 2013.

The CEC program carries an estimated cost of $83 million over five years with an estimated $25 million recovered through application fees.

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