The Media Roundup provides links to recent and archived articles, in both English and French, on immigration and diversity appearing in the national and local news. Some international content is also included. Articles are updated weekly.
City News – What could Legault-Trudeau meeting mean for asylum seekers?
A Montreal man helping asylum seekers settle in Quebec is feeling cautiously optimistic about this week’s meeting between Premier François Legault and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the topic of immigration. Legault and Trudeau are meeting in Quebec City on Monday. The Quebec premier is asking Ottawa for $1 billion to pay for asylum seekers; a better distribution of asylum seekers throughout the country; and for Quebec to have a say in selecting temporary foreign workers – with French language skills being a priority.
La Presse – Le PLQ propose au gouvernement de rapatrier le Programme de mobilité internationale
À la veille d’une rencontre entre les premiers ministres Justin Trudeau et François Legault au sujet de l’immigration, le porte-parole du Parti libéral du Québec (PLQ) en matière d’immigration, André Albert Morin, demande au gouvernement de la CAQ de rapatrier la gestion du Programme de mobilité internationale, qui est présentement entre les mains du fédéral. Le Programme de mobilité internationale permet aux employeurs « d’embaucher un travailleur temporaire sans obtenir une étude d’impact sur le marché du travail », peut-on lire sur le site web du gouvernement fédéral.
Toronto Star – Immigration Department document hints at changes for international students’ work permits
Foreign students would have to graduate from programs tied to labour shortages, under proposed changes in a document obtained by the Star. International students would have to graduate from programs tied to labour shortages and meet new language requirements to get a work permit after graduation under changes contemplated by the Immigration Department. With a cap in place to rein in the number of international students, Immigration Minister Marc Miller has recently hinted at coming changes to the rules on postgraduation work permits. A survey distributed by his department to colleges and universities has offered a glimpse at what those changes would encompass.
La Presse – Forte hausse des entorses aux normes du travail
Si l’explosion du nombre de travailleurs étrangers temporaires joue un rôle important pour combler des besoins du marché du travail, elle occasionne aussi des dommages collatéraux : le nombre d’employeurs qui ont commis des infractions dans le traitement de ces travailleurs explose aussi. Le nombre d’entorses aux normes du travail est passé, au Québec, de 14 en 2022 à 111 en 2023. On observe également une très forte augmentation des lésions professionnelles chez tous les travailleurs, lesquelles ont triplé depuis 2018.
CBC News – Quebec wants to make the most of its constitutional powers with help from a new committee
Quebec has mandated six experts to examine how to take full advantage of its powers outlined in Canada’s Constitution, particularly for matters related to immigration, language and secularism. The creation of the advisory committee comes on the last day of the spring parliamentary session, and before Premier François Legault meets with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday. Both leaders are expected to discuss Quebec’s demands concerning immigration, namely Legault’s call to change the federal international mobility program, through which 80 per cent of Quebec’s temporary foreign workers are selected.
Yahoo Finance Canada – Immigration caps, low unemployment to further squeeze Canadian businesses: Desjardins
With various unemployment figures at or near record lows, the Canadian government’s planned limits on non-permanent residents (NPRs) will add to the struggles of the hospitality and retail sectors, a Desjardins economist says. Canada’s unemployment rate edged up to 6.2 per cent in May, according to Statistics Canada, in line with forecasts. The shortage of people waiting to work presents a future problem for employers in food, accommodation and other sectors that typically employ many NPRs and that may not be able to depend on that source of labour.
