How the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship can support inclusive recovery and growth

After over a year-and-a-half of lockdowns and sacrifice, Canadians are seeing the benefits of their efforts to stop COVID-19. The pandemic is not over, but we can now look beyond COVID to plan for our future. Now, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce is writing “mandate letters” to members of the Cabinet with policy priorities that will support growth of the Canadian economy.

Immigration plays a central role in Canada’s inclusive recovery and growth, adding to the diversity of communities across the country and in all industries. With the country’s aging population and low birth rate, alongside job vacancies and a skills mismatch in the Canadian labour market, new Canadians – including international students and temporary foreign workers – are an important source of talent pipelines, in the short and long term.

The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship should:

• Engage in robust labour market analysis of the labour market, from both the supply and demand sides to better understand the labour market needs across the country and improve immigrant planning levels.

• Continue to decentralize the immigration selection process and support local solutions built by communities to address community workforce needs. 

• Modernize the Temporary Foreign Worker program, with a focus on implementing a Trusted Employers Program.

• Facilitate and expand pathways to permanent residency for temporary foreign workers and international students.

• Expedite and reduce the complexity of foreign qualification recognition.
  
• Work with the Minister of Transport and Minister of Health to implement an interoperable digital health credential. This should be interoperable across provincial boundaries and support international mobility.

To see all 21 of our mandate letters to ministers, click here.