More baby steps in immigration reform, but is it enough?

In the past month, Citizenship and Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney has been announcing a series of small changes to Canada’s immigration policies. The most recent changes concern the Live-in Caregivers program. This program is just one of many within Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) Program, allowing qualified individuals to provide care to children, elderly people or people with disabilities within a private home.

On Saturday Kenney announced what he called “significant improvements” for Live-in Caregivers (LiCs) in Canada. Currently LiCs have to complete two years of work in Canada within a three year period in order to be able to apply for permanent residency. The proposed changes extend the period to four years to accommodate things like pregnancy, illness, job loss and other factors that might hinder work time.

The time of two years of required work will be measured in hours, in order to allow for flexibility. LiCs will have to work 3,900 hours, which is equivalent to a standard work week for two years. But the use of hours will allow the inclusion of a portion of overtime worked.

In addition, under the proposed changes employers are required to be upfront about job responsibilities, rates of pay and benefits to incoming LiCs. Employers are also responsible for the travel and insurance costs of LiCs. This is supposed to ensure safety from exploitation and to promote the rights of all care givers.

Like other changes to immigration policy, including the recent plans for recognition of foreign credentials, and the Parliamentary Report from May 2009, these proposals address long standing concerns within immigration policy. But like the other changes, these proposals are also fairly limited considering the scope of Canada’s immigration policies.

Critics argue the government’s enforcement mechanism of these standards is weak. The ideas look good on paper, but in the end there is no way to ensure that employers are following such standards with their care givers unless governments provide sufficient monitoring and enforcement.

Other critics call for the immediate granting of permanent residency for LiCs who enter Canada. This would ensure the same rights be granted to care givers as all Canadians, and it would allow the families of LiCs to be reunited faster, rather than waiting for several years to begin this process.

LiCs represent just a small scope of immigration policy, within Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) program. Currently, LiCs are the only TFW eligible for residency under federal regulations (some provinces allow for quicker processing within certain industries). Thousands of other TFW come to Canada every year, often working under less than ideal conditions, and are not eligible to legally stay and work in Canada after their work term is completed.

The proposed changes for Live-in Caregivers are a step in the right direction, but is it enough? What about the thousands of other Temporary workers coming to Canada? Will the government step in to ensure better programs and protection of these workers? We will have to wait and see as the proposals are unveiled piece by piece.

In a story from today’s Globe and Mail there was a strong argument from immigration lawyer Richard Kurland for Canada’s new immigration policies to focus on integrating TFWs already in Canada, instead of reducing immigration quotas. Upon obtaining a report from Canadian Border Services detailing the increased levels of migration brought on in part by global recession, Kurland argues securing those already in Canada is the best way to reshape Canada’s immigration policies while at the same time improving our economy.