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Category Archives: SAWP

Tips for newcomers immigrating to Canada

Canadian immigrants have a plethora of life and career choices. To counterbalance the ageing population, the federal government has implemented a number of immigration programs, including Express Entry, Provincial Nominee Programs, the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, and others. These programs have resulted in an increase in the number of well-educated, experienced, and skilled people in Canada.

New immigrants experience difficulties settling in and adjusting to life in Canada. Adapting to a new culture, time zone and climate may take a couple of weeks. Here are some tips you can follow to ease up this transition in Canada:

Apply for a SIN number

To work in Canada, you will need your Social Insurance Number, which is a nine-digit number. Your SIN will start with a ‘9’ if you are in Canada on a temporary work permit.

You may get a SIN at any Service Canada office and assuming that there is no rush, you will be able to get your SIN in about half an hour. You should not forget to bring your employment or study permit to your Service Canada appointment.

Purchase a local cell phone plan

The sooner you buy a local phone plan, the more you would be able to avoid your home provider’s expensive roaming charges. There are several options for Postpaid and Prepaid plans. The most popular phone carriers in Canada are Fido, Rogers, Bell, Telus, Virgin Mobile and Freedom.

Build your Network

Use networking tools like LinkedIn to meet people who were born and raised in Canada or have lived there for a long time to gain a better grasp of local culture and market trends. Consult with experts in your field to determine whether any certifications or licenses are required for your job.

To expand your understanding of local best practices, attend conferences, networking events, and workshops near your workplace or residence.

Open a Canadian bank account

It is very important to open up a bank account in Canada so you can manage your bills, debit card payments, and avoid possibly costly withdrawals from your existing account of your home country. Keep in mind that each bank checking accounts also known as ‘current accounts’ frequently come with monthly fees. This will also help you build a good credit history in Canada and facilitate your daily activities. Some of the most popular Banks in Canada include RBC, Scotiabank, TD Canada Trust, CIBC and BMO.

Apply for Canadian healthcare

Citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents of Canada may be eligible for public medical care, which varies by province and covers medical expenses. Each family member will receive a provincial or territory government-issued health card only if qualified.

Newcomers to several provinces and territories may be required to wait for a certain period before becoming eligible for public health insurance. You must apply for temporary private health insurance until you are eligible.

Be aware about your rights and duties

One of the most important things for you to learn is about your rights, obligations, advantages, and privileges, even before you arrive in Canada. Permanent Residents (PRs) of Canada have many of the same rights and advantages as citizens of Canada, while temporary residents have different rights.

These rights are defined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which provides legal protection for the people of Canada’s fundamental rights and freedoms.

Get help from organizations for newcomers

Local Newcomers organizations can help you to find a place to live or help you get settled in Canada. You can also reach out to them if you have questions about things like administrative procedures, transportation, the school system or finding a job. 

Moving to a new country is hard. There’s a lot to think about both before and after your arrival in Canada. To ensure your new adventure sail smoothly in Canada, take advantage of all the support available to you.

If you need any immigration help, feel free to contact us.

Canadian Workforce Plan 2022

In response to robust demand for workers, employers across Canada are looking to bump up salaries as a part of their 2022 workforce plan. Many employers are losing business and productivity due to labor shortage. To attract talent and to address labor constraints, employers are incentivizing local population and raising salaries of existing workforce.

LifeWorks survey report revealed that average salary in Canada would climb 2.7 percent in 2022, excluding firms that plan to freeze wages.

Base salaries are anticipated to rise in 2022, with an average yearly pay increase of 2.5 percent. Due to the tight labor market, employers are being compelled to make the most significant compensation adjustments in the last five years.

Employers preparing to scale up wages to attract and retain workers

In this competitive labor market, Canadian firms are using bonuses to attract and retain workers. As per the survey carried out by Mercer Talent, about 50% of respondents are ready to pay higher salaries than market rates. In response to the challenges in attracting and/or retaining talent, 41.67% of companies are revisiting their strategic workforce planning while 50.93% are reevaluating compensation and benefits offerings.

The Canadian economy is slowly recovering, and companies are being compelled to loosen their purse strings because of labor shortage. Employees are seeking both more income and persuasive jobs because of the flourishing labour market and rising inflation.

Increase in salary based on specific sectors

According to the LifeWorks survey report, the highest projected average salary increase for 2022 will be on wholesale trade with a planned hike of 3.1 per cent followed by construction (2.9 per cent) and professional, scientific and technical services (2.9 per cent). The lowest salary increase is projected in healthcare and social assistance (1.8 per cent) and information and cultural industries (1.5 per cent).

Salaries are expected to increase while wage freezes decline, which is good news for most Canadian workers, even though they must keep in mind the looming inflation rate.

Opportunities for immigration as a measure to resolve labor shortage

There are immense opportunities for skilled workers in Canada, due to labor shortage in various industries. Atlantic Immigration Pilot, Canadian Experience Class, Caregiver Pilot and Federal Skilled Trade Class are just a handful of skilled worker immigration program for skilled and talented workers willing to immigrate to Canada.

In addition, workers interested in immigrating to Canada can opt the Global Talent Stream pathway of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), which expedites the processing of Canadian work permits and visa applications in order to meet or resolve labor shortages.

Organizations and business leaders across Canada are hopeful that immigration will resolve the prevalent labor crunch and enable businesses to access talent they need to recover and grow.

Canadian business leaders want government to speed up the overall process of immigration with an emphasis on streamlining and accelerating pathways for temporary foreign workers.

We at Can X offer the following solutions to address labor constraints in Canadian business:

Give us an opportunity to discuss your requirements and let our experts find a solution tailored to your needs.

Future of Canadian Farmers and Food Production

Agriculture in Canada

The food production and security of Canada is dependent on its farmers. Agriculture accounts for 1.9 percent of Canada’s GDP.

Canada’s agriculture and Agri-food business employs a total of 2-3 million people and offers a wide range of high-quality job opportunities with competitive pay and benefits. Agriculture industry contributed CAD 41037 million in July 2021 as opposed to 46072 million in Jan 2021.

Challenges faced by Canadian farmers and its impact on agricultural products

Future of agriculture in Canada can be transformative, but to grab this opportunity Canadian farmers must address challenges, adapt to a new way of hiring workforce, and need to upgrade their farming skills.

In Canada, the average farm operator is over 50 years old, with fewer young people entering the agricultural profession each year and the rural population levels remaining constant over the last three decades.

These factors are causing a significant labor shortage in Canada, which the Canadian Agriculture Human Resources Council estimates will result in 123,000 vacant posts by 2030, excluding overseas workers.

Difficulty to access labor is leaving farmers vulnerable and without enough labor the quality and quantity of harvested crops is deteriorating. As the number of farmers drops and agricultural debt levels rises, farmer’s overall viability is jeopardized.

Federal Government’s Workforce Action Plan

To solve Canada’s agriculture sector serious and pervasive workforce shortages, the Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Workforce Action Plan were created to address the agricultural sector’s top business risk management challenges.

The national Labor Task Force (LTF) developed this plan in consultation with industry representatives from each area of agriculture and Agri-food value chain, including the seafood sector.

This action plan contains short, medium, and long-term plans for the government and industry to strengthen the future of Canadian agriculture. These plans include:

  • Expanding the labor supply for both skilled and unskilled workers
  • Improving knowledge and skills of agricultural sector workers

A comprehensive set of policies and priorities announced and being implemented at the federal level in Canada’s agriculture and farming industry is intended to address these fundamental challenges and level the playing field for new entrants of all ages and backgrounds, regardless of their scale or mode of production.

Solving labor shortage through two programs:  

Seasonal Agriculture Worker Program

The Seasonal Agriculture Worker Program (SAWP) is more than five decades old program that came into effect with the signing of bilateral conventions with the participating countries by the Canadian federal government.

SAWP authorizes employers to engage temporary foreign workers when Canadian and permanent residents are not available. Employers must meet three criteria to be eligible for SAWP:

  • TFWs must be Mexican citizens or citizens of Caribbean nations that participate in the program.
  • Production must be in specific commodity sectors such as Apiary products, fruits, vegetables (including canning/processing of these products if grown on the farm), mushrooms, flowers, nursery-grown trees including Christmas trees, greenhouses/nurseries, pedigreed canola seed, sod, tobacco, bovine, dairy, duck, horse, mink, poultry, sheep, swine.
  • The job activity must be related to on farm primary agriculture
Labor Market Impact Assessment: Agriculture stream

The Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is another program designed to supplement Canadian workforce when there is no Canadian citizens or permanent residents available to do the job. This involves a verification process whereby ESDC assesses an offer of employment to ensure that the employment of a foreign worker will not have a negative impact on the Canadian labor market.

Employers need to provide a variety of information about the job position for which they want to hire a foreign worker, including the number of Canadians who applied for the position, the number of Canadians who were interviewed, and evidence that they have attempted to find qualified Canadian citizens or permanent residents to fill job positions before turning to foreign workers.

How we can help you?

  • The LMIA rules, regulations and requirements are subject to frequent changes. These changes deal with different categories of jobs, duration, exemptions etc. Continuous research, attention to detail and painstaking hard work is required to obtain a positive LMIA. We help in assessment of our client’s profile and advise them on their eligibility to get an LMIA.
  • We also assist our clients/employers with the advertisement posting.
  • We help Canadian employers for applying Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) application and legally representing them before ESDC during the procedure.