On 14 May, Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and American Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced that their countries would begin consultations to facilitate cross-border business interactions.

The Government of Canada has partnered with two leading private Canadian businesses to develop and expand the Federal Internship for Newcomers Program (FIN).

Businesses in Saskatchewan have hired over 280 skilled workers from Ireland. This is a direct result of a March 2012 recruitment mission, in which provincial officials and representatives from 27 Saskatchewan employers traveled to Ireland in search of employees.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) announced today plans for a new Accelerated Labour Market Opinion (A-LMO) initiative. This initiative is effective from 25 April 2012.

As a response to an ever increasing number of temporary foreign workers in Canada, one BC group is proposing to let them in as permanent residents straightaway when they land.

The Canadian government has announced a new website, available now, that will help in the recognition of foreign credentials for newcomers to Canada. This comes on the back of a similar initiative announced recently from the government of Quebec specifically geared towards engineers.

Foreigners in Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) can now receive open work permits immediately after completing their caregiver commitments, and submitting an application for permanent residence (PR).

It is estimated that around 10,000 Irishmen and women have relocated to Canada in the past two years, with the Canadian Ambassador to Ireland, Loyola Hearn, quoting much higher numbers possible in the near future.

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada is suggesting ways for the federal government to ease the transition for foreign-trained doctors to set up shop in Canada.

Forbes has ranked Canada number one as the top destination in the world for business. Canada moved up from number four last year, thanks to a higher score in the tax category.

The Government of Canada views immigration as one of the most important factors in strengthening the economy following the recession and has noted that changes may come to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

According to Investissement Quebec, an economic development agency, 86 companies and more than 8,000 jobs have moved to Montreal as a result of a government program. The program allows 37.5 percent of a video-game company’s payroll to be subsidized by Montreal in the form of a refundable tax credit.

A recent study on Canadian immigration policies has found that immigrants who move to Canada as independent skilled immigrants had the highest earnings of four categories of immigrants studied: independent primary skilled immigrants, accompanying economic immigrants, family class immigrants, and refugees.

According to Statistics Canada, Alberta had the highest weekly earnings in Canada this sumemr. The agency also noted that Alberta has the highest annual growth rate in the country.

A recent labour study conducted by Statistics Canada showed that Canada’s labour force is declining, especially in certain provinces like New Brunswick. Canada’s labour force participation rate is expected to be between 59 percent and 62 percent by 2031. The labour force participation rate last year was 67 percent.

Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney recently announced a pilot project aimed at attracting more working families to British Columbia. The pilot project will allow family members of most temporary foreign workers to work for any employer in the province.

The province of Saskatchewan, like most of Canada, is already experiencing a shortage of doctors and with the aging population, more shortages are expected. In response to the shortage, Saskatchewan employment recruiters are looking outside of Canada for the cure.

Last month, Canada’s unemployment rate fell to 7.2 percent from 7.4 percent in June, two percentage points lower than the United States. While economic forecasts predicted that 15,000 jobs would be added in July, 25,000 new full-time positions were created, aiding in the drop of the unemployment rate.

According to two indexes released this week, Canadian employers are steadily increasing recruitment. The Monster Employment Index showed that online recruitment in the second-quarter of this year was at its highest level since 2008. The Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services (ACSESS) also showed that increased employment opportunities has brought the Canadian employment industry to near pre-recession levels.

 

Thomas Lukaszuk, Alberta’s Minister of Immigration and Employment, is urging the federal government to allow more than 30,000 temporary foreign workers in the province to settle in Canada permanently.

The Government of Canada has launched a website to help Canadians identify which job sectors are hiring and which sectors are likely to experience growth in the future.

The province of Alberta has launched a free online tool, the Education Overview Guide, to help employers better understand the educational credentials of immigrants seeking to work in Alberta.

Struggling Indian immigrants are getting help from a Toronto program aimed at turning them into successful entrepreneurs.

Last month, Canada added more than 58,000 jobs to the workforce. According to a report by Statistics Canada, the national unemployment rate has decreased by 0.1 percent to 7.6 percent.

More than ten per cent of Ontario’s registered and practical nurses have received their training from outside of Canada. Creating Access to Regulated Employment, or CARE, was created to help these nurses get accredited to work in Canada.