vmarie674 said:
I'd think they would classify those as jobs canadian citizens would be able to do but I've heard of someone working at Starbucks whole being an immigrant.
If they didn't have a specific permit/attribute, that was almost certainly under the old 'LMO' scheme - large companies, like Starbucks, often had 'blanket' Labour Market Opinions, because they were always hiring, and couldn't necessarily fill immediate needs locally. This meant if anyone went to them, was offered a job, they could take that job offer to the border with the company's blanket LMO, get a work permit, and work in that job.
A few years ago, the system changed to require Labour Market Impact Assessments instead. These are specific to the individual, cost $1,000, and take months, with no guarantee of success. The company has to demonstrate that they have repeatedly attempted to recruit Canadians, and failed. Needless to say, it's now much harder for someone to just work at Starbucks/Tim Hortons/McDonalds now than it used to be.
Alternative meaning, there are indeed lots of immigrants working in places like Starbucks; people studying in Canada, people who have open work permits from programmes like IEC, or being the partner of someone else who has a work permit, or people who moved as Permanent Residents under an economic stream but could only get work in relatively low pay, etc. But unless you qualify for a permit/residency (eg by marrying your boyfriend), these experiences aren't comparable to you.
As an American, you can participate in International Experience Canada through a Recognised Organisation, which will give you an open work permit for a period of time, which you can use to see if Canada (and your relationship) work out for you - e.g. https://www.bunac.org/usa/work-abroad/working-holiday-packages/work-in-canada
