Meditation and volunteering with a tourist visa

[KR211]

Dear all,

I am planning to spend 6 months in a Buddhist monastery. The first three months, I will be responsible to cook one meal a day for me and the other 2-6 people living there. I might also do the grocery shopping and occassionally help out with other small tasks (e.g. snow shoveling). The cooking should not take more than 2 hours a day, is unpaid and for a charitable organization. Furthermore, it does not substitute any paid position since traditionally non-monks offer food for free to monks in Buddhism. After three months, another person will take over the cooking and I will have no fixed task except for small daily activities taking less than 1 hour like carrying firewood or water. The main purpose to visit the monastery is to meditate. Lodging and food at the monastery are traditionally free of charge independent of the responsibilities, but guests usually make a donation after their stay. My understanding is that I do not need a work permit for this kind of activity, since it is more like living together in a community. Could you tell me if I am correct? I am a German citizen and would enter Canada on a tourist visa.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[visatest]

Dear all,

I am planning to spend 6 months in a Buddhist monastery in Ontario. The first three months, I will be responsible to cook one meal a day for me and the other 2-6 people living there. I might also do the grocery shopping and occassionally help out with other small tasks (e.g. snow shoveling). The cooking should not take more than 2 hours a day, is unpaid and for a charitable organization. Furthermore, it does not substitute any paid position since traditionally non-monks offer food for free to monks in Buddhism. After three months, another person will take over the cooking and I will have no fixed task except for small daily activities taking less than 1 hour like carrying firewood or water. The main purpose to visit the monastery is to meditate. Lodging and food at the monastery are traditionally free of charge independent of the responsibilities, but guests usually make a donation after their stay. My understanding is that I do not need a work permit for this kind of activity, since it is more like living together in a community. Could you tell me if I am correct? I am a German citizen and would enter Canada on a tourist visa.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Well, what you are doing is a major cooking task. That whether you like it or not removes the chance of a Canadian to get a job. You are conducting prohibited work. I know it is for a good cause but the Government doesn't think that way. Any suggestion that you are doing illegal work will be followed up. From: Ackah Law
"Visitors to Canada cannot work in Canada without a work permit. Many visitors to Canada want to know if they can volunteer without a work permit. Sometimes the volunteer work involves a barter for services or goods, but not money. IRCC defines work as an activity that you are or could be paid for, and which takes work away from or competes with a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. Because of this, volunteer work, unpaid internships and practicums may also require work permits."

 

[KR211]

Well, what you are doing is a major cooking task. That whether you like it or not removes the chance of a Canadian to get a job. You are conducting prohibited work. I know it is for a good cause but the Government doesn't think that way. Any suggestion that you are doing illegal work will be followed up. From: Ackah Law
"Visitors to Canada cannot work in Canada without a work permit. Many visitors to Canada want to know if they can volunteer without a work permit. Sometimes the volunteer work involves a barter for services or goods, but not money. IRCC defines work as an activity that you are or could be paid for, and which takes work away from or competes with a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. Because of this, volunteer work, unpaid internships and practicums may also require work permits."

Thanks a lot for your reply.

I read the article from Ackah Law before and my understanding was that I do not take away work from a Canadian citizen, as this task was never paid before at the monastery and in Buddhism cooking is traditionally done by volunteers for free. It is also not linked to any payment or other benefit like lodging or food. Therefore, I thought it would not qualify as work.

The Ackah Law article stated the following example which I interpreted as being very close to my case: "Dishing soup in a soup kitchen is normally charity work and not normally a paid position, and you can likely volunteer in the soup kitchen without a permit under the current rules."