Canada needs 30,000 new immigrants in agri sector: Report
Darpan News Desk IANS, 19 Apr, 2023 02:09 PM
Toronto, April 19 (IANS) Canada needs 30,000 permanent immigrants over the next decade to either start up their own farms, or take over existing ones, to address a looming labour crisis in the agriculture industry, says a new study.
According to a Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) research, 40 per cent of Canadian farm operators will retire by 2033, placing agriculture on the cusp of one of the biggest labour and leadership transitions in the country's history.
Over the same period, a shortfall of 24,000 general farm, nursery and greenhouse workers is expected to emerge, and in 10 years, 60 per cent of today's farm operators will be over the age of 65, that is, close to retirement.
Amidst all this, 66 per cent of producers do not have a succession plan in place, leaving the future of farmland in doubt, the study said.
Canada's agricultural sector is among the most diverse in the world though the degree of demand for foreign workers differs significantly by province and operation.
When it comes to more highly-skilled farm operators, Canada has always welcomed them from India, the Netherlands, China, the US and the UK.
However, in case of immigration of low-skilled labourers, better policies are needed because the Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) program, which remains a critical source of low-skilled labour, is just a provisional solution to a chronic issue, the study said.
Many of these TFWs who develop skills essential to seeding and harvests, must return to their home countries for short periods, and if they are unable to return to Canada, the country's on-farm workforce is dramatically reduced.
RBC researchers said that a pathway to permanent residency for experienced TFWs will immediately address this type of shortage.
Canada had started an agriculture-specific immigration pilot programme in 2020 to give a path to permanent residency for non-seasonal workers with experience, which is set to end in May 2023, a CBC News report said.
As of February 2023, more than 1,500 people have been admitted through the program in Ottawa province.
A department spokesperson told CBC that they are assessing the pilot programme "and the possible extension beyond its scheduled expiry".
The spokesperson added that giving migrants permanent residence "is not the solution to labour shortages".
Darren Laur, chief training officer at White Hatter, an internet safety and digital literacy education company based in Victoria said the teen's family reached out to him with their story after the other firm told them there was nothing that could be done.
Several fire trucks snarled Georgia Street's eastbound lanes near the main library as firefighters worked to free the pair, who had been replacing glass on the Deloitte Summit tower when the platform refused to move Thursday morning.
A Federal Court judge has approved a $2.8 billion settlement agreement between the Canadian government and plaintiffs representing 325 First Nations whose members went to residential day schools. Those members were ineligible for the 2006 settlement reached between Canada and full-time students at the schools.
Police searched the area for someone matching the suspect description, and provided aid to the victim. Despite searches of the surrounding area, no one matching the suspect description could be found.
Anand announced the plan Thursday at the Conference of Defence Associations Institute, one of Canada's largest defence conferences, saying the new weapons are needed now for Canadian troops in Latvia and other parts of Europe.
Senior author Dr. Brett Thombs, a researcher at McGill University, said that coverage of the pandemic has mostly focused on snapshots of people whose mental health has deteriorated and people have generalized that to the overall population.
