Susan Sunde, an outreach officer for Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nunavut with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, spoke to the Thompson Chamber of Commerce Jan. 29 about skills shortages in the Canadian economy, and how businesspeople can access talent to fill job vacancies.
“International students might be a resource to you, because they do have work authorization associated with their study permits,” explained Sunde. “If they are studying full-time, and the program is longer than six months, they can work off campus for 20 hours a week. They can work unlimited hours on campus. They can work full-time on their breaks and holidays.”
Sunde said there is also a post-graduate work permit for international students after graduation.
“It’s an open work permit that allows them work for any employer anywhere in Canada,” she said. “So international students are a potential resource, there’s also open work permit holders, so any spouses of those students are entitled to apply for an open work permit.”
Newcomers to Canada are also a labour resource for businesses.
“Any permanent resident that’s here in Canada can work anywhere in Canada,” she explained. “So, that’s what to look for within Canada before you seek talent outside Canada. We always want Canadian citizens and permanent residents to fill the shortages that we have.”
The next step is hiring foreign nationals, said Sunde.
“My branch works very closely with the International Network,” she said. “And the International Network has all the missions and high commissions. We communicate a lot with them, and that’s where we get our information about potential talent pools … like IT skills that are found in a certain areas of the world. Or manufacturing or healthcare workers … things like that. Those talent pool reports are available, and I can send them to either the chamber or perhaps to you individually. We do make requests with our International Network to find those skills.”
Other priorities for Sunde are hiring francophones to expand francophone communities outside Quebec, promoting economic permanent resident programs, an electronic express entry program, and a provincial nominee program run by provincial governments.
Susan Sunde can be reached at [email protected]
