Loss of immigration office harming local economy: MP

The closure of Sudbury’s Citizen and Immigration Canada office this spring is making it harder for mining companies to deal with a severe shortage of skilled labour, MP Glenn Thibeault said July 25.

Thibeault hosted a roundtable at Tom Davies Square to discuss the issue, which he said couldn’t come at a worse time, as Greater Sudbury gears up for a host of major economic projects, all of which will require skilled labour already in short supply. While local colleges and universities are frantically training workers, it will take time before graduates are ready to fill those roles. In the meantime, finding skilled workers is going to be increasingly important.

“The businesses need help immediately,” he said. “What does this mean to new immigrants who want to come to Sudbury, when the only place they can go for services is Toronto? … We all know we need to encourage these immigrants to come to places like Sudbury. This is a slap in the face to northerners.”

His office has been overwhelmed with requests for help in dealing with immigration issues, he said, which he described as “100 times more complicated” than helping people get passports, something his staff has been doing for years.

As part of the spring 2012 budget, the federal government centralized Citizen and Immigration Offices in Ontario, closing existing outlets in here, in Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Barrie. While the Sudbury office only operated two days a week, it played a vital role in helping new Sudburians deal with complex immigration issues.

About 30 people from a variety of community organizations attended the roundtable, ranging from economic and health groups, to educational and local government staff.

Laurentian University’s Lise Levebvre said they have 670 international students at the school who used to be able to access services at the local CIC office. At least two or three students a week were referred to the Sudbury office for help, she said. The decision to close the local office is going to have a huge impact on them.

“A trip to Toronto simply isn’t an option for a lot of them,” she said. “They just don’t have the funds.”

About 200 of those students are here to learn English, so trying to access services over the phone from the CIC call centre is next to impossible.

“A lot of them have very limited understanding of English or French. So imagine trying to discuss a complex problem over the phone in a language that is not your first language with a call centre person.”

Debbi Nicholson, president of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce, said skilled labour is vital to the success of local industry.

“That really is the big issue for our members,” Nicholson said. “They can’t find sufficient skilled labour locally, and they’re looking nationally and internationally for those workers. And if they can find those workers, they need to be able to get them into the country.”

Niranjan Mishra, of the Sudbury Multicultural Arts Association and India Canada Association, said the impact of losing the CIC office is “terrible.”

“We are getting calls from people in India who have work permits for September or October, and they have questions about immigration and want services,” he said.

But his group provides cultural services, and not the sort of technical immigration services these people require.

“So we have to tell them no,” that they can’t help them. “This is not good for Sudbury and not good for the employers. This is a time when this office is needed here.”

Thibeault announced that his office is dedicating Wednesdays to immigration issues in an attempt to deal with the loss of the CIC office.
-- Posted by Darren MacDonald