New immigration pathways needed to attract tech talent

By Fabian Dawson
New Canadian Media

Canada’s growth in the digital economy at large will trigger demand for an additional 250,000 jobs next year and the current workforce is not positioned to meet this demand.

In a report calling for new immigration pathways for tech talent, the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) now estimates that by the end of 2025, employment in the digital economy will reach 2.26 million or roughly 11 percent of all employment in Canada.

“Canada’s current workforce is not positioned to meet this demand. Right now, there are hundreds of domestic companies commercializing innovative new products and services, and they are all desperate for highly skilled talent,” said the report.

Recommendations to enhance immigration pathways

The Council’s Talent & Skills Strategy report contains 13 key recommendations for federal and provincial labour, training, and economic development ministries, and agencies to address the issue.

The foreign talent-related recommendations include;

■ Introduce a High Potential Tech Visa, to give the most in-demand professionals a path to Canada without a job offer in hand.

■ Launch a Digital Nomad Strategy to make Canada a destination for the growing ranks of remote workers.

■ Review and revise the National Occupation Classification (NOC) codes more regularly to better reflect the shifting nature of technology jobs in Canada.

■ Ease pathways to permanent residency within the Global Talent Stream visa program.

■ Expand the recognition of international and alternative credentials for Canadian visa applicants.

■ Enhance the Global Skills Strategy immigration program with a targeted 48-hour visa processing time.

Several other studies recently also mirrored the CCI findings.

According to data from Salesforce Research in its Global Digital Skills Index 2022 report, 86 percent of Canadians say they are not prepared to meet the digital skill requirements of the future.

A poll conducted by KPMG revealed that 80 percent of the businesses surveyed say they need more workers with digital skills and two-thirds of them are having trouble finding and hiring needed talent.

Provinces like Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan have now implemented special pathways to attract foreign tech talent through the provincial immigration nominee programs.

Late last month, Meta announced the creation of a new Canadian engineering hub, to be based in Toronto, and plans to hire up to 2,500 employees for remote and in-office positions across Canada over the next five years.

Many of the roles in Canada will be engineering focused and are expected to span across building extended reality experiences and Meta technologies.

“This major investment builds on Meta’s long-term commitment to our province and is a strong vote of confidence in our skilled and diverse workforce,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford. “It sends a clear signal to the rest of the world that Ontario is, once again, the best place anywhere to do business.”

Meanwhile, Canada has been named the inaugural chair of the Global Task Force on Refugee Labour Mobility. The Task Force will build momentum for labour complementary pathways around the world.

Leaders from Canada, Australia, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the International Chamber of Commerce, Fragomen, Talent Beyond Boundaries, and RefugePoint held the first meeting of the Task Force to discuss the transformative potential of refugee labour mobility initiatives.

This initiative builds on Canada’s Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP), a ground-breaking program that recognizes the skills and abilities of refugees by removing barriers and helping them and their families immigrate to Canada through existing economic programs.

The Task Force will engage with global stakeholders from governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society to increase the number of skilled refugees welcomed to Canada, while decreasing labour shortages where Canada needs them the most.

The Task Force will also prepare a detailed report in 2024, which will document its work and successes and outline policy and operational considerations for the scaling and institutionalization of labour complementary pathways for refugees around the world.

“Labour complementary pathways are win-win solutions: they provide refugees and their families with meaningful, additional pathways to protection while supporting the growth of communities by meeting labour market needs. This initiative builds on Canada’s Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot, which is already helping to increase refugee labour mobility. As Chair of the Task Force for the next 2 years, Canada will work closely with a wide range of partners, including refugees with lived experience, to lay the foundation for implementing innovative solutions worldwide.”

“Labour complementary pathways are win-win solutions: they provide refugees and their families with meaningful, additional pathways to protection while supporting the growth of communities by meeting labour market needs,” said Sean Fraser, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

“This initiative builds on Canada’s Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot, which is already helping to increase refugee labour mobility. As Chair of the Task Force for the next 2 years, Canada will work closely with a wide range of partners, including refugees with lived experience, to lay the foundation for implementing innovative solutions worldwide,” he said.

“Far too often I meet refugees with enormous talent but limited opportunity. Labour complementary pathways are a way to change that. They provide the protection and safety refugees need, while also giving them the chance to make the most of their skills to improve not only their lives and those of their families but also the countries and communities that welcome them,” said Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.