The Secretary of State for the Portuguese Community said this Friday in Canada that the two governments would cooperate more to “try to resolve the situation of undocumented workers in civil construction”.
“We are currently debating a pilot project that exists in Toronto, in collaboration with the Canadian Labor Congress, aimed at undocumented workers in civil construction where there are 500 vacancies to legalize the undocumented worker situation”, Berta Nunes told Lusa’s agency.
The Secretary of State for the Portuguese Community is on an official visit to Canada, from Tuesday to Friday, where he has scheduled several meetings with Portuguese community leaders, Portuguese-Canadian politicians, visited several Portuguese consular posts and visited Winnipeg, Ottawa, Kingston and Toronto.
After being in Winnipeg (Manitoba), this Thursday the official met in Ottawa with Portuguese-Canadian federal deputies Alexandra Mendes and Peter Fonseca, and with Catherine Scott, associate undersecretary for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada.
“We want to exchange information and cooperate more so that this pilot is successful and then can be expanded to other provinces, hoping to resolve the situation of undocumented workers, which is no longer the problem it was before, but continues to be”, said Berta Nunes.
The new pilot program aimed at undocumented construction workers took effect on 30 July 2021, ending on 2 January 2023, after all 500 applications for permanent residency were received at the Ministry of Immigration.
“The program has been slightly affected by the pandemic, but so far only 129 vacancies have been filled. This is a program that is not only aimed at the Portuguese community, but other communities,” he added.
This immigration program replaces another program that went into effect in early January 2020, which requires, among several criteria, that civil construction workers have entered Canada legally, with temporary residence, or that they have lived in the country for at least five consecutive years -row. on the application date.
According to Berta Nunes, the Government of Canada “is aware of several obstacles in legalizing these workers, namely with requirements regarding language, proof of income and regarding how they enter the country”.
In this case, Otava adapted the pilot program with the aim of making it a success and with more workers they “surely solve their undocumented situation”.
“This is a pilot program aimed at civil construction. This is important for the Portuguese, and civil construction is one of the areas that the Portuguese did the most when they started immigration, ”he stressed.
The Secretary of State for Communities this Friday at 18:00 (22:00 Lisbon time) will inaugurate the art exhibition Luso-Canadian Charity Society Expressionat the Consulate General of Portugal in Toronto, with a joint press conference scheduled for 7.30pm (11.30pm Lisbon time) with the AEP Foundation on the Global Diaspora Network.
Canada’s 2016 census data revealed that there were 483,610 Portuguese and Portuguese descendants in Canada, which is 1.4% of the population in the country. The majority are in Ontario (69%), Quebec (14%) and British Columbia (8%).
“Geek zombie. Subtly charming social media scholar. Beer enthusiast. Lifelong bacon pioneer.”
