Continuing education on the temporary foreign workers program
This past September Alex Stojicevic and Gordon Maynard, of MKS Immigration Law, joined their fellow Canadian immigration lawyers and experts in the field as presenters at the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia’s conference Working Your Way into Canada.
This day-long conference gathered Vancouver professionals in Canadian immigration law to speak on the ever-changing and challenging issue of Canada’s temporary foreign workers program. Over the past year there have been many obstacles to overcome for those dealing with the temporary foreign workers program, including changing application requirements, longer processing times and even raids by the Canadian Border Services Agency. Conference attendees at the Pan Pacific Hotel learned about the latest policies and procedures, updates to the temporary foreign workers program, and discussed the ethical issues which may arise in this area of practice.
Alex was able to offer a unique perspective on the temporary foreign workers program, given his high-profile involvement in the recent HD Mining case, which saw his clients winning the hotly-contested right to hire Chinese workers to run their proposed Tumbler Ridge mine. Although the mining company was criticized harshly on media outlets like the The Vancouver Sun and CTV news, the eventual victory was considered a complete vindication. Alex was joined by Stephen Hunt, director of the United Steelworkers District 3 in Burnaby, to discuss lessons learned from the case.
Gordon presented alongside fellow Canadian immigration lawyer Joshua Sohn of Embarkation Law Group in Vancouver and Denise Reid from the Canada Border Services Agency on labour market opinion issues.
It’s no surprise that both presentations were well-received, as both Alex and Gordon have had many years experience in a teaching capacity with the Continuing Legal Education Society. Alex has been a faculty member with the provincial immigration seminar for the past 12 years, and Gordon has presented at National CLE conferences in Victoria, Niagara, Whistler, and Halifax.
The temporary foreign worker program is run by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and enables foreign workers to be hired on a temporary basis to fill immediate skills and labour shortages in Canada. For more information on navigating the temporary foreign workers program, contact Maynard Kischer Stojicevic, Immigrant and Citizenship Lawyers.