After three months, Betty is still looking for a job in the province of Alberta after being unjustifiably dismissed.
Por Nayeli Martín del Campo / @NinjeliSaya
Ilustraciones creadas por Ideogram.ai
“I’m not lying to you, I’ve had a hard time, since May 13 to date I have not been able to find a job,” says Betty, a Mexican who at the time of publication of this article is still looking for a job in the Province of Alberta.
Beatriz, originally from Tijuana and 54 years old, came to the City of Vancouver to try her luck and have a better quality of life.
After finishing a Co-Op diploma or a Co-Operative Education, an educational program that allows you to be in the country with a work permit, she contacted an immigration agency that offered her the opportunity to practice her profession with a closed work permit through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
The program accepts individuals seeking to apply as business visitors, professionals in medical and science fields, teachers, and some related to the arts and humanities.
| Work Permits Holders
2022 –August 2023 |
||
| Permit Holder Type | 2022 | January – August 2023 |
| Temporary Foreign Worker Program Work Permit Holders | 135,565 | 142,150 |
| International Mobility Program Work Permit Holders | 458,915 | 692,550 |
| Work Permit Holders | 593,010 | 833,610 |
| Study Permit Holders | 548,955 | 463,910 |
Source: SOCI- Data Cheat Sheet- September, 2023
According to the Government of Canada’s website, during 2022, 9,820 people obtained a work permit through the CUSMA program; from January to August 2023, only 385 people were granted a work permit.
“I contacted an agency, they had more job offers to go to restaurants and they put you in the position of assistant manager (assistant manager) because supposedly they gave you more points (for permanent residency) but I decided to take this option to work in food manufacturing”.
With a lot of patience, four thousand dollars and the hope of finding an employer, Betty was one of the hundreds of Mexicans who obtained a professional work permit to work in Canada.
However, despite Betty’s efforts and savings, her initial plan was cut short by a company run by Mexicans who, like her, had migrated in search of a new opportunity.
“There they offered me the position of Production Manager, although I have dedicated myself more to food quality assurance. I am a food technician, I have experience. I have worked in different companies in Mexico such as Jugos del Valle and medical companies”.
This was an opportunity for Betty to gain time and experience in one of the professions needed within CUSMA. However, Betty suffered abuse and mistreatment within the company.
“I honestly never thought that in Canada I would meet and experience the treatment I did and the way they talk to you. My employer was Mexican and I remember him telling me: I am going to give you training. You have to do it this way and he would say to me: oh, you don’t understand. But let’s see, nobody expects to be spoken to in that tone”.
According to the Canadian Government website, one of the requirements to identify a safe place to work is to have the appropriate training, obtain the correct safety equipment for the job, feel safe in the workplace and identify if there are any hazardous materials.
Another of the Canadian government’s recommendations is to report abuse of workers’ rights or non-compliance with the programs for which they have been hired, and if they have suffered abuse by their employer, to access an open work permit for vulnerable workers.
“The man would tell me: ‘I’m not going to pay you to learn, if you don’t learn in a month, I’m going to have to fire you. He used to talk to the other coworkers in a very rude way, and I would never let him talk to me that way.
Demanding respect and after two months of work, Betty was fired from the company where she was working, even though she had a contract and a work permit signed by them.
According to the Government of Canada through its Statistics Canada website, it reported that, during the month of July 2024, unemployment levels for migrants with less than five years in the country would have increased by 12.6% percent. During 2023, the total unemployment rate was 3.1%, increasing by 9.5% in one year.
During the month of July, the Canadian report showed that employment among women decreased by 2.6% and among men by 0.8% for those between 55 and 64 years of age, as well as for men between 15 and 24 years of age, where a 1.5% drop in employability was reported.
In the case of men between the ages of 25 and 54, the government reported an increase in employment of 0.7%.
Regardless of the fact that companies must give written notice of layoff before the last day of work, have a justification for the fact, and not violate the employability agreement, Betty was only sent a call to leave the company.
“When I lost my job I was very sad, I felt very insecure, I knew I would be alone in this city because that’s how I came. I lost all my savings during that time until I finally found a place to live permanently, I didn’t even have a mattress to sleep on. I did doubt whether it was right or wrong, but the hope of achieving my goal has helped me to be strong on the subject.”
After suffering depression due to the loss of her job and the lack of opportunities to work in the city within the CUSMA program, Betty had to ask for support from Food Banks in order to feed herself and her dog, as well as teach online classes at the school where she worked as a teacher in Mexico in order to continue paying her bills in Canada.
Despite the fact that the Canadian government has support for workers who suffer abuse in Canada, Betty chose not to report the company after her former co-workers asked her not to report the company for abuse for fear of being shut down.
“I didn’t come to Canada to be mistreated, to be yelled at by someone or to be talked down to. I am not going to allow myself to be abused and denigrated. I have a work permit and despite that my employer told me: ‘we are not going to talk to immigration, don’t worry’. Even so, I keep trying, I want to give my all until the last moment. I don’t wish ill to people, what happened, happened and I move on.”
Currently, Betty is still on the job hunt and evading companies looking to take advantage of her urgency to get a new job before her current permit expires.
Labor Force statistics by Province, age group and sex, show that in Albera from July 2023 to July 2024, the number of unemployed men over 25 years old was 28.8% and for women it was 22.3%.
The agency that helped her get her permit through CUSMA, disengaged with her and offered no support or assistance when she became unemployed or to date.
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