As Ottawa tightens the rules on temporary foreign workers, some private seniors’ homes in Quebec say they are losing employees and may need to cut services. At Domaine des cascades, in Sainte-Catherine, Que., 320 seniors call the residence home but general manager Gérard Borel says he’s worried. The retirement home lost one of its temporary foreign workers back in April. Borel says the employee got the news on a Sunday that her permit was not renewed and she was forced to stop working immediately. Borel adds the retirement home depends on temporary foreign workers to fill jobs that are not popular, such as evening and weekend shifts. Seeing what happened to her co-worker, Salma Mrad, who is also a temporary foreign worker, says she is stressed. Her permit is set to expire in November. She’s hoping it gets renewed. She moved here from Tunisia two years ago. The Regroupement Québécois des Résidences pour Aînés (RQRA) represents 800 private retirement homes in Quebec. President Marc Fortin says he noticed that in the last several months many of their temporary foreign workers have had their permit renewals denied by Ottawa. “It’s like there’s a directive that says do not renew [the] permit,” Fortin said. He says permits used to be reviewed every three years. Now, it’s happening every year and in some cases, like the worker at Domain des cascades, decisions are rendered with immediate effect and no time to contest. “So, I’m not sure what’s happening in Ottawa, what directives they’ve got that they were provided and how connected they are to the needs in every province. But something’s not working and there’s some communication not happening properly,” Fortin said. CTV News reached out to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada but did not hear back before publication time. In the meantime, Borel says a lack of temporary foreign workers would force him to cut services despite Quebec’s growing seniors population and growing need for care.
