Canadian Employers Seek Out Foreign Skilled Workers

Employers in fourteen communities in Canada are creating a path to permanent residence for foreign skilled workers who want to work and live in their communities.

Employers from these fourteen communities will be able to post job opportunities targeting foreign skilled workers on their community’s website. These communities are spread throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan Manitoba, and Ontario. These communities include:

• Trail, British Columbia
• Castlegar, British Columbia
• Rossland, British Columbia
• Nelson, British Columbia
• Vernon, British Columbia
• Claresholm, Alberta
• Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
• Altona/Rhineland, Manitoba
• Brandon, Manitoba
• North Bay, Ontario
• Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
• Sudbury, Ontario
• Timmins, Ontario
• Thunder Bay, Ontario

Depending on the community, only employers with open positions in specific occupations will be able to recruit foreign skilled workers. Of the fourteen communities, only three currently have launched the specific details of the occupations they will be targeting, with the other communities to release their details in late 2019 / early 2020. Each community will have a cap on how many foreign skilled workers they can recruit through this program.

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario has announced that they will be using a points system to assess foreign skilled worker candidates and will be giving preference to those with a job offer in one of the following occupation fields:

• NOC-11 – Professional occupations in business and finance
• NOC-21 – Professional occupations in natural and applied sciences
• NOC-30 – Professional occupations in nursing
• NOC-31 – Professional occupations in health (except nursing)
• NOC-40 – Professional occupations in education services
• NOC-74 – Other installers, repairers and servicers and material handler
• NOC-75 – Transport and heavy equipment operation and related maintenance occupations
• NOC-76 – Trades helpers, construction labourers and related occupations
• NOC-22 – Technical occupations related to natural and applied sciences.
• NOC-32 – Technical occupations in health
• NOC-34 – Assisting occupations in support of health services.
• NOC-44 – Care providers and educational, legal and public protection support occupations
• NOC-72 – Industrial, electrical and construction trades
• NOC-75 – Transport and heavy equipment operation and related maintenance occupations
• NOC-76 – Trades helpers, construction labourers and related occupations
• NOC-92 – Processing, manufacturing and utilities supervisors and central control operators
• NOC-94 – Processing and manufacturing machine operators and related production workers
• NOC-95 – Assemblers in manufacturing
• NOC-96 – Labourers in processing, manufacturing and utilities
• NOC-07-09 – Middle management occupations in trades, transportation, production and utilities
• NOC 6321 – Chefs
• NOC 6322 – Cooks

Thunder Bay will only consider foreign skilled worker candidates with a job offer in an occupation listed below:

• 3012 Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
• 3142 Physiotherapists
• 2131 Civil Engineers
• 2132 Mechanical Engineers
• 2133 Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• 2223 Forestry Technicians and Technologists
• 2271 Air pilots, flight engineers and flying instructors
• 2272 Air traffic controllers and related occupations
• 321 Medical Technologists and Technicians
• 3219 Pharmacy Technician
• 3233 Licensed practical nurses
• 4214 Early childhood educators and assistants
• 6321 Chefs
• 6331 Butchers and Bakers
• 7283 Tile setters
• 7311 Construction millwrights and industrial mechanics
• 7312 Heavy-duty equipment mechanics
• 7315 Aircraft mechanics and aircraft inspectors
• 8231 Underground production and development miners
• 8241 Logging Machine Operators
• 3411 Dental assistants
• 3413 Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
• 7441 Residential and commercial installers and servicers
• 7511 Transport truck drivers
• 7521 Heavy equipment operators (except crane)
• 8411 Underground mine service and support workers
• 9414 Concrete, clay and stone forming operators
• 9415 Inspectors and testers, mineral and metal processing 
• 9416 Metalworking and forging machine operators
• 9417 Machining tool operators 
• 9418 Other metal products machine operators 
• 9431 Sawmill machine operators 
• 9432 Pulp mill machine operators 
• 9433 Papermaking and finishing machine operators 
• 9434 Other wood processing machine operators
• 9435 Paper converting machine operators 
• 9436 Lumber graders and other wood processing inspectors and graders
• 7611 Construction Trade Helpers and Labourers.

The Altona/Rhineland community has already started to post available job opportunities through their website. The following positions are currently available for applicants to apply:

• Mill operator
• Bindery machine operator
• Bindery small equipment machine operator
• Lead bindery machine operator
• Level 2 printing press operator
• Level II bindery machine operator
• Truck driver