Ignoring Canada’s Unemployed
A China-backed mining company, which plans to open a huge coal mine in Northeastern [British Columbia], says that it wants to bring in a [Chinese] workforce of 400 from China to mine the coal. Ironically, the request for Chinese workers is similar to the requests for Chinese workers made by Chinese businessmen in the Vancouver area over 100 years ago. At that time, the Chinese businessmen imported Chinese labourers from China, paid them much less than Canadian workers would have received and displaced many Canadians from their jobs, forcing Canadians into unemployment or causing them to move out of British Columbia to look for work. Canadian workers fought back by demanding that Chinese low-wage labourers be taxed to discourage Chinese businessmen from bringing them to Canada or that the workers be excluded from coming.
B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair has rightly protested the current proposal to bring in Chinese labourers. In addition, Mining Association of British Columbia CEO Michael McPhie has rightly said that “the concept of importing an entire mine crew is something that we have not seen before”. “And we would want to take a really serious look at the implications.”
Even the mining company’s project description admits that immigration of up to 400 employees into small communities will have “cultural and social ramifications” but that the company would work with local governments and community representatives to “alleviate potential impacts”.
Those who still do not want to admit that there was ample justification for the original Chinese Head Taxes should listen carefully to statements being made today. Similar “Canadian Workers First” statements were used in the past as the reasons for the Head Taxes and the Chinese (Labourer) Exclusion Act. There is absolutely no doubt that these 400 Chinese workers should be “excluded” from entering Canada and that the mining company should be compelled to adopt a “Canadian Workers First” policy if it wants to extract Canadian resources—as Canadian governments did in the past.
The mine will be located near Chetwynd, {B.C.} a town of 2500 which is close to three First Nations reserves, all of which suffer from high unemployment and whose workers are under-represented in the area’s petroleum and gas industries.
First Nations Band Councils across Canada should have made statements on the immigration issue long ago. They should have demanded a significant share of new jobs. It is intolerable, on the one hand, to have unemployment rates of 70 to 90% on First Nations Reserves and, on the other hand, to see Canada’s federal government bringing in hundreds of thousands of immigrants to fill jobs. A relative boom in employment should be a time for federal and provincial governments to ensure jobs for Canada’s own unemployed, particularly First Nations people, who are often not even counted in the number of unemployed.
Even subsidizing traveling costs of unemployed Canadians, especially First Nations from remote reserves, is probably cheaper than subsidizing administrative (and other) costs of immigrants who travel from distant countries to Canada. Further[more], subsidizing IMMIGRANTS with [our] social assistance once they arrive makes no sense–yet Canada continues to do this with hundreds of thousands of recent immigrants. Our federal government should not be submitting to the hysteria of some employers who have exaggerated Canada’s labour shortage in order to obtain cheap labour (permanent and temporary) from outside Canada.
Original source: Globe & Mail Newspaper
Other Source: http://www.immigrationwatchcanada.org/
Also read:
Richmond, B.C. Hires On “Diversity”
Koreans IMPORTED For Heavy Equipment Work
New “CHINESE” Political Party In Canada
Immigrant Workers NOT Needed here.
Canadians Want Jobs, Too! here.
The MYTH of Labour Shortages here.
Canadian Workers Not Wanted here.
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