The Government of Canada this week marked the two-year anniversary of its Global Skills Strategy, which has welcomed nearly 24,000 highly skilled foreign workers through its flagship Global Talent Stream.
The Global Talent Stream offers Canadian employers with easier access to provisional foreign workers with experience in 13 occupational categories in fields such as Information Technology and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
Occupations covered by the Global Talent Stream include computer engineers, computer programmers, software engineers and designers and web designers and developers.
As per, Canada Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Ahmed Hussen, “As Canada technology sector has historically struggled to attract the talent it needs to scale up, this is precisely the type of talent our Government had in mind when it first launched the (Global Skills Strategy).”
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Canada Information and Communication Technology Council (ICTC) has forecasted 216,000 job vacancies in the country ICT sector by 2021.
The Government of Canada announced in March that it was making the Global Talent Stream permanent, a move that was welcomed by the Council of Canadian Innovators, among others.
The stream allows employers to submit a facilitated Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), which waives the requirement to prove they first tried recruiting Canadians and permanent residents of Canada, and accelerates the LMIA approval process.
The statement said the Global Talent Stream was created to fill labour needs that aren’t being met by Canadian workers.
“While Canadian workers are among the worlds most highly educated and skilled, for Canadian firms to remain globally competitive, they must also be able to attract the best minds and talent from other countries,” it reads, noting that more than 1,100 Canadian employers have used the Global Talent Stream since its creation in 2017.
Around 25 per cent of those recruited through the Global Talent Stream are coming in from the United States and the majority are citizens of India, according to Hussen.
Around 16,000 family members accompanied those recruited through the program and benefited from access to work and study permits, he said.