Welland non-profit employment service relocates to help Niagara Falls asylum seekers

The Welland Heritage Council and Multicultural Centre (WHCMC)'s employment services is relocating an office to Niagara Falls to help asylum seekers who have recently arrived in the city. 

Janet Madume, executive director for WHCMC, said the centre opened in 1976 to help new Canadians navigate the immigration process and their new lives in Canada.

It now operates a 10-unit shelter in downtown Welland and two employment solutions centres, which assists all Welland residents. 

Now one of those two offices is moving to Niagara Falls, around 25 kilometres away. 

Madume said the organization currently visits the nearly 3,600 asylum seekers, including children, where they live in 13 hotels around Niagara Falls. 

Madume said the move will bring them closer to the people who use their services. 

"We need to serve everybody and serving them from the communities that they live in would only make sense," she said. 

"The vast majority that really need all our help right now are in Niagara Falls."

Asylum seekers face unique barriers to employment

Madume said around 1,400 of the asylum seekers in Niagara Falls have had their skills assessments and been granted a work permit — but said new Canadians still face barriers to employment even with a permit. 

Resume writing and learning the Canadian workplace culture are two elements Madume says the centre tries to teach. 

"We're finding that people with higher skills, the majority have managed to get themselves jobs," she said, but added those workers are more likely to find their work unfulfilling. 

Madume said some asylum seekers have existing skills from their countries of origin but no path to use their skills in the Canadian workforce. For example, Madume said an asylum seeker could be a trained doctor in their country of origin, but be unable to become licensed and practice in Canada. 

"There's so much labour shortage, in particular the health system. They don't have enough individuals to work in that area," she said, adding that it is difficult to bridge the credential gap. 

"They have a lot of skills with them and I feel like it's going to be wasted skill because of that gap in service."

Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati previously told CBC Hamilton for many asylum seekers, there is a language barrier that impacts skill assessments and work placements. IRCC said most people transferred to Niagara Falls speak French, Spanish and Haitian Creole.

"We need to teach them the language, do the skills assessment and get them working," Diodati said in March. 

Madume said the federal government worker strike might intensify an existing backlog. 

Government strike may impact asylum seekers 

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) announced a strike Wednesday after failing to reach an agreement with the Government of Canada on Tuesday night.

Almost 100,000 employees, including Canada Revenue Agency, Service Canada and IRCC employees are striking. 

The IRCC said, as of April 11, there are 1,150,197 applications in the processing queue for permanent residents, study permits, work permits and permit extensions.

The adult asylum seekers without work permits in Niagara Falls are part of that backlog. 

Madume said the biggest impact she has noticed has been to the educational services the centre offers. 

"We are in the middle of an income tax clinic, so you can only imagine. We don't even know who to channel our questions to," she said. 

"We're waiting and hoping the strike will be over soon and they'll reach an agreement as soon as possible."