10 / 52
Spring
2017
Grains
West
10
THE
FARMGATE
FRESHSTART
ORGANIZATIONSMATCHREFUGEESAND
NEWCOMERSWITHAGRICULTURE JOBS
A RECENT CANADIAN SENATE
report found that, one year after arriving
in Canada, half of eligible Syrian refugees
remain out of work. While there are many
reasons why refugees would experience
di culties joining the Canadian work-
force, two projects are looking at ways to
help match refugees and other newcomers
with employment in the severely under-
sta ed agriculture industry.
“We saw a large influx of refugees from
Syria last year, and at least 45 per cent of
that population had rural backgrounds,”
said Anila Lee Yuen, CEO of the Centre
for Newcomers in Calgary. “When we
spoke to them about the possibility of
returning to agriculture, most of those
people were willing to consider agricul-
ture as a potential career.”
A three-year labour market research
study by the Canadian Agricultural Hu-
man Resource Council (CAHRC) found
that the labour gap for the agriculture
industry in Canada doubled over the past
10 years, and now stands at approximately
60,000 open positions. That number is
expected to double again by 2025.
“This gap is particularly evident in
grains and oilseeds production,” said
Debra Hauer, a project manager with
CAHRC. “In that sector alone we have
7,500 vacant positions resulting in $560
million in lost sales. Historically, produc-
ers have had several ways to find seasonal
workers, but it has become increasingly
di cult to fill permanent positions.”
The Centre for Newcomers is devel-
oping a bridge program to help Syrian
refugees and other immigrants find year-
round, permanent work in agriculture,
allowing them to move their families and
settle into rural communities. With a
spring 2017 target date in mind, they are
in talks with various groups to help create
a program that makes careers in agricul-
ture and country living a viable option.
“We are working with post-secondary
institutions and agricultural industry
groups to develop a formalized process to
get these people to work,” said Lee Yuen.
“This bridge program will o er training to
give refugees access to the labour market
by reintroducing them to agriculture in
a Canadian context. We are talking with
employers to establish practicums so that
people can get the skills needed for full-
For many newcomers to Canada, jobs in the Alberta agriculture industry are a perfect fit.
Photo:CalgaryCatholic ImmigrationSociety
time employment within the industry.”
In 2016, the Calgary Catholic Immi-
gration Society partnered with CAHRC
on a pilot project to match refugee and
immigrant job seekers with employment
in agriculture. They introduced 207 recent
newcomers and refugees from 13 di erent
cultural groups to job opportunities in
farming, and close to 50 of them subse-
quently secured jobs in the industry.
“We first looked at the barriers to
employment in the agriculture sector,”
said Hauer. “We found it was important
to engage employment agencies in rural
areas, as agriculture employers had not of-
ten used these agencies in the past. We’ve
also had a very high success rate matching
immigrants and refugees with agricultur-
al jobs when we have made sure we had
community support.”
While language di erences are an issue
for recent arrivals, those with moderate
English or French language skills are
often able to make a quick transition. “In
September we had 46 new refugees from
Eritrea arrive, looking to settle in Alber-
ta,” said Fariborz Birjandian, CEO of the
Calgary Catholic Immigration Society.
“Because we had previously established a
relationship with the JBS plant in Brooks,
as well as within the community itself, they
were all living and working in Brooks with-
in six weeks of arriving in the province.”
Birjandian said the Society is current-
ly focused on communities within 150
kilometres of Calgary in order to o er
refugees and immigrants access to ser-
vices that are generally only available in
the city, such as some language programs,
while still helping their families get set-
tled in new towns.
“We have been developing community
partnerships over the past 20 years to
move people where there are available
jobs,” he said. “However, we find if we can
get people to move before they’ve made
social connections, we have a greater
success of integrating them into the
community. I see this pilot project as the
beginning of a long-term relationship that
identifies needed skill sets within the agri-
cultural sector, and matches qualified and
interested new arrivals for this sector.”
BY JENNIFER BARBER