Download our booklet : The winning strategies to recruit qualified workers internationally for free

The PEQ saga temporary foreign workers forgotten!

The PEQ saga made us live a very torrid beginning of November in terms of emotions and decisions. A step forward, a step backward on the background of cacophony and a human shield that was put in place so much the measures imposed to the so-called new PEQ were excessively unreasonable!

I think that if someone wanted to shoot themselves in the foot… this is a model to be inspired by! But what bit of reasoning went between the ears of some zealous officials? Why did they choose to change the rules of the game at such a critical time, when Quebec is experiencing an almost supernatural labour shortage, and to kill… their golden goose?

The mistake of the politicians was to continue to insist on the word “immigration”! Yes, we want immigration to be like this, like that, well integrated, taken care of, etc… but when we miss the point, it is rather blind!

Let’s take as an example the deployment throughout Quebec of the MIFI (Ministère de l’immigration, de la francisation et de l’intégration). Like mushrooms, they have recruited, recruited and it has “pop-up” everywhere.

Lots of nice agents who bend over backwards to help employers advise them and recruit internationally but … by the time they acquire experience, understand that their intervention is very limited, there will be water under the bridge and realize that they will not serve much purpose because … the government policy requires them to live in a paradox. Immigrants are brought in to “bail out” businesses, but they are also allowed to leave because many of them will never be able to obtain permanent residency in Quebec!

The international students who came specifically to Quebec went to the front and they succeeded! Some of them are here because they came to study voluntarily in Quebec in a North American context… Years go by and the country of origin of many of them does not interest them anymore! They have a “girlfriend”, sometimes a child, a job… simply a life in Quebec that suits them!

These are the ones who are the “innocent” and true victims of the PEQ Saga! You also have the category of students who, for them, studying was the direct way to settle in Canada! And yes…I use the word “Canada”! As far as the permanent residency program was rusty, clogged in Quebec for the last 4 or 5 years (I don’t even know anymore because there were cases that we don’t want to know anymore!), for these people… becoming a student in Quebec opened the door for them BIG time… Studying was the golden key to open the door of Quebec and enter the Canadian court!

And… you understood it, these are the students that the government thought that maybe it was necessary to stop giving them the key! On the other hand, from there, to put drastic measures like the famous list of study programs that could pass for the PEQ is really nonsense, bordering on the ridiculous!

As we say in good French… “the students have opened their big mouths and with good reason! Those who have taken the front line, have created a very virulent and effective Facebook group, they have rallied the population to their cause, but above all, for me, it is really these students who are the victims of such a savage and direct measure!

Now for the other students whose objective was primarily a long term immigration plan, we must put ourselves in context… Immigration is a privilege and not a right! Certainly, the government, whether federal or provincial, did not send anyone an invitation card embossed on gold paper. It is you who decided and proceeded to obtain your study permit and came to settle down quietly, comfortably, with your children, your belongings… to do this small study program to… switch to permanent residence… And the MIFI is not fooled. He understood the game but in order to control…. he did anything! He shot himself in the foot! By trying to make the flies go away, he spilled the dish!

Far be it from me to criticize but I am trying to see and understand the reasons why all of a sudden they are trying to do the opposite of their initial intentions, to complicate things when in August 2018, they had, on the contrary, lightened and enlarged the circle of people eligible for the PEQ, as for spouses for example!

I’m coming to the end of my reasoning… We’re talking about the future with the students, but what about the temporary foreign workers? Do you know that if the PEQ does not work for them, a very large majority will have to leave! and why? Simply because ARRIMA is far from perfect and candidates will never be able to pass through the selection grid that ARRIMA is based on! Do you know that if a person does not have his secondary 5, he is eliminated? So it is enough that your fetish worker (you know… the one who is the only one to replace you when you are not there and you can count on him like the apple of your eye! ) who doesn’t know the language of Molière well enough, who doesn’t have his secondary 5, whose wife also speaks a poor French, and as a bonus… he’s close to forty… well, you can already buy his plane ticket to send him back home! This is what ARRIMA is all about…

Politicians, you have a lot to deal with in a government! Give us a break and let us breathe a little! Stop attacking even what works and does your business! As Boucar Diouf said in his editorial of this week:

“The government, in its desire to fulfill its promises to lower the immigration thresholds to 40,000, has gone after the wrong place. It’s the story of a degreaser’s scalpel attacking muscle because it can’t find enough fat to cut off to fulfill a major promise.”

I invite you to read the whole article, it says out loud what many of us are thinking! A delight! Thank you Mr. #BoucarDiouf!

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m addressing you again… Your major promise is to ensure jobs, a stable economy, a healthy social life. You have touched enough on immigration and in the context of the major labour shortage in which we are caught up to our necks… it was really not the time to play with that! You have other things to worry about, other ministries to manage, development… and leave our temporary workers alone so that they can continue to integrate into our social fabric without feeling threatened as soon as the shadow of a Minister passes…

Let’s see what the next volume of the PEQ Saga will be? Who will live to see !

Selin Deravedisyan-Adam, CRIC

Share this post

Selin Deravedisyan-Adam Cofondatrice Directrice de l’immigration et experte-conseil en mobilité internationale

Selin Deravedisyan-Adam

Co-founder

Director of Immigration and International Mobility Consultant

[email protected]
514 903 9959 or
418 476 8381 #312

Selin’s career profile

A pioneer and passionate practitioner, Selin has dedicated her career to international mobility since 1993. Her extensive expertise and excellent reputation are rooted in her family history. As an immigrant herself, she moved from Turkey to France and later from France to Quebec. She was rapidly immersed in an administrative role, social work and linguistics that are specific to professionals who support immigration.

Married in France at the age of 20 to Christian, co-founder of PHOENIX-GMI, she moved to Sherbrooke in Quebec alongside her family in 1999. Later, she collaborated with the University of Sherbrooke’s Entrepreneurship Institute and was invited by the Ministry of Education to teach courses on how to start a business. At the same time, she developed her own company in international mobility, which became PHOENIX-GMI in 2013.

In 2008, Selin became a regulated Canadian immigration consultant and eventually obtained her license for the province of Quebec. She positioned herself as a reference in terms of statuses based on work permits both in Quebec and in Canada. Quebec International, a para-governmental organization working in the Quebec City and Chaudière-Appalaches region, hired her as an expert consultant, trainer, participant in consultation tables and strategic development agent with its members.

In 2018, she was elected President of the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants for the Quebec region. This new position brought her to work directly with federal and provincial immigration authorities while ensuring that the profession was ethically and effectively represented.

These days, she is continuously motivating her team towards excellence in international recruitment and immigration services, all the while realizing her life ambition of helping people from all over the world to experience a smooth and peaceful immigration and integration into Quebec society.

Christian H. Adam Cofondateur Directeur général et responsable du recrutement international

Christian H. Adam

Co-founder

Managing Director and Head of International Recruitment

514 903 9959 or
418 476 8381 #311

Christian’s profile

Christian’s career path has been remarkable. As a student of Armenian origin, he emigrated from Turkey to France where he pursued studies in chemical engineering. After a few years in the rubber industry, he gained great expertise in the field, started managing laboratories while traveling through Europe. He diversified his activities towards related sectors: automotive, military equipment and health.

In the troubled context of the Kosovo war in 1999 – a conflict which had repercussions throughout the whole of Europe – he chose to immigrate to Quebec with Selin, his wife (and the firm’s co-founder), as well as their children. There he started managing the research and development laboratories of two Sherbrooke-based companies, considered as leaders in the polymer industry. At the same time, he learned about human resources management and personnel administration in a unionized environment. Along with this flourishing career, he developed multicultural approaches then adapted them to specialized training in business launches and coaching of new immigrants.

Committed to support international mobility, Christian cofounded PHOENIX-GMI in 2013 and simultaneously launched a consulting firm in the rubber industry. From this moment onwards, he was solicited by clients throughout Quebec to oversee the recruitment of foreign candidates in various positions, ranging from production to product finishing and quality control measures.

These days, Christian works as an intercultural mediator. Excelling at implementing international recruitment solutions, he allows companies throughout Quebec to address their labor shortage problems, while helping many qualified foreign workers realize their dream of immigrating to Canada.