Media Releases and Opportunities

A new study on the experiences of temporary foreign workers in the seafood processing and agricultural sectors in Prince Edward Island is shedding light on the challenges they can face in securing permanent residency in the province.

The report, by researchers at Dalhousie University, Cooper Institute, St. Thomas University and the Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre, is the fourth in a series of community-based research projects and is largely based on interviews with migrant workers and employers, service providers and government employees.

The team found that workers transitioning from closed work permits to permanent residency faced a range of difficulties, including being exposed to predatory recruiters, inadequate protective policies, power imbalances and limited supports. Some workers report feeling permanently stuck with temporary status, while employers had limited knowledge of how
the immigration system worked.

The report, published today, includes several recommendations for the federal and provincial governments, such as granting permanent residency to all migrant workers upon their arrival, removing language requirements and ensuring immigration applications receive responses within their estimated timelines.

Eliza MacLauchlan, a research assistant at Dalhousie University, is the lead author of the report and is available to discuss the barriers workers can encounter when trying to secure residency as well as the supports that could help people here temporarily who wish to immigrate permanently.

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Media contact:

Alison Auld
Senior Research Reporter
Communications, Marketing and Creative Services
Dalhousie University 
Cell: 1-902-220-0491 
Email: alison.auld@dal.ca