Bid for immigration autonomy might mean more infrastructure, fees in Sask., experts say

The Saskatchewan Party wants greater control over immigration, but experts project that could mean large infrastructure changes and new problems, while a business owner who navigated the immigration system says processes don't need to be more complicated than they already are.

Saskatchewan is pushing for Quebec-style autonomy over immigration to help resolve their labour shortages with a proposal it's calling the Saskatchewan Immigration Accord. 

Jeremy Harrison, the province's immigration minister, met with federal and provincial immigration ministers last week to put forward "a detailed proposal" that would give Saskatchewan authority over immigration. The proposal was made public in a provincial news release.

Deepak Talwar immigrated to Saskatoon in 2017 through the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program — where the province nominates the candidate. This program would also fall under the new accord.

It took Talwar $550,000 of investments in the province, more than two years of waiting and additional thousands of dollars in application-related fees before he finally got permanent residency in Canada.

Talwar agrees with the province's approach of boosting immigration to meet labour shortages, as he's seeing staff shortages firsthand in his cabinet manufacturing business, however he worries it will increase costs and time spent navigating immigration.

"Getting more applications has a cascading effect. The governments should work on reducing processing timelines instead of adding layers," Talwar said. 

The province said Thursday the accord would give Saskatchewan "sole authority" to nominate newcomers moving to the province. 

The government expects to exceed its current cap of 6,000 under the SINP this year, and seeks a proportionate share of national immigration of at least 13,000 positions in 2022.

"When it comes to immigration, Saskatchewan expects the same deal as Quebec. Immigration is a key component of our government's plan to grow the province to 1.4 million people and create an additional 100,000 jobs by 2030," Jeremy Harrison, the province's immigration minister, said in a new release Thursday of last week.

The Quebec Accord grants that province the sole responsibility for the selection of economic immigrants, while Canada bears responsibility for admission based on national security.

'More trouble than they might like': lawyer

David Chalk, an immigration lawyer in Montreal, said having immigration structures in each province could be a recipe for confusion.

Chalk, who is also the former president of Quebec Immigration Lawyers Association, said immigration lawyers and consultants in Quebec take a second level of accreditation provincially to practice immigration affairs.

Repercussions Chalk witnessed in Quebec's model included educating provincial courts to deal with immigration issues and setting up regulatory and associated disciplinary bodies.

"For consultants and lawyers outside of Saskatchewan sending clients to Saskatchewan, it will be a big disincentive because they'll be limited to a group of representatives licensed in Saskatchewan," he said.

"Saskatchewan needs to really think about its plan. It could be more trouble than they might like and this might make things worse."

The change could also mean provincial officers would have to become familiar with cultural norms and nuances while screening applicants from all around the world — an insight federal immigration officers already have.

"Neither Quebec nor Saskatchewan have the budget to open representational offices in every corner of the world and train staff to deal with the application process," Chalk said.

The federal government's immigration infrastructure, however, is "light years ahead" of any provinces, Chalk said. He noted Saskatchewan could draw in more applicants than the province could deal with.

Processing times

Giving the province authority over selecting immigrants would let the federal government "focus on addressing the outrageous processing times for admissions that are causing such issues for hundreds of thousands of potential new Canadians," Harrison said.

But Chalk said processing times are "slower in Quebec because of that second layer of government," as some applications need to be vetted provincially and federally. Saskatchewan's selection of immigrants could add a couple more months to the already delayed federal processing times.

Setting up provincial immigration can be costly, which could translate to extra fees for applicants, Chalk says.

In Quebec, for example, permanent residency applicants have to pay $900 on top of federal processing fees. Applicants trying to sponsor family members have to pay $300 for a certificate that assesses the sponsor's eligibility.

"Extra costs and extra time might lure those who aren't strongly attached to the province of Saskatchewan to opt for faster federal pathways or move somewhere else," Chalk said.

Negotiating caps, accord or not

Harrison says the province knows how best to meet its needs.

"Provincial governments are in the best position to respond to local labour market needs with new Canadians. The provinces should not be limited by economic categories or caps on provincial nominee programs set by the federal government," Harrison said in the Thursday news release.

Chalk agrees but said those caps can be renegotiated with the federal government without having an accord. Samuel Escobar, an Ontario based immigration lawyer, agrees.

Escobar said before Saskatchewan proceeds with its accord, it must consult resettlement organizations and others working in immigrant communities. 

Given Saskatchewan's checkered past with conflicts of interest and questions raised around the integrity of Saskatchewan's immigration system involving fake jobs being offered to immigrants, Escobar highlights the importance of checks and balances — which depend on infrastructure. 

"There needs to be enough personnel and staff to support Saskatchewan's mission," he said.

"More integration services are to be provided that provincial portals connect potentially with the federal portals."

Both Chalk and Escobar say the government's plan to meet their own labour and economic needs is justifiable, but more details are needed for it to be implemented in a fair and equitable way.

Like Quebec, but different

While Quebec manages economic immigration to the province — a power other provinces and territories in Canada don't have — Ottawa is responsible for the family class of immigration. The family class intends to reunite Canadian citizens and permanent residents with close family members. 

"Saskatchewan describing control over family class immigration is different from Quebec," Benoît Pelletier, the former minister of Canadian intergovernmental affairs, said, noting Saskatchewan seeks an extra component in its accord. 

"Quebec maybe would like to imitate Saskatchewan eventually."

In his provincial election campaign, Quebec Premier François Legault said he wants Quebec to be able to choose immigrants under family class — except for refugees — so that it can prioritize French-speaking foreigners. 

Pelletier, who teaches law at University of Ottawa with expertise on constitutional law, said immigration is a "concurrent jurisdiction" between provincial and federal governments — not an exclusive federal jurisdiction.

He said in Quebec's case, the province is only responsible for selection and integration of immigrants, and Ottawa is responsible for admission based on national security.

"In the case of Quebec, there are two goals. There's an economic one but also an identity one. Quebec wants immigrants to learn French and express themselves in French," he said.

"That identity issue does not exist in Saskatchewan's case."

But Saskatchewan is seeking the same controls as Quebec. 

Saskatchewan's accord would ensure "a transfer of federal resources for settlement services to the province of Saskatchewan," Harrison said in the release, which would amount to approximately $42 million dollars shifted to the province annually. 

Pelletier said Saskatchewan's desire for autonomy could be easily met, without any constitutional amendment, via an inter-governmental agreement.

"What Saskatchewan is looking for now is entirely compatible with federalism. It shows the flexibility of federalism which Quebec has benefited from."

Saskatchewan's desired move toward "autonomy and flexibility over immigration to meet its economic needs," as its release states, could eventually pave the way for other provinces, Pelletier said.

'This is going to happen at some point'

"What this really is about is the economy," Harrison said during a scrum with reporters Tuesday afternoon.

Harrison says the province's labour shortage, especially in the hospitality, construction and agriculture sectors, is the major economic issue stalling growth in Saskatchewan.

"It's about making sure that we have the skills that we need here in Saskatchewan for our labour market needs in a timely way," he said.

He said Ottawa is taking 40 months to process immigration requests, and needs to focus on admissions, while leaving selection of nominees to the provinces.

"This isn't about politics. This is actually something that makes sense," he said. "This is going to happen at some point whether the current [federal] government want it to or not."

He said it makes sense administratively and will improve outcomes for newcomers.

Harrison said this conversation wouldn't have been possible 15 years ago, because provinces didn't have the experience or the administrative capacity to actually administer this degree of selection.

"That's all changed over the last 15 years because provinces have been doing this — building administrative capacity, building expertise, building experience and being able to do this," he said.

Harrison said all provinces want greater control over their immigration system.

While he wouldn't rule out launching a legal challenge against the federal government should the province not get what it wants, Harrison said that's "not the path" his government is on right now.

When asked what level of consultation there would be with organizations such as the Open Door Society, Harrison said the province is always going to work with third party partners who provide settlement services on the ground, calling them "great partners."

"We consult with them constantly and those discussions will continue," he said.