Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has introduced plans to chop about 3,300 jobs, or a few quarter of its workforce, over the subsequent three years.
The federal division emailed workers on Monday about its “price range scenario” and the impression on staffing, which IRCC later confirmed with CBC.
The e-mail said it was unclear who can be impacted by these cuts, however it might attain each sector and department. These affected can be notified beginning in mid-February.
“We estimate that about 80 per cent of those reductions could be achieved by eliminating deliberate staffing, phrases, and different momentary staffing commitments. The remaining 20 per cent of reductions will must be achieved although the WFA (workforce adjustment) course of and can have an effect on indeterminate workers,” the e-mail learn.
“Though the affected capabilities have been recognized, the person positions haven’t.”
Some time period contracts could possibly be terminated early, it mentioned, and people affected would be given at the least 30 days discover.
Why the cuts?
In a press release to CBC, IRCC mentioned the division has expanded quickly lately to handle international crises just like the pandemic and that progress relied on momentary funding.
Immigration has additionally buoyed Canada’s economy whereas pressuring housing, infrastructure and social companies.
In accordance with the Treasury Board, IRCC had about 13,100 employees as of the end of March 2024, up from about 7,900 in 2019 and 5,900 in 2014.
The deliberate cuts symbolize a few 25 per cent discount from these March 2024 ranges, again to round the place the division was in 2021.
In October, the federal government introduced reduced immigration levels over the subsequent three years.
It’ll end in a short-term pause in Canada’s inhabitants progress, IRCC mentioned, with the aim to give attention to long-term progress.
“Staffing inside IRCC is being adjusted to align with diminished ranges and everlasting funding,” the assertion learn.
IRCC mentioned it and different departments have been directed to return spending to pre-pandemic ranges. Cuts to public service spending have been telegraphed in recent federal budgets, with the federal deficit growing to $61.9 billion as of final month.
On the division stage, IRCC mentioned within the e-mail its spending reductions for 2025-2026 begin at $237 million and enhance to a complete discount of $336 million by 2027-2028, together with wage and non-salary spending.
“We have been working beneath an ever-increasing price range and have to be taught to stay inside an outlined – and diminished – price range shifting ahead,” the e-mail learn.
Union calls it reckless
“The information is totally stunning,” mentioned Rubina Boucher, nationwide president of the Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU), in an interview with CBC.
“We’re afraid of what this implies for households and companies throughout the nation,” she added.
IRCC workers course of paperwork corresponding to citizenships, everlasting resident functions and passports.
“Households longing to reunite, companies grappling with essential labour shortages and a healthcare system determined for expert staff will all endure the results of this reckless determination,” Boucher mentioned in a joint assertion with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).
Tamara Mosher-Kuczer, founder and senior lawyer at Lighthouse Immigration Regulation, mentioned she was horrified when she discovered concerning the looming cuts.
She mentioned some folks wait years to get their immigration paperwork processed and these cutbacks will solely additional clog the overburdened system.
“We will see rising processing instances. They’re already actually dangerous … they’re already ridiculous and they are going to worsen.”
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