A Moroccan national whose work permit was not renewed due to an administrative error, is employed at a body shop in Quebec and has been struggling to return to work for more than six months. His employer, the Saillant Group, regrets the obstacle course he reluctantly embarks on to put that much-needed body painter back to work.
“It is truly a human tragedy happening, even in the midst of a labor shortage! says Mélissa Dumont, Director of Communications and Human Resources at Groupe Saillant. International recruitment is sold to us as a solution to the labor shortage, but I have one employee who worked for us that we can no longer hire. »
Along with four other compatriots recruited for their skills during a mission from Quebec to Morocco, Mohcine El Kandouri began working for the Saillant Group during the pandemic. A few months before the work permits for these employees expired, the Quebec company hired a firm of immigration consultants tasked with recruiting and processing applications to renew the permits. They have all been renewed by Immigration Canada, except that of Mr. El Kandouri, who only found out the bad news very late in September 2022. His file had only been finally closed a month earlier due to a missing document.
It is truly a human drama at play, even in the midst of a labor shortage! International recruitment is sold to us as a solution to the labor shortage, but I have one employee who worked for us that we can no longer hire.
“We have applied for license renewals for all of our employees and have carried out the necessary follow-ups to ensure our employee is legal and able to work. We were very surprised to learn that his license was denied, still surprised Mélissa Dumont. If we had known that earlier, we could have done things differently. »
“I came to work not to be idle,” said Mohcine El Kandouri. You were looking for me because there are many employees missing in my area. Nothing is moving now. It’s like my life stopped. »
A missing document
According to our information, in April 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) had requested that he be presented with Mr. El Kandouri’s Quebec Acceptance Certificate, a mandatory document to obtain a work permit. The client concerned was never informed of the absence of this document, as its file was in the hands of the consultancy ImmigrEmploi to which the application had been submitted. “I was surprised and shocked. I didn’t know anything about it,” said the Moroccan worker.
I came to work not to sit idle. You were looking for me because there are many employees missing in my area. Nothing is moving now. It’s like my life stopped.
The Saillant Group says it had great difficulty understanding what happened. “In the end we knew the counselor had since left the firm, but Ms Dumont believes the case should still be her responsibility. It’s a really uncomfortable situation that affects many people. »
Questioned by Le Devoir, the President of the ImmigrEmploi company, Luc Gauvin, explained this unfortunate situation as a “computer problem”. The adviser in charge of Mr El Kandouri’s file would never have received a message from IRCC informing her that documents were missing from the file. “She was counting on that email and it never came back,” he said. When she went to check [en septembre, dans le portail d’IRCC], she saw the correspondence with a request for the registration certificate, but it was too late. According to him, there was “another error” on the government side that made the exchange difficult.
A difficult wait
Groupe Saillant says it went to great lengths to help its employee regain his status as a temporary worker. “As soon as we found out about this, we contacted a law firm that our dealer association does business with, and a lawyer worked hard to help us resolve his situation,” explains Mélissa Dumont.
An application was made in mid-November for his status to be restored, as well as an application for a temporary residence permit combined with a work permit to prevent Mr El Kandouri from becoming ineligible. The company even knocked on the door of the constituency offices of Confederates Joël Lightbound and Jean-Yves Duclos to try to move the file forward.
Ms Dumont says she feels sorry for this worker of Moroccan origin whose life has been on hold for more than six months. “Besides the loss to our company, we are talking about a poor worker struggling to make ends meet. We are a human company and are doing what we can to help, but we feel our hands are tied. There’s not much we can do for him at the moment. »
As of last fall, Mohcine El Kandouri has been living in a small studio in Quebec without an income. He receives help from a food bank for groceries and is now at the end of his savings paying his rent. “I’ll be staying with a friend soon,” says the Moroccan worker. He says he calls IRCC every day, which means he has to wait in line for at least an hour. “I ask about my request. I was told it is being worked on. »
Whether the error was due to the negligence of the consultancy or the IRCC, Mélissa Dumont deplores the great “rigidity” of the immigration system. “I understand they can’t handle each file individually, but isn’t there someone who could take 15 minutes to do this file? she sighs.