Standing With Migrant Workers When the System Falls Short

A recent report from the Toronto Region Board of Trade argues that the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program is failing Ontario’s economy and needs a serious overhaul. Business leaders are concerned about labour shortages, inefficiencies, and missed economic opportunities.

But beyond the policy debates and economic forecasts, there are real people living with the consequences of these systemic gaps.

I see them every week.

I shared my insights in this OMNI News Report.

I volunteer at Migrant Resource Centre Canada as a Licensed Paralegal, where I assist vulnerable and precarious migrant workers. These are individuals who followed the rules, paid the fees, trusted the process, and built their lives around the promise that Ontario needed their skills.

Instead, many find themselves in limbo.

Some are waiting for nominations that never come. Others lose status while applications sit in processing queues. Some are tied to employers who exploit the uncertainty. A delayed decision is not just paperwork. It can mean unpaid rent, lost employment, family separation, or mental distress.

When business groups say the program is failing the economy, they are not wrong. But the deeper truth is this: when immigration systems malfunction, they fail workers first.

At the Migrant Resource Centre, I meet caregivers who cannot change employers because of status restrictions. Skilled trades workers who were once in demand now worry about stream suspensions. International graduates who built careers here suddenly find pathways narrowing.

Ontario does not have a migrant surplus problem. It has a policy coherence problem.

If the province truly wants to address labour shortages, reform must include:

• Transparent and predictable selection criteria

• Faster processing timelines

• Protection for workers whose status is affected by systemic delays

• Stronger safeguards against employer abuse

Immigration cannot simply be an economic lever. It must also be a human commitment.

When we talk about overhauling the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program, we should ask not only how it serves GDP, but how it serves dignity.

Because behind every file number is a worker who has already contributed. Behind every returned application is a family recalculating their future.

Ontario’s economy depends on migrant labour. The least we can do is build a system that does not leave migrant workers carrying all the risk.