ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS

  • Vacancies
  • Immigration News
    –  Successful Lobbying Efforts
    –  Ontario PNP Secret Express Entry Rule
  • SA & Namibia Visit Jan 2017
  • Economic News
  • Daily Living in Canada

Wishing everyone a Joyous Season and a Happy 2018!

With such a diverse cultural makeup in Canada, December is a month of many different celebrations.

The Matrixvisa Team wish you and your family a wonderful holiday celebration and a Happy New Year!

A special cheer too for all of the families spending their first Christmas or other holiday celebrations in Canada on our 150th birthday year! We are so glad you could join us and hope that you enjoy the winter wonderland as much as we do.

Matrixvisa will be closing our offices from Friday 22 December 2017 to 1 January 2018. 

For Emergencies please send us an e-mail using the subject line ‘URGENT: Subject ABC’ and copy casemanager@matrixvisa.com.

VACANCIES

We have been approached by several employers from many different industries and several of our clients have managed to find work with our guidance in the past 60 days.

It is important for all of our readers to note that the opportunities for employment in Canada are not limited by the vacancies which we advertise in our newsletters. ‘Vacancies’ as they are called on our Newsletters are positions which employers have informed us about which for which we do not yet have applicants. Often vacancies are filled without being advertised.

Here are some vacancies:

a. Applied Precision Agronomist in Saskatchewan. The duties are as follows:

  • Work with Teralytic technologies on cloud based soil sensor pilot project
  • Work with Sask Canola on Sclerotinia Germination project
  • Work with Q-protect on DNA petal testing for Sclerotinia risk forecasting
  • Input yield, soil test, and tissue test data into Trimble cloud based farm data management program
  • Use Ag Leader SMS software to create prescriptions for seeding rates and dry fertilizer in seeders
  • Use Ag Leader SMS software to create prescriptions for top dressing and fungicide in sprayers
  • Use Ag Leader SMS software to log combine yield maps and compare to as applied seeder and sprayer maps to create profit maps
  • Attend Agronomy updates throughout the summer and winter (at least 8 days per year)
  • Collect Soil Samples from production zones in Fall
  • Collect Tissue Samples from production zones in Summer
  • Spend time crop scouting fields for weeds, disease, and insects
  • Ensure yield monitors in combines are calibrated properly and proper fields are set up on combines and grain carts
  • Ensure appropriate prescription maps are loaded in the seeders and sprayers and that the maps are being followed
  • Operate RG 1300 Rogator Sprayer as required

b. We have multiple openings for automotive mechanics in Ontario and British Colombia.

c. There are two openings at a large grain farm in Saskatchewan.

d. Vacancies also exist for overhead crane technicians (electricians) in more than 1 province.

If you or someone you know would like to apply for any of these positions please send your resume to recruitment@matrixvisa.com.

IMMIGRATION NEWS

Successful lobbying result in new ESDC policy

We are very pleased to report that Matrixvisa’s lobbying efforts have instigated a policy change in what was a potentially unconstitutional practice of ESDC. On 29 September 2016 we wrote to the Minister of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) expressing our concerns about the way that decisions are being made in LMIAs with regards to employment requirements of the NOC and the unconstitutionality of refusing an LMIA on this basis. Cobus Kriek had written an article about the matter published in April 2016.  (See Our Efforts at point 34 for the Letter and 28 for the Article).

The employment requirements of the NOC of a heavy duty mechanic for example provides a guideline requirements such as a mechanic must have a red seal or 4 years of experience. If an employer requires a red seal and an additional year of experience, officers would typically refuse the LMIA for having requirements in excess of the NOC requirements. This completely disempowers employers to dictate the advertised requirements of the candidate that they require to fill the relevant position.

Within 6 weeks of sending the letter ESDC wrote a new policy dated 2 November 2016 addressing the concerns brought up by Matrixvisa. The new policy was however only provided to us 12 months later on 2 November 2017. Nonetheless this is a very good outcome and we are very pleased with our efforts.

Ontario PNP Secret Rule

As part of Matrixvisa’s objective to ensure fair treatment of our clients, an information request was submitted concerning Ontario’s selection of candidates from the Federal express entry pool. This request was submitted in terms of the Ontario Freedom Of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).

Subsequently, we discovered the Ontario government secretly decided to only draw applicants from the Federal Express Entry pool in cases where the entries into the federal pool were less than 90 days old.

This means that if, on the day of the ON draw, an applicant has been in the federal pool for 91 days, that individual will not receive an invitation. We will write to the Ontario Minister of Immigration, Honorable Laura Albanese and express our concerns to her ministry.

SA & NAMIBIA VISIT JANUARY 2018

We are again visiting South Africa and Namibia from Friday 26 January 2018 – Thursday 1 February 2018:

JOHANNESBURG – Friday, 26 January 2018 (11am – 4pm)
JOHANNESBURG – Saturday, 27 January 2018 (8am – 4pm)
JOHANNESBURG – Sunday, 28 January 2018 (8am – 4pm)
WINDHOEK – Monday, 29 January 2018 (3pm – 8pm)
WINDHOEK – Tuesday, 30 January 2018 (7am – 10am)
STELLENBOSCH – Thursday, 1 February 2018 (10am – 4pm)

For those who are interested in booking a meeting, go to ‘Get an Initial Assessment’ to begin the two step process. All applicants must complete an initial assessment before being invited to book a consultation

Kindly complete an initial assessment to book your consultation as soon as possible to get your preferred meeting time and to avoid the administrative strain created by last minute booking requests.

Please note that the Matrixvisa Team member who processes initial assessments and bookings will be on holiday from Friday 15 December 2017 – 26 December 2017. Assessment and booking requests will be dealt with upon her return.

REQUEST AN INITIAL ASSESSMENT

ECONOMIC NEWS

In November 2017 Canada gained 88 000 news jobs. This is the biggest increase in jobs since 2012, when we came out of a recession (www.cbc.ca dated 1 Dec 2017).

Several articles in the media referred to shortages of mechanics, chefs, farm supervisors (poultry, horticulture), machinists, in British Columbia. In the past few months we have helped dozens of foreign nationals to get interviews and jobs in diverse industries across Canada. Some restaurants were forced to close their doors for a few days of the week as they simply did not have enough cooks and other staff.

In other news the Calgary Herald reported on 29 November 2017 that the credit rating agency DBRS Ltd. announced that it had downgraded Alberta’s credit rating from AA (high) to AA.

It was also reported that the oil industry in the Rocky Mountain House area of Alberta is showing signs of recovery. They are using fracking and not oil sands mining. The area is in the Duvernay formation which is an area that holds 61 billion barrels of oil and 443 trillion cubic feet of gas. Another formation that holds oil in Alberta and British Columbia is the Motney area which stretches from Edson to Fort Nelson (just north of Duvernay).  The media has many articles about increasing drilling activity in these 2 areas.

The mining at McArthur Uranium mine will be suspended and about 845 people will face temporary job losses as the world supply of uranium has 20 million pounds of oversupply for 2018.

It was reported that the Birchtree mine in Thompson Manitoba will close due to the low nickel prices and 150 people will be laid off. The same fears are held for the Sudbury area where there are many nickel mines.

A major trade deal between Canada and the European Union known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, is now in force. Over 98 per cent of Canadian goods will be able to enter the EU without tariffs, compared with only 25 per cent a day earlier. The federal government says this will improve export opportunities for a range of Canadian producers, processors and manufacturers.  Canadian companies now have access to a $20-trillion market in the European Union.  More can be seen here.

DAILY LIVING

Crime in Canada? Cash and Diamond Ring given to police

We are often asked about crime in Canada. The crime rate has been dropping by about 30 % every decade and it is at historically low levels.

It was reported in The Province (www.theprovince.com) that 3 envelopes of cash were found in the city of Coquitlam as well as a diamond ring in Metrotown (both in the Vancouver area) – both were turned into the police.

Can my children stay at home alone?

A very interesting article was written by Edward Keenan in the Toronto Star on 7 Sept 2017 about children staying at home alone. The full article can be seen here.

A brief summary of the article is as follows:

  • In Ontario it is not true that that young men and women under 16 must be under parental or adult supervision at all times
  • “The Child and Family Services Act that says parents are responsible to make “provision for his or her supervision or care that is reasonable under the circumstances” until their child is 16. “It’s about being responsible for the care of the young person, not dictating the form that care must take”.
  • Sean McGrady, a spokesperson for Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies, said it is about reasonable supervision
  • “The law is purposefully vague when it comes to choosing a specific age, because there are many variables to take into consideration,” says a brochure from the Toronto Children’s Aid society McGrady forwarded for further reading. “One eleven-year old may feel comfortable being left alone, and know what to do in case of an emergency, while another eleven-year-old may feel nervous and unsure of himself.”

May I spank my kid in Canada?

Recently I walked in a Checkers in South Africa and saw a mother giving a very unruly child that was having tantrum a light spanking in the isle.

What is the situation in Canada? Our children (now adults) often joked about the inability of us, the parents, to spank them when they were young. Fortunately, I never had to give our children a spanking.  At the time our children were shocked when I referred to a Supreme Court case from 2004 (Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law v Canada) where in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to repeal Section 43 of the Criminal Code that allows parents and school teachers to physically discipline children in their care by using “reasonable” force. According to this case a parent may spank a child:

  1. not younger than 2 or older than 12;
  2. children may not be hit with belts, rulers or other objects nor be slapped on the head
  3. For corporal punishment to be legally acceptable, it must involve only “minor corrective force of a transitory and trifling nature”

This decision upholds Section 43 of the Canadian criminal code that stipulates: “Every schoolteacher, parent or person standing in the place of a parent is justified in using force by way of correction toward a pupil or child, as the case may be, who is under his care, if the force does not exceed what is reasonable under the circumstances.”

Winter Weather

Vancouver had the most rain in November 2017 with 192 mm of rain, which broke the record from 1953. Next week Vancouver is fortunately expecting a sunny few days. The snow has already fallen in Calgary and many other parts of the country.

Medical premiums

In most provinces medical services (Excluding dental, eye glasses and medication) are free. However, in British Columbia anyone or any family earning more than CAD42 000 per year pays CAD75 per month per person. There are no premiums for children under 19 or dependent post-secondary students enrolled in full-time classes. Individuals or families who earn less than $42,000 are eligible for subsidized rates and annual incomes below $24,000 are are exempt from monthly health premiums altogether. Ontario residents also have to pay a premium and Manitoba is thinking about implementing a health premium scheme, which in essence is a type of tax.

SINCERELY,
COBUS KRIEK &
THE MATRIXVISA TEAM