March 4, 2009

Human Resources

Manitoba looks to Iceland for temporary foreign workers

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

An economic crisis in Iceland may result in more workers from the country finding employment in Manitoba.

The province’s labour minister travelled to Iceland to assess the feasibility of recruiting construction workers as temporary foreign workers (TFW).

Iceland, with a total population and labour force of about 320,000 and 150,000 respectively, has always been a country with low unemployment rates.

But since last October, when all three of the country’s major banks collapsed, labour market conditions have changed rapidly.

“Unemployment in Iceland has always been low historically at around one per cent” said Atli Asmundsson, Iceland’s consul general in Manitoba.

“Now after the economic collapse, there is massive unemployment. It is up to eight per cent and still rising.”

Unemployment is expected to reach at least 10 per cent or higher this year.

Labour leaders in Iceland have criticized the government’s lack of action.

In February, the Manitoba government sent a letter to Asmundsson expressing an interest in working with his government on an initiative to help unemployed skilled workers.

“Everyone in Iceland knows about Manitoba, so when the Manitoba government learned about the hardships Iceland is facing, they wanted to help,” explained Asmundsson.

“There is a labour shortage in many sectors in Manitoba, despite the increase in unemployment in Canada as a whole.”

A recent Statistics Canada report stated that employment in Canada decreased by about 129,000 in January, which has pushed the unemployment rate up to 7.2 per cent.

The majority of the job losses were in the manufacturing sectors in Ontario and Quebec.

In January, Manitoba’s unemployment rate was 4.6 per cent, the third lowest in Canada behind Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Iceland’s Minister for Social Affairs Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir has invited Manitoba’s Minister of Labour and Immigration to Reykjavik.

The trip is taking place between March 3 and 8.

“We are in the process of going to Iceland to see if the people they have match what we need in Manitoba,” said Nancy Allen.

“This labour initiative may take various forms. We want to go to Iceland and work with the Directorate of Labour to identify who is unemployed and provide a process so they can come to Manitoba.”

The Manitoba Ministry of Labour is in the process of sourcing and pre-screening employers, who must be able to demonstrate they have a labour shortage in a specific trade.

The Iceland Directorate of Labour will identify and pre-screen potential candidates.

“What is important is the principle of bringing people in through the temporary foreign workers stream,” said Allen.

“If they chose to do so, they can go back to Iceland. But once they are here and working, they can also move to the PNP, (provincial nominee program) after six months. They can stay as landed immigrants, if they have a permanent job offer.”

Allen said she has no problem with trying to fill vacant position in Manitoba with Canadian workers, if they are willing.

“If they want to come here, sure,” she said.

“There is nothing stopping anybody from Alberta or Ontario from coming to Manitoba to work. Anybody can come to Manitoba if they chose.”

As the economic crisis in Iceland intensifies more people are considering working abroad.

Manitoba is one of the first places to be considered because the province is home to the largest Icelandic community outside of that country.

There are about 80,000 people of Icelandic descent in the rural municipality of Gimli.

Asmundsson said that about 20,000 people of Icelandic decent lived in Manitoba in 1911.

These people were part of a wave of immigration to North America between 1875 and 1914.

During this period 20 per cent of Iceland’s population emigrated to North America, with most of these people coming to Manitoba.

A volcanic eruption destroyed and poisoned most of the land.

The population is the main reason why Iceland has established a consulate in Winnipeg and shares a special relationship with the Manitoba government.

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