Federal Skilled Trades and Canada

Canada: The workers from Italy, Portugal and Poland have been employed in Canada on work permits for at least two years. But under the Federal Skilled Trades FST program, they must pass a language proficiency test to be considered for permanent resident status. , according to Hamilton Spectator. The migrant worker lawsuit comes as the federal government is launching a commercial blitz to promote its new apprenticeship grants in a bid to meet Canada shortage of one million skilled-trade workers by 2020. More than 150 migrant construction workers are suing Ottawa, claiming they have been discriminated against under a program that invites them to work in Canada but welcomes only English-speaking candidates when it comes to letting them stay on permanently. "They did not require English to have us work here on work permits. When we wanted to stay, they said we needed to pass the English test to qualify," said Juvenal Cabral, 48, a Portuguese-speaking custom carpenter from the Azores and one of the plaintiffs in the case. "Why are we good enough to work here but not good enough to stay?' (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.