Grande Prairie, Alberta

By Melissa King

Being a Toronto native, I was excited to travel to Grande Prairie, a small town north of Edmonton. Living in St. John’s for the last six years, my only experience with western Canadian culture was waving goodbye to countless friends in search of better and more widespread employment in a province known for its booming economy.

Home to early fur trading posts and extensive farmland, I was naïve as to what to expect when I headed to Grande Prairie in 2011. Clearly a unique Canadian settlement known for its oil, gas and agriculture, it is one of Canada’s fastest growing cities, with a median age of 35 and a median total income of $25,414 from age 15 and up.

Leaving aside the beautiful scenery and dry air of Newfoundland, I was instantly intrigued by this western town’s distinct demographics. Being aware that Alberta is historically home to a minority of indigenous people, identifying themselves as Aboriginal, I was surprised to learn that the largest minority group in Grande Prairie is not Aboriginal, but rather Filipino.

I was curious as to why I kept seeing Filipinos working as maids and serving coffee at Tim Hortons (most of whom were women). The trend is so popular that a Facebook page was created—Tim Horton’s Alberta Filipino Workers. I was soon informed that this was the norm in Grande Prairie, and that most of these workers would return back to the Philippines after two years of work.

So why are business owners inclined to hire employees, which can only remain in the country for a couple of years? Interestingly, it is rumored that Albertan employers prefer to hire local workers due to the high cost of continuous transportation for these foreign employees. There has been such a high demand for workers that this has been the most practical alternative to fill job vacancies.

Such high flows of low-skilled Filipino workers are evidently not just a Western phenomenon. Similarly, provinces such as Ontario have experienced similar trends. Higher skilled workers are far more likely to be able to apply for permanent residency, but are being recruited in provinces such as B.C and Quebec.

During my flight back to Toronto, I could not help but reflect on the flaws that plague the Canadian immigration system and the means in which individual provinces are utilizing the system to benefit their businesses and increase profit without regard to their social impact on both local and foreign communities. Legally, procedures appear to be in-check, but what about ethics?

image courtesy stock.xchng