On April 24, 2014, the Employment and Social Development (ESD) Minister, Jason Kenney, announced a moratorium on the food service industry's access to the Canadian temporary foreign worker program due to alleged misuse and abuse of the program by some employers. The moratorium took effect immediately and will remain in effect until the completion of an ongoing review of the temporary foreign worker program.

Under the moratorium:

  • there will be no Labour Market Opinion ("LMO") applications processed for listed occupations,
  • any employers who have submitted LMO applications under the listed occupations will have their fees refunded,
  • any pending LMO applications for the listed occupations will be refused, and
  • any work permit applications submitted based on unused portions of an LMO application for a listed occupation will be refused.

ESD released the full list of affected occupations on April 28, 2014. The list includes occupations within the food service industry, but it also includes occupations within the hospitality, retail and other service sectors. Specifically, the affected occupations (as taken from the 2006 National Occupation Classification (NOC)) include:

NOC 6641 Food Counter Attendants, Kitchen Helpers and Related Occupations

NOC 0631 Restaurant and Food Service Managers

NOC 6212 Food Service Supervisors

NOC 6453 Food and Beverage Servers

NOC 6611 Cashiers

NOC 6241 Chefs

NOC 6242 Cooks

NOC 6252 Bakers

NOC 0611 Sales, Marketing and Advertising Managers

NOC 0621 Retail Trade Manager

NOC 0632 Accommodation Service Managers

NOC 0651 Other Services Managers

NOC 6211 Retail Trade Supervisors

NOC 6213 Executive Housekeepers

NOC 6214 Dry Cleaning and Laundry Supervisors

NOC 6215 Cleaning Supervisors

NOC 6216 Other Service Supervisors

NOC 6221 Technical Sales Specialists - Wholesale Trade

NOC 6251 Butchers, Meat Cutters and Fishmongers - Retail and Wholesale

NOC 6411 Sales Representatives - Wholesale Trade (Non-Technical)

NOC 6421 Retail Salespersons and Sales Clerks

NOC 6451 Maîtres d'hôtel and Hosts/Hostesses

NOC 6452 Bartenders

NOC 6484 Other Personal Service Occupations

NOC 6622 Grocery Clerks and Store Shelf Stockers

NOC 6623 Other Elemental Sales Occupations

NOC 6651 Security Guards and Related Occupations

NOC 6661 Light Duty Cleaners

NOC 6662 Specialized Cleaners

NOC 6663 Janitors, Caretakers and Building Superintendents

NOC 6681 Dry Cleaning and Laundry Occupations

NOC 6682 Ironing, Pressing and Finishing Occupations

NOC 6683 Other Elemental Service Occupations

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