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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