Disappointment, uncertainty as Sask. quietly pauses employers' ability to hire foreign workers

A decision by the Saskatchewan government to quietly pause employers' ability to hire foreign workers could leave businesses without employees and immigrants without the job they need to remain in Canada.

Mike Patel, who operates a small hardware store in Indian Head, Sask., and other small stores across the province rely on the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) to help build a workforce.

"It's quite a bit shocking for me as this is a great program to attract people specifically into smaller towns," Patel said.

Salim Multani, who lives in Saskatoon, said he moved to Saskatchewan because SINP was supposed to give him an easier path to obtaining permanent residency in Canada. Multani said the provincial government's pause on the SINP program makes him question every decision he made over the past few years.

"It was unimaginable," he told CBC News.

What is SINP? 

SINP is meant to address labour shortages in Saskatchewan by having immigrants fill vacant positions.

Employers are only allowed to hire foreign nationals through the program once they're able to prove they can't find anyone else in the province to fill a position.

Once a business is qualified, they are provided with a job approval form allowing them to hire a foreign national.

That person must then work full-time for that employer for at least six months to qualify for the program and stay in the country.

A 'pause'

On Feb. 18, the provincial government updated its immigration website, announcing it would pause the intake of job approval forms for "several weeks."

The province said it's the result of a federal decision to slash immigration levels.

"The Government of Saskatchewan is disappointed by the Federal Government's decision to cut all provincial nominee program allocations, including [SINP], by 50 per cent," Saskatchewan's Ministry of Immigration and Career Training wrote in a statement.

For 2025, the SINP's allocation was cut to 3,625 spots. That's the lowest allocation for the program since 2009, according to the provincial government.

A spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said the federal immigration plan for 2025 to 2027 is meant to provide "well-managed, sustainable growth" in the face of national challenges around housing, infrastructure and social service.

"This year, all provinces and territories are expected to focus their nominations to target their most critical labour market needs, including those in construction and health care," the statement from the federal ministry said.

Saskatchewan Minister of Immigration and Career Training Jim Reiter was not made available for an interview this week.

Panic and frustration

Rajdeep Singh, director of Pax Immigration Consultant Inc. in Emerald Park, Sask., said he knew changes to SINP were likely after the federal government announced late last year it would slash immigration numbers.

Singh didn't expect that change to come so abruptly.

"We have seen a lot of panic in both employers and employees," Singh said.

Singh's company fielded more than 100 calls from people with ties to SINP trying to get answers about what could happen next. Singh said he and his staff are encouraging everyone to remain calm, but that he doesn't have the answers they want.

"There is not a lot of information that's been posted out for us to answer them at this point," he said.

"There's not official source yet who has confirmed anything to us."

Abuzafor Chowdhory, a master's student at the University of Regina, said his and his family's future in Canada has been thrown into question.

He's been waiting to be selected through the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program for years.

Now Chowdhory is concerned about what will happen and is desperately hoping the province will provide an exemption.

"When you are declaring a law or a policy, and [there are] people who already came here based upon that policy, there should be some flexibility for those people," he said.