International grads feel excluded as Manitoba provincial nominee program prioritizes work experience

Manitoba's NDP government took more heat Thursday over its handling of the provincial nominee program, after a recent draw for applicants excluded some recently graduated international students.

The province periodically selects people from expressions of interest who are invited to apply to the provincial nominee program — which matches foreign workers with Manitoba's labour needs. A certain number of applicants from those draws are then approved to come to the province.

On Wednesday, the government conducted its first draw since early February for international students graduating from designated Manitoba post-secondary institutions. 

But the draw through the international education stream, or IES, came with an unexpected catch for many hopeful applicants — only those with at least four years of work experience in the past five years were considered.

Sarah Sun said the parameters of Wednesday's draw are deflating for recent grads like her.

"I feel very upset," she said at a protest Thursday outside the Manitoba Legislature.

"Even though I got my English score [at a high-enough level] and I found a job, it means nothing."

Sun worries she and her family, who are originally from China, will have to leave Canada if they don't obtain permanent residency.

"I feel very stressful because I have a son, he's 10 years old.… He said, 'Mom, I don't want to come back home. I like Canada. I like my teacher, my classmates,'" she said, fighting back tears.

Future draws will help others: province

But the province said more draws will be held in the "coming weeks" exclusively for international graduates with less than four years of work experience.

The province has chosen to divide IES draws into smaller segments "to process applicants as quickly as possible while ensuring we attract skilled workers," a spokesperson said.

Thursday's protest comes a week after the Progressive Conservatives first alleged Malaya Marcelino, the NDP government's immigration minister, threatened people protesting with possible immigration delays in an effort to silence them.

Marcelino adamantly denied the allegation, after the Opposition presented a heavily redacted letter containing the allegation. It claimed Marcelino threatened to intentionally delay specific provincial nominee draws if individuals continued to hold protests. 

CBC News hasn't spoken directly to the writer. 

Interim Manitoba Liberal leader Cindy Lamoureux said she had also heard a similar allegation. 

The Tories have called on Marcelino to resign, describing the alleged interference as a breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

One person who attended a meeting with Marcelino said they did not hear a threat from the minister, but couldn't speak to any other conversations she may have had. 

Over the past two months, several demonstrations have been held over Manitoba's approach to the provincial nominee program.

The government has decided to prioritize skilled workers who already have family in the province — a move the province believes will help Manitoba retain more newcomers, but which also has the effect of reducing the number of newcomers who don't already have roots in the province.

Work permits expiring

The nominee program is also sifting through a glut of applications because the federal government is no longer extending work permits for 18 months, which it had previously done due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zhiyu Gu said he didn't shy away from Thursday's protest because he trusts that Canada is a democratic country in which the right to protest is protected. Around 25 people attended the afternoon demonstration.

While the international student from China isn't eligible for the provincial nominee program yet because he hasn't graduated, Gu said news of an IES draw exclusively for people with four years of work experience was shocking.

"All of my classmates, they just became silent," he said. 

He hopes future draws will benefit international students who choose Manitoba as their first destination.

"We feel uncertain with the government. We don't know what they will do in the future," he said.