Pfenning’s Organic Vegetables is excited to have workers apply for permanent residency

The federal government recently announced it would be granted permanent residency status for approximately 90,000 international graduates and essential workers, including agricultural workers.

Jenn Pfenning, owner of Pfenning's Organic Vegetables, says she's happy with the news that her migrant workers now have the option to apply for permanent residency in Canada. “This program, temporary as it is, limited as it is, is the first to offer what I consider a truly a just pass, but it is a really good step.”

She adds this is a long time coming, and it's wonderful that the workers can apply with their families. Since she has been allowing migrant workers to work at the farm since 2005, she has been trying to find many ways to help them stay in Canada.

“It is disheartening, to say the least, to have to tell them that there is almost no feasible way for them to live here.

Pfenning says while working with many people already, they have tried to help them be eligible to immigrate. “I know there will be a dozen of them that want to apply.”

In a media release, the government states that certain public policies will grant permanent status to temporary workers and international graduates already in Canada. They must possess the skills and experience we need to fight the pandemic and accelerate our economic recovery.”

While the announcement is still new, Pfenning says she believes there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.

“To truly address the deep injustices that have occurred and have existed for a long time, we have to completely dismantle the system and reimagine it in a new way. You can't do that quickly. You can't do that with one policy. It takes a lot of work and many different people to the table to redesign the system and repeal the old system. Until we do that, we won't truly address these things.”

The permanent residence applications that will be granted includes:

• 20,000 applications for temporary workers in health care
• 30,000 applications for temporary workers in other selected essential occupations
• 40,000 applications for international students who graduated from a Canadian institution

Applications will be accepted from May 6 until November 5, 2021. While the government has not yet announced an extension to the application process,Pfenning hopes it will be extended.