JAKARTA - The Philippines and Canada said on July 3 that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed a new labour and migration declaration signed during their July 2 meeting in Vancouver.
Canada is home to more than one million Filipino Canadians, according to the release, making labour mobility one of the practical threads in the relationship. The document was signed by the Philippines’ Department of Migrant Workers and Canada’s immigration department.
The declaration sets out principles for ethical recruitment, fair treatment and access to remedies. It says foreign workers should have access to information on their rights and recognizes that workers may use different grievance channels depending on their situation.
Marcos placed the labour document inside the two countries’ people-to-people relationship. “These agreements will help us harness the strong people-to-people ties between our two countries,” he said in Vancouver, according to the Presidential Communications Office.
For Filipino jobseekers, access to many Canadian jobs still depends on employers clearing Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program rules. Since April 1, employers seeking low-wage Labour Market Impact Assessments must advertise positions for at least eight consecutive weeks and include youth in recruitment efforts.
Canada also limits how many low-wage temporary foreign workers an employer can have at one worksite. The cap is 10% for most low-wage positions and 20% for sectors including construction, food manufacturing, hospitals, nursing and residential care, and specific in-home caregiver jobs.
IRCC’s April 30 data update said Canada recorded 58,360 new worker arrivals from January to April, down 67% from the same period in 2024.
