The 40-year-old, whose job it is to operate a computer-assisted furniture cutting and engraving machine, fled Syria in 2012 because he did not want to get involved in the war by being called up for military service.

He first visited Libya, but found no long-term stability there after the escalation of the civil war there. In 2019 he decided to seek refuge elsewhere with his wife and three children.

Mr. Alkhalil was able to find a job and move to Canada with his family last May thanks to a pilot program the federal government was expanding to offer refugees a resettlement route based on their job skills.

“My children are now going to school, learning English and participating in social activities […] Life here is stable,” he said in a phone interview.

Canada started this “Economic Mobility Pathway Pilot Project” in 2018 to initially take in 10-15 qualified refugees. It was extended by two years in 2020 to accommodate up to 500 applicants; as of last october, more than 100 qualified refugees and their family members had arrived under this program.

And in December, the Federal Immigration Office announced it would work with employers to expand the program with a goal of taking in 2,000 skilled refugees to fill specific labor shortages in high-demand sectors such as healthcare, trades and information technology.

Federal Immigration Secretary Sean Fraser said Ottawa will allocate $6.2 million to support organizations that help refugees apply to Canada as skilled workers.

A long process

Khoder El-Dassouki, owner of Emanuele Furniture Design, said Alkhalil is the second employee hired under the pilot program for skilled refugees.

“We can’t find the skilled workers we need here in Canada,” he explained. We’ve searched, we’ve run ads across the country and we just can’t find the right candidates. »

The pilot allows non-profit organizations working with the government to help qualified refugees abroad connect with employers to apply for jobs in Canada. Once candidates have received a job offer, they can apply to immigrate to Canada through existing economic programs but utilizing the pilot.

Mr. El-Dassouki points out that it took more than a year to process the applications of the two employees who joined his company as part of the pilot program. “It’s way too long,” he said. If we have an application, we would like to see him here between three and six months. »

Dana Wagner, co-founder and CEO of TalentLift Canada, a nonprofit that helped Alkhalil get there, says refugees can usually get to Canada and other safe countries through humanitarian resettlement programs, but these have limited capacity have in relation to the high number of refugees seeking resettlement.

“The reason we needed (this pilot program) was because the qualified visa routes were not designed for people in refugee situations,” she stressed. “Traditionally, all qualified immigration routes into Canada required a valid passport to apply. It has nothing to do with your level of education or work experience. »

An immigration service spokeswoman, Michelle Carbert, said the government is currently refining the pilot to ensure it meets the needs of applicants, employers and NGOs.

“We will continue to work with our partners to find other ways to make it easier for employers to bring qualified refugees and their families to Canada as economic immigrants. »

The United Nations estimates that the number of refugees in need of resettlement will rise to more than two million this year from 1.47 million in 2022, a 36% increase.