Meat processing facilities, supermarkets, grocery stores and butcher shops are already struggling to fill the hundreds of Canada jobs open for butchers and a federal job-hunting and career-planning website forecasts that labour shortage will only get worse.

”This occupational group is expected to face labour shortage conditions over the period of 2022 – 2031 at the national level,” states Job Bank. 

“The labour shortage conditions seen in recent years are expected to persist.”

With Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announcing earlier this year that Canada’s Express Entry system will begin targeting 82 jobs in healthcare, technology, trades, transport and agriculture this summer – including as a butcher under National Occupational Classification 63201 – foreign nationals hoping to immigrate to Canada are now looking at a new opportunity to get their permanent residence here.

The flagship Express Entry selection system has previously only conducted draws based on immigration programs, not by targeting specific occupations.

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Candidates will need at least six months of continuous work experience in Canada or abroad within the past three years in one of these occupations to be eligible, experience that can have been gained while working in Canada as temporary foreign workers with a work permits or as an international student with a student visa. 

The opportunities are certainly there. 

There were 417 job listings for butchers posted on Job Bank in early June, some of them from employers hoping to hire more than one employee. The Indeed.ca job-hunting website listed 501 such positions across the country at that time. 

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Most of those jobs, 68.3 per cent, were in the big, central Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec who together accounted for 285 jobs for butchers in early June. Quebec employers were then looking for 184 butchers, Ontario for 101.

On the West Coast, British Columbia employers were looking for 72 butchers at that time and the Prairie province of Alberta for another 35. Manitoba and Saskatchewan each had eight openings and all of the Atlantic Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island together accounted for six of these job postings. 

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Under the changes announced at the end of May, the Express Entry streams, including the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program, Federal Skilled Trades (FST) program and Canadian Experience Class (CEC), as well as parts of the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) will now be more responsive to labour market needs.

“Everywhere I go, I’ve heard loud and clear from employers across the country who are experiencing chronic labour shortages,” said Immigration Minister Sean Fraser.

All Three Express Entry Programs Will Be Open To Occupation-Specific Draws

“These changes to the Express Entry system will ensure that they have the skilled workers they need to grow and succeed. We can also grow our economy and help businesses with labour shortages while also increasing the number of French-proficient candidates to help ensure the vitality of French-speaking communities.”

Canada first signalled its intention to start occupation-specific draws through Express Entry in June last year, when changes were made to the Immigration, Refugee and Protection Act to allow invitations based on occupations and other attributes, such as language ability.

The majority of Canada’s provinces have been issuing occupation-specific invitations for several years.

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Under the changes to the act, the immigration minister is required to consult provinces and territories, members of industry, unions, employers, workers, worker advocacy groups, settlement provider organizations, and immigration researchers and practitioners, before announcing new categories.

IRCC must also report to parliament each year on the categories that were chosen and the reason for the choices.

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) says the number of occupations facing shortages doubled between 2019 and 2021. From 2018 to 2022, federal high skilled admissions accounted for between 34 and 40 per cent of overall French-speaking admissions outside Quebec, which manages its own immigration intake.