Ford government plans to grant asylum seekers work permits via constitutional clause

Ontario is planning to sidestep the federal government and begin issuing work permits to asylum seekers living in the province using a clause written into the constitution.

At the end of a three-day summit with the nation’s leaders in Muskoka, Ont., Premier Doug Ford said his government would start studying how it could give asylum seekers the right to work immediately in the province.

“We have authority in that area,” he said. “No one understands the sectors and their labour needs better than the premiers.”

Ford said it was Alberta Premier Danielle Smith who pointed out Section 95 of the constitution gives provinces the right to make decisions on immigration. That section allows provincial governments to create laws governing immigration “as long and as far only as it is not repugnant” to any federal law.

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Global News contacted the federal immigration ministry to ask if it would oppose any moves by Ontario to give asylum seekers work permits. It did not send a statement in time for publication.

“We will be issuing our own work permits,” Ford declared on Thursday.

He said the move made sense in order to allow asylum seekers, who receive government support while their applications are processed, to contribute to the local economy as they wait.

“I have a tremendous amount of asylum seekers that are up in Etobicoke in the hotels, they’re healthy, they’re willing to work, they’re hardworking people, but they’re waiting over two years and they’re just sucking off the system — not their fault,” Ford said.

“The fault falls under immigration that it takes over two years to get a work permit.”

The premier’s office said Ontario, along with other provinces, was currently exploring exactly what using Section 95 powers would look like.

They said there was no timeline for when the province could start issuing work permits, nor had it yet been finalized what mechanisms or legislation would be needed.

Direction from Ford, however, was clear, according to his office: internal work would begin immediately to figure out how to grant the work permits.

The premier said asylum seekers in his province want to work.

“They want to get out there and they want to be like every other Canadian,” Ford said. “They want to find a job, they want to be able to first start off renting a condo or part of a house and then buying a house.”

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