The Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology (SCSAST) has released a report recommending that Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) stop issuing closed work permits. 

The report examined the structure and use of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), which was introduced in 1973 to help Canadian employers fill urgent, unstaffed positions when no Canadians or permanent residents were qualified or applying. 

According to the report, the TFWP was intended as a “last resort” for Canadian employers, but has turned into a “central part of the Canadian labor market.”