As many as 2,000 Filipino nurses and skilled workers can be hired in Canada’s Yukon territory every year, according to an agreement between the Yukon Economic Development ministry and the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment.

Under the Yukon Nominee Program, Yukon employers can hire qualified Filipino workers for job positions that they can’t fill locally, according to the agreement signed by Yukon development minister Ranj Pillai and DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello. Yukon is hiring foreign workers because it is underpopulated, currently with only 20,000 residents.

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Aside from nurses and skilled workers, Yukon is also in need of caregivers, engineers, heavy equipment or machine operators, chefs, and teachers.



Belo and Yukon officials also agreed on a framework that focuses on system enhancements for the recruitment and the protection and placement of Filipino workers in the territory.

Bello said he had already asked Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) administrator Bernard Olalia to fast-track the facilitating of the processing and deployment of the Filipino workers to Yukon.

Olalia said the application process will be through government-to-government arrangement. Since it will be under the management of POEA, qualified applicants no longer need to pay any placement fee.

As POEA is currently working on the application process and job orders, interested applicants are advised to regularly check the POEA website for updates and announcements.