Toronto will see a spike in its undocumented migrant population in 2015 when many of Canada’s temporary foreign workers see their four-year work permits expire and move underground, a city committee has heard.

“This issue is going to hit Toronto particularly hard,” University of Toronto law professor Andrey Macklin, a member of panel of immigration experts, told the Community Development and Recreation Committee Thursday.

“Based on the experience of other guest worker regimes, there is a significant number of people who end up overstaying.”

The challenge is how the city and Greater Toronto are going to serve this vulnerable population that lives in shadow, said Macklin.

In light of the rapid changes to Canada immigration in recent years, the committee had instructed staff to report on their implications to Toronto.

The Immigration and Settlement Panel — consisting Macklin, TD Economics economist Francis Fong, Notisha Massaquoi of the health centre Women’s Health in Women’s Hands and Jehad Aliweiwi of the Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office — was struck to provide expert advice on the issues identified.

In April, 2011, the federal government changed the temporary foreign worker program by limiting their work permits to a maximum of four years and banning them from reapplying within four years. While the expert panel had no idea how many of the work permits will expire on April 1, 2015, it could potentially be in the “thousands” in Toronto alone.

The number of temporary foreign workers in Canada has grown exponentially in the last decade from 101,098 in 2002 to 300,211 in 2011. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 29,000 temporary foreign workers successfully obtained permanent status in 2011 through a variety of transition programs. They also reported 57,000 temporary resident entries — foreign workers, visa students and refugees — in Toronto that year.

But undocumented migrants are not eligible for government services or assistance and cannot access health care. The panel said living without status equals exploitation, low wages and poor working conditions.

While municipalities have no jurisdiction over immigration policies, the panel said cities have a key role in engaging newcomers.

“We truly have to engage new immigrants,” said Councillor Ana Bailao (Ward 18, Davenport), who as a teenager settled in Toronto from Portugal with her family.

The committee passed a motion to have staff review and report back in May on the feasibility of allowing permanent residents in Toronto vote in the 2014 municipal election, and to issue a charter that guides the city’s governance in integrating migrants.

Although similar effort to grant electoral franchise to non-citizens failed under the previous Toronto council, Councillor Janet Davis (Ward 31, Beaches-East York) hopes this can set the stage to make it a municipal election issue in 2014.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Councillor Ron Moeser (Ward 44, Scarborough East) said voters are expected to be informed and there requires some rules established “to handle this in practical sense.”