VANCOUVER—Subway sandwich franchise owner Sunny Sanan will be the first to admit that his restaurant, at East 48th and Victoria Dr. in the diverse Victoria Fraserview area, has a high turnover rate.

But not everyone coming and going have been paid employees. Some have been new immigrants making sandwiches without earning a dime.

Beginning six years ago, some South Vancouver-area immigrants have been participating in unpaid “work placements” as part of a program run by the non-profit South Vancouver Neighbourhood House and funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

The aim of the program is to connect new immigrants looking for work with Canadian volunteer experience that could boost their resumés. Most of the positions are short-term gigs with non-profits, like the South Vancouver Neighbourhood House itself.

But some of the opportunities offered to immigrants are unpaid jobs at for-profit companies, including Subway “sandwich artists” at Sanan’s store and pharmacy assistants at a Medicine Shoppe franchise on Victoria Dr. and Kingsway.

That’s work that labour lawyers say fits squarely within the protection of the Employment Standards Act. In other words, even if someone volunteers to do the job for free, they’re still entitled to minimum wage and other protections for employees.

A total of 27 people participated in the program between 2016 and 2017, and placements range from 40 hours to 100 or more.

“Anything that is work that would be done by an employee is employment,” said Susanna Quail, a Vancouver labour lawyer. “If someone is at a Subway making sandwiches, you have to pay them to do that.”

Sanan, reached by phone, said he didn’t know about labour law when he got involved in the program. He just knew the program was run by a reputable charity, which is located on the same block as his store. He called it a “good program.”

“It’s really hard to find good people right now,” Sanan said, referring to Vancouver’s tight labour market with an unemployment rate below five per cent. “But they just come to see how the system works — because if they know point-of-sale (cash systems), they can work anywhere.”

David Lee, the manager at the Medicine Shoppe franchise that takes on volunteer pharmacy assistants, also said he hadn’t thought about the Employment Standards Act when deciding to participate in the program.

Materials presented to prospective volunteers state previous work experience as a pharmacist is a requirement for an unpaid work placement at Medicine Shoppe.

Lee said the idea is to “show them how things operate in Canada.”

“A lot of volunteers, they’re from other countries and they may have worked in pharmacy in other countries. They get a feel for what it’s like in Canada,” Lee said. The volunteers check expiry dates and help with shelf stocking and dispensing, he said.

Read more:

Having a job offer is no longer key to immigrating to Canada

Full-time, temporary work both rise in April, in B.C. as most of the job gains go to men

The real or perceived need for immigrants to get unpaid Canadian experience stretches beyond for-profit companies taking on unpaid labour.

The program that facilitates these arrangements, called the Labour Market Volunteer Placement Program, is billed as a pre-employment program that allows immigrants to work on skills they need through volunteer experience.

“The essence is to help people who are new in Canada without Canadian work experience,” said Eric Lau, the worker who was hired by the South Vancouver Neighbourhood House six years ago to spearhead the program. “This program provides the Canadian work experience if they choose to volunteer.”

Lau preceded his description of the program with a caveat: It’s not an employment program, and he’s not an employment counsellor. First and foremost, he said, it’s part of their Settlement and Integration program for newcomers and it’s all about giving those newcomers opportunities.

“I do believe there is room for professional immigrants to get experience. I truly believe in it,” Lau said. “I cannot say that I am referring my clients for volunteer placement to help the business to make profit.

“No, that’s totally wrong and unethical,” he said.

In a statement to StarMetro, South Vancouver Neighbourhood House program director Mimi Rennie wrote that the organization’s preference would be to find paid employment for immigrants but that isn’t always possible.

“We are very upfront with participants that this is an unpaid volunteer experience that focuses on learning by observing, asking questions and building professional relationships,” Rennie wrote. “Participants of the Labour Market Volunteer Program often feel frustrated because they are told by employers that they cannot get a job without Canadian experience; but how can they get Canadian experience without a job?”

Ruchi Lall, one participant in the program, affirmed the volunteer experience and support offered by Lau were helpful to her. Lall is a recent immigrant from India who holds a master’s degree in social work from that country.

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

She first became acquainted with South Vancouver Neighbourhood House as a place to take her son to daycare. From there she met Lau, attended some of his workshops on resumé writing and decided to participate in the volunteer program.

She described her time volunteering with the neighbourhood house’s seniors program, about one month in February, as a “pleasant experience.”

“Just sitting with them and spending time — because often seniors just want someone to sit with them,” she explained.

Lall said she underestimated how difficult it would be to find a paid job in her field in Canada.

“I did not think that the labour market would be so rigid with Canadian experience,” she said.

She first arrived in October 2017 and immediately began looking for work. As of June, she has only managed to get a temporary three-month contract for work in human resources, which is not her area of expertise.

“I have been applying online and trying to network with people,” Lall said. “I always get this response that they do not accept people who do not have the cultural experience or experience in Canada.”

One UBC expert on equitable employment said Lall’s story speaks to a common barrier faced by immigrants — namely, that employers place a strong emphasis on “cultural fit” and “soft skills” in their hiring.

“They’re talking about the culture of the organization. But at the same time, in practice it often means someone who feels like you (the hiring manager),” said Sylvia Fuller, associate professor in the department of sociology.

Fuller said that can lead to discrimination and make job searching more difficult for immigrants.

“So these kinds of opportunities to volunteer are providing a signal that they’re going to fit in,” she said. “If the employers are focusing on cultural competencies and soft skills, I think that employers have to look at their own practices.”

Read more:

Asian job seekers face disadvantage even when they have higher degrees, study finds

Participation in registered skilled trades hits four-year low in B.C.

Another problem highly educated immigrants like Lall face is that their international credentials aren’t always accepted in the provinces they immigrate to. Minister of Jobs, Training and Technology Bruce Ralston wrote in a statement to StarMetro that the government is investing $6 million per year on improvements in that area.

“We have been working with our colleagues in the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training to help further improve credential assessment so that the skills and experience of newcomers is recognized and they can obtain employment in the field for which they are trained and educated,” the statement from Ralston reads.

Even if the province improves the handling of international credentials, Lau believes there is still a place for his program to help immigrants with “soft skills.”

His mission is motivated, at least in part, by personal experience. Lau immigrated to the Lower Mainland from Hong Kong 20 years ago. He took classes to improve his English and attended college — but the experience he believes was most instructive was a volunteer position with Scouts Canada.

“That’s the first job that I felt I could mingle with the mainstream,” he said.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not respond to StarMetro’s request for comment by press time.

Read more about: