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Economic Development and Tourism and Culture Minister Ranj Pillai

Territory, Philippines sign labour agreement

The Yukon government and the Philippines have signed a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the Employment and Protection of Filipinos under the Yukon Nominee Program (YNP).

By Whitehorse Star on March 21, 2022

The Yukon government and the Philippines have signed a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the Employment and Protection of Filipinos under the Yukon Nominee Program (YNP).

Ranj Pillai, the minister of Economic Development, was in Vancouver Friday for the lunchtime announcement along with the secretary of the Philippines Department of Labour and Employment, Silvestre Bello III.

According to a new release that followed the signing ceremony which was streamed online and had technical difficulties, the MOU improves co- ordination between the Yukon and the Philippines on labour mobility. It specifically:

•improves the ability for Filipinos to be identified and recruited through the YNP process;

•supports the safety of Filipino nominees coming to the Yukon through requirements for Yukon Employers under the YNP;

•formalizes Yukon-Philippines co-operation on labour mobility and the YNP through the creation of a joint committee;

•waives existing fees applied by the Philippines to Filipino YNP applicants; and

•clarifies the interaction between the YNP and the Philippines pre-screened and vetted pool of qualified Filipino workers.

As part of this agreement, the Republic of the Philippines will be developing a Yukon-specific pre-departure program for Filipino nominees, which the Yukon government will support.

“This agreement will provide greater opportunities to people in the Philippines who are looking for employment in the Yukon, while reducing red tape for businesses in the territory to access the Yukon Nominee Program,” Pillai said.

I look forward to welcoming more people from the Philippines to the Yukon.”

Bello added, “I am grateful to the Government of Yukon for its full co-operation, support and interest in this endeavour.”

The YNP allows the government to respond to labour needs in the territory in a sustainable way, while at the same time ensuring that job opportunities are still available for Yukoners.

The Philippines is the single largest country of origin for YNP applicants.

The Yukon formally committed to negotiating an immigration MOU with the Philippines in August 2019 through the 2019 Yukon-Philippines Letter of Intent.

Comments (25)

Up 2 Down 1

TheHammer on Mar 26, 2022 at 10:51 am

Immigrants pay taxes, taxes pay pensions. No one in their right mind lives in the Yukon. Check out the comments pages in the Star.

Up 2 Down 0

Peter on Mar 26, 2022 at 8:59 am

How about flights to Hawaii? I do not care to go to Philippines as I am a senior and I rather go to Hawaii, it is a shorter flight. I am sure the Yukoner's can easily fill a charter from Whitehorse to Hawaii as a direct flight. We do fairly well going to Europe on Condor!!!

Up 3 Down 2

Chuck Farley on Mar 25, 2022 at 3:01 pm

Anonymous "There's nowhere to live" Philippine community is one big happy family; they look after one another - ohh and they do own real estate.

Up 3 Down 0

martin on Mar 24, 2022 at 5:22 pm

I wonder how did the previous 3-4 thousands of Filipinos make it? To me, they seem to have adapted OK; but let the YG poke into this and it will fail, as it does it with pretty much everything it touches.

Up 3 Down 0

Joyce Chang on Mar 24, 2022 at 8:30 am

This kind of MOU was signing before but I wonder two years later, they may leave the Whitehorse Yukon again. Are you going to find the other group to sign this kind of MOU again ??? This kind of labor MOU, you may want to do a research and analysis report. Yes the labor shortage is always there but the local skillful worker training and employee welfare; we may consider again and also the gov. labor and immigration policies have to be crystal clean.

Up 13 Down 1

Charlie's Aunt on Mar 23, 2022 at 7:26 pm

Really smart timing when we may have Ukrainian refugees looking for housing and employment. Best the libs use some land and buy trailers so they can run their own trailer park for all the new voters they intend to bring in. Sarcasm intended.

Up 21 Down 1

Raul Felipe Garcia-de-la-Hoya on Mar 23, 2022 at 4:24 pm

So many of you nailed it that I won't repeat the obvious. This is wrong any way you look at it.

Up 33 Down 3

Mike on Mar 22, 2022 at 6:24 pm

Absolutely shameful and racist. This is by far the dumbest thing I've heard of and Silver is 100% a failure as a leader as a Yukoner and as a Canadian. Gross.

Up 25 Down 2

Groucho d'North on Mar 22, 2022 at 6:07 pm

Mr. Speaker, Where will these new Yukoners live?

Up 23 Down 5

bonanzajoe on Mar 22, 2022 at 5:46 pm

iBrian, It's not money JT needs. He prints all he wants. It's the votes. He knows all the immigrants from the geographical areas he brings in will vote for him and the other lib governments. Example, how did he get elected twice after all the criminal activity he did? And how did the Yukon Libs get re-elected after all the negative government Silver produced? Well? I digress.

Up 50 Down 3

Oya on Mar 22, 2022 at 3:36 pm

"As part of this agreement, the Republic of the Philippines will be developing a Yukon-specific pre-departure program for Filipino nominees, which the Yukon government will support."

Pre-departure program.... meaning "while still in the Philippines".
So my tax dollars are paying for programs in the Philippines, now??? Wow. Just wow. I do not support this at all. Sorry, not sorry. Nothing against Filipinos, and I get sending money to countries like the Ukraine right now, but why would we fund a program in that country? For the benefit of Filipinos? What about the people you are supposed to be representing???
This government!!! %#@*@T@#!(#!!!

Up 25 Down 6

BB on Mar 22, 2022 at 1:42 pm

Trudeau has a published policy of having 100 million people living in Canada by 2100. Bringing in 420,000 new immigrants a year is the cornerstone of how to more than double our population. That does not include hundreds of thousands of other non-residents who come here to work and go to school each year.

The reason? More money for the government to spend. One specific spending area is paying for senior citizens' support cheques and medical care. Another is making payment on debt that the Liberals are racking up.

Rather than balancing the books, creating equilibrium, and preserving our ecosystem through lower human population, Trudeau and company (and I would guess the other two parties as well), are counting on a Ponzi scheme.

Up 35 Down 7

Sheepchaser on Mar 22, 2022 at 10:13 am

So the Yukon doesn’t need to change or invest in itself or its people. It just needs more cheap labour under conditions that almost amount to indentured servitude given the economic desperation and political realities in the Philippines.

The liberal answer to their fiscal policies being constant immigration is a wishful delusion with a lot of downsides they don’t elaborate on. Inevitable rising costs is one of them.

Seems to me that they are so freaked out trying to keep the entitlement and healthcare structures for seniors properly funded that they will continue to sell out the next three generations without much thought. Can we get some more adults in the room, please? People who can parse the future consequences of policies beyond the next polling cycle?

Disclaimer: Immigrants are awesome. My comment is about fiscal policy, not race/xenophobia. All are welcome in principal, but we need to base our policies on more than the same tired move from the 1970s liberal playbook.

Up 33 Down 7

What a great fricken Liberal idea… on Mar 22, 2022 at 10:02 am

Kevin Costner is making a sequel to the Field of Dreams movie here in the Yukon. The new movie is called Dreams in the Field… The catch phrase will be, Make Them Come and then Build It rather than “build it and they will come”.

La Liberal Motto: We’re here for a good time, not a long time…
This Liberal program weakens both countries and leads to an overall net increase in the global population. Well done Liberals, well done!

Up 47 Down 5

TMYK on Mar 22, 2022 at 8:10 am

Guaranteed supply of low income workers keeping wages suppressed for everyone that isn’t a government worker.

Up 34 Down 6

iBrian on Mar 22, 2022 at 6:21 am

Hey guys, lots of room to live up here. It’s more who can afford to working at Canadian Tire or Tim
Hortons. Well, the Filipinos can, cause they put 3-4 family’s in a house, split the mortgage and do it.
Makes me laugh, they come from a country where you can live on the ocean or in a mountain village, maybe you have power but your more free then here. And here we have people hiding in the bush, no power trying to be free but are actually criminals.
Maybe that dude in Dawson squatting can go to the Philippines and do the same thing and not get bothered.
Trudeau knows he needs more citizens paying taxes for his spending habits.

Up 40 Down 2

Salt on Mar 21, 2022 at 11:15 pm

To allow corporations to benefit from cheap labor in Canada and support a predatory (and collapsing) financial system, the government is expanding foreign workers programs. Canada is being transformed.

Up 46 Down 7

Patty on Mar 21, 2022 at 9:30 pm

So we have no housing for existing Yukoners, other Canadians that have moved here as well as current immigrants. Where are we going to house all these people. How about fixing our own backyard open up lots start with McIntyre creek subdivision get housing and help the current residents here.
This is just vote buying from this liberal government knowing the Filipinos are a force when it comes to at voting time.

Up 40 Down 2

jack on Mar 21, 2022 at 9:25 pm

Cue the 2-week Liberal fact finding junket to Manila.

Up 44 Down 6

Cheap Labour Unlimited on Mar 21, 2022 at 9:05 pm

“Protection of Filipinos?” Are they an endangered species?

Up 28 Down 7

bonanzajoe on Mar 21, 2022 at 8:39 pm

I'm waiting for the new Yukon name change.

Up 49 Down 10

Matthew on Mar 21, 2022 at 5:28 pm

Not to mention, this IS racist, by very definition.. your favoritism towards a specific group of nationality, that's racist..

Up 38 Down 8

Matthew on Mar 21, 2022 at 5:25 pm

LOL! I thought we need skilled labourers, not cashiers... thing is, they won't even stay as it's 1/2 as cheap to live ANYWHERE else in Canada..

Up 85 Down 7

Anonymous on Mar 21, 2022 at 3:54 pm

There's nowhere to live.

Up 85 Down 10

YT on Mar 21, 2022 at 2:49 pm

Cool. Let's encourage even more people to move here.
And they're going to live where exactly?
Great planning.

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