For many years, we have accepted the statement found in most — if not all — academic job advertisements stating a version of the following: All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, priority will be given to Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
For international students graduating from Canadian post-secondary institutions, or those of us who trained outside of Canada and/or have a name without an English or French ancestry ring to it, this statement meant that, in most cases, our ability to work in Canada would be immediately questioned, even before our qualifications could be considered and assessed. An Ontario court case challenging the application of this requirement has allowed for ethnicity, citizenship and place of birth to be properly protected as human rights.
Haseeb v. Imperial Oil Limited, Imperial Oil Limited v. Haseeb
A decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal (Imperial Oil Limited v. Haseeb, 2023 ONCA 364) restored the initial decision of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (Haseeb v. Imperial Oil Limited, 2018 HRTO 957) that withdrawing a job offer to from a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) holder because the worker was not a permanent resident nor a Canadian citizen constitutes discrimination in employment on the basis of citizenship. Citizenship, ethnicity and place of birth are protected human rights categories (Ontario’s Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19).
Muhammad Taimoor Haseeb, at the time a recent graduate from McGill University, had received upon graduation a PGWP that granted him the unrestricted right to work in Canada. This permit would arguably set him on the path of becoming a permanent resident and later a Canadian citizen.
As a matter of fact, this unrestricted right to work in Canada is granted to some non-Canadian citizens or non-permanent residents through several paths, such as the PGWP, by the Government of Canada. The courts determined with their decisions that giving exclusive priority to Canadian citizens and permanent residents to work becomes direct discrimination against people who are also legally authorized to work in Canada.
Accountability via collective agreement provisions
The 16th collective agreement signed between the Board of Governors of Acadia University and the Acadia University Faculty Association in 2022 brought into the effect an expansion of the joint Employment Equity Committee duties as well as the inclusion of a non-voting equity representative to every full-time faculty hire. In certain hires, the equity representatives noticed biased discussions by hiring committee members regarding the eligibility of certain candidates to work in Canada. In some cases, doubts regarding citizenship, migratory status and legal ability to work in Canada of certain candidates caused unnecessary delays in candidate consideration, ranking and even issuing of job offers.
Once the discriminatory issue was flagged, the joint Employment Equity Committee advocated for eligibility to work in Canada to be included in the confidential self-identification form filled out by all candidates. The administration agreed to include the question into the form right away. Based on the 2018 Haseeb v. Imperial Oil Limited case, the question asked of applicants was whether they were legally entitled to work in Canada, as supposed to whether they were Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
The advocacy of the Employment Equity Committee to avoid discrimination of those who are legally authorized to work in Canada continued during negotiations of the subsequent collective agreement. As a result, once the 17th collective agreement between the Board of Governors of Acadia University and the Acadia University Faculty Association came into effect in 2025, all faculty position advertisements now read: All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, candidates eligible to work in Canada shall be given priority.
Continued advocacy at the national level
Advising CAUT Council and the Executive Committee on policy matters is a way in which the CAUT Equity Committee advances equity, diversity and inclusion. As soon as I joined the CAUT Equity Committee, as racialized academic staff, I brought attention to the long-standing practice of only prioritizing Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
As a result, last spring CAUT Council approved changes to CAUT’s relevant policy statements. The Appointment Procedures and Canadianization policy statements have been amended to read: Those legally authorized to work in Canada must be considered first.
Provincial human rights legislation varies across Canada, and citizenship may not be a specifically protected category across all provinces; however, asking candidates for their citizenship could lead to the collection of information regarding other protected grounds such as ethnicity, ancestry, race, colour, nationality or place of origin. It is time to stop the discriminatory practices by giving priority to those legally authorized to work in Canada…. full stop.
Juan Carlos López is a faculty member in the Department of Biology and Assistant Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science at Acadia University. Juan Carlos is also a racialized academic staff member of the CAUT Equity Committee.
