Canadian Jobs Lure Arizona Landscape Labor

Margaret (left) and Carmen Cid started a Tucson-based firm to connect unemployed Spanish-speaking workers with jobs in Canada. Now some Americans are applying to work up north too. One first-time applicant found a landscaping job paying more than $16 an hour.
Photo: www.azstarnet.com

Arizona construction is down, so dozens of workers are looking up north for landscaping jobs. A mother-and-daughter team in Tucson has started a business that helps workers look for employment and settle in Canada. Both English and Spanish speakers are signing up.

The Arizona Star newspaper did a story in March that brought national attention—not all of it good—to the business.

Consultantes Canadienses LLC (Canadian Consultants), helps landscapers and others look for jobs and relocate in Canada. After the newspaper story ran, unfortunately, some critics got the idea that the business existed to help undocumented workers in the U.S. find jobs up north.

Immigration Debate Target

“The big misconception is that we only work with Mexicans and Spanish-speakers,” said Margaret Cid—the daughter member of the team. “That’s not correct. We’re getting a lot of Americans who are looking for work in Canada because the construction industry in Arizona is so slow right now.”

The Cid family moved to Arizona from Toronto and still has ties there. They started the business because they knew that many Canadian businesses are looking for workers to fill jobs in the landscaping, construction and restaurant industries.

“My country is going through a crisis,” Margaret Cid told the Arizona Star in March. “I have employers telling me, ‘I just want someone who shows up.’”

Phoenix landscaper Gerardo Rosas, 37, was still waiting for his Canadian visa in mid April, but expects to move to Vancouver, British Columbia, soon.

Soon after sending his résumé, he got four job offers and accepted a contract with a landscaper for 16 Canadian dollars an hour.

But the Cid’s business does not directly connect workers with jobs in Canada. At the Tucson office, Arizona workers attend a free seminar on the process. If they choose, they can then spend $25 for a consultation in which Margaret and Carmen show them web sites listing Canadian jobs. Then it’s up to the workers to make connections, send resumes and submit paperwork for visas.

Since the newspaper article ran, a number of anti-illegal-immigration blogs have accused the Cids of running a pro-illegal immigration operation. They deny the charge.

“People are trashing us on the internet,” Margaret Cid told landscapearchitect.com. “But it’s so much misinformation. We don’t ask questions about their (immigration) status, that’s between them and their embassy.”

Checklist for Canada

To get a Canadian visa, workers deal with the Canadian embassy in Los Angeles if they’re American, or the Canadian embassy in Mexico City if they’re Mexican citizens. To get a visa and move to Canada, workers need a firm job offer.

For relocation assistance, the Cids will fly to Canada and help with housing and other arrangements for $1,500. (Both speak Spanish and English.)

“We don’t take their money up front,” Margaret Cid said. “You pay in Canada when you’re clear. It’s not a lot of (profit) for us because it includes airfare. For them—it’s an investment in their future.”

More than 80 people have paid for consultations since the Cids started the business in February.

For more info, call Canadian Consultants at (520) 628-4211 or email consultantescandienses@yahoo.com.

Sources: Arizona (Tucson) Daily Star, Margaret Cid, Consultantes Canadienses.