Select Page

6 October 2021

Charbel Mouhawej
Lead Settlement Worker Multicultural Association of NB
28 Saunders St
Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 1N1

Via email: charbel.mouhawej@mcaf.nb.ca

Dear Mr Mouhawej:

Re: Leobardo Alfaro Samano UCI 1115501029

This letter is to confirm the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce’s (“the chamber”) support for the Multicultural Association of Fredericton’s (“MCAF”) settlement work in our community, including your efforts to assist Leobardo Samano and family.

As you are aware, the chamber is a strong collaborative partner of MCAF and since the City of Fredericton adopted its current immigration strategy, our organization is the lead advocacy organization for our community regarding policy-based immigration issues. In this capacity, we are pleased to provide our support for your settlement efforts generally and more specifically regarding Mr Samano’s case. It is our understanding that he has been waiting since November 2019 for his work permit application to be processed at the federal level.

Our organization agrees that this timeline is not acceptable for Mr Samano or any other newcomer that chooses to settle in our province. It is particularly concerning that Mr Samano came to New Brunswick through the Atlantic Immigration Pilot program with an attached job offer. Delays such as this mean that the spirit and intent of that program are not being met and we encourage IRCC to take necessary steps to clear the backlog of applications, including approving Mr Samano’s application forthwith.

With our community’s labour market issues, attracting and retaining newcomers as a solution has been widely embraced by all three levels of government, the private sector and associations such as ours.

Approving applications such as Mr Samano’s must be a high priority for government – all criteria have been met, Mr Samano and his family want to stay in our community and economic growth in communities across the country are depending on the system functioning as intended.

Sincerely,

Krista Ross, CEO, Fredericton Chamber of Commerce

cc: Jenica Atwin, MP, Fredericton

cc: Bonnie Doughty, Director, Employment Services, MCAF

Share This