A federal immigration program's promise of permanent residency let Anil Khurana down by its lack of language protecting applicants from exploitative employers.
In 2020, the federal government乌鸦传媒檚 Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) program was launched in the North Okanagan under the administration of Community Futures. The program offered an expedited path to permanent residency for immigrants with permanent work.
The program was extended to the Shuswap in 2022 and, after being deemed eligible for it, Khurana received a job offer from an RNIP-designated Salmon Arm employer and began working in the community that year.
Under RNIP, a worker may earn from their employer a recommendation enabling them to apply for permanent residency (PR). Khurana said he received his recommendation in 2024. In February that year, after submitting his PR application, Khurana said he suffered a workplace injury.
Khurana said he was advised by a doctor to take a week off work; however, he said his employer refused to give him the time off.
"I kept working and the injury got worse and I went back to the doctor and she suggested I call WorkSafe(BC)," said Khurana, who also submitted a complaint to the B.C. Employment Standards Branch (ESB), alleging he hadn't been paid for working overtime or on statutory holidays, and had been subject to repeated harassment that included threats of deportation.
Furthermore, Khurana initiated a human rights investigation, alleging several individuals and a company had exploited his
Subsequent to contacting WorkSafe and the ESB, Khurana alleges his employer, in retaliation, revoked the job offer and cancelled his recommendation.
In a July 25, 2024 letter to Khurana, the Rural & North Okanagan-Shuswap RNIP team said it had been advised he no longer possessed an eligible job offer from his employer, and that unless he received a signed declaration from the employer indicating their commitment to maintaining his position, the team would be required to revoke Khurana's recommendation, as per RNIP guidelines.
While his case continues with the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, Khurana said WorkSafe and ESB have ruled in his favour, "confirming that I was mistreated and acted rightfully."
A March 31, 2025 determination by the B.C. Director of Employment Standards states the Employment Standards Act had been contravened and that Khuara was entitled to $17,838 in wages and interest. The employer was also issued a $1,500 administrative penalty.
"If you appeal this determination funds paid or collected will be held in the Director乌鸦传媒檚 trust account during the tribunal appeal process," reads the determination.
Khurana has written the federal government and other elected officials, sharing his experience along with his desire to make sure any program that should replace RNIP includes language to allow recommendations and permanent residency applications to stand should an employer have its RNIP designation revoked.
"We as immigrants, if we work six or seven days a week, we hardly earn $3,000 and with everything like groceries, rent乌鸦传媒� some people have loans back home, they have to repay that too, so they can乌鸦传媒檛 fight with these people," said Khurana. "Hiring a lawyer is really expensive. I乌鸦传媒檝e talked to many and they're $300 to $500 if you want to talk to them for an hour乌鸦传媒�
"The rules say if the employer removes a job offer or recommendation, they (RNIP) have to remove it but there is no exception in that if the employer is intentionally doing it or trying to harm. They could remove an employer from the program but there乌鸦传媒檚 not a safeguard for the employee."
While RNIP is no more, the federal government recently introduced the Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP), which is also being overseen locally by Community Futures.
Community Futures North Okanagan executive director Leigha Horsfield said RCIP is a completely different program, and confirmed it comes with guidelines that addresses situations like Khurana's.
"This new one is different, it乌鸦传媒檚 not even a new version, it乌鸦传媒檚 a completely different pilot and so the parameters of this pilot say that if an employer is found to be in any way discriminatory, fraudulent, exploitative, and that is proven, than that individual candidate application is not now frozen, it can be transferred to another employer," said Horsfield.
A program co-ordinator for RNIP and now RCIP, Ward Mercer explained how under the latter, Khurana was a victim of strict rules.
"It was unfortunate under the last program that we had to revoke people in certain situations that we didn乌鸦传媒檛 want to, but the government was under the impression that we could just re-recommend this person if they were innocent and it wasn乌鸦传媒檛 going to have huge negative impacts," said Mercer. "I think they realized, after having lots of discussion with the coordinators in the community, that there was a negative impact乌鸦传媒� So now they've added in the list of instructions."
Now, said Mercer, should an economic development organization like Community Futures "de-designate an employer, it doesn't necessarily mean the candidate乌鸦传媒� has to be revoked as well." This, he said, should help workers report situations without fear of reprisal.
"If somebody does the job and does everything right, but their employer is breaking the rules, then that should give them the right to come back to us to say look, this is what my employer is doing, I want to continue my PR and I want him to be de-designated," said Mercer. "Those people will now have an avenue to come to us without being punished whereas in the past they had no incentive to talk to us."
Khurana, who currently resides in Kelowna, has written Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) asking for reconsideration of his application. Supporting this is an Aug. 9, 2024 letter from the Shuswap Immigrant Services Society (SISS), requesting the IRCC review Khurana's application.
"His contribution to the community and his ongoing commitment to abiding by legal and ethical standards deserve recognition and support," wrote SISS.