Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
“I didn’t enjoy that first winter,” Tugano says. “I didn’t want to go out because of the cold. I just went from work to home. And I was so homesick.”
Tugano is a machinist and occasional crane operator at the Chantiers Chibougamau mill, which produces engineered wood products for the construction industry. When he was looking to move from the Philippines, Canada wasn’t on his radar. But he knew someone who was working for the company who encouraged him to apply.
Since that initial winter, Tugano’s wife and child have joined him in northern Quebec and his wife got a job at the mill. Tugano says his plan now is to stay on.
“What I really appreciate here is the simple living,” Tugano says. “All the people here are equal. And most of all, the safety and the security for the kids.”
Paid to quit work, study French for 6 months
Tugano is one of over 100 temporary foreign workers from the Philippines employed in Chantiers Chibougamau’s mills in northern Quebec, including in Chibougamau, LaSarre, Lebel sur Quévillon and Landrienne, near Amos.
In 2017, the company realized their well-paying jobs weren’t attractive anymore to labourers in the province’s south, who had plenty of offers, thanks to a hot labour market.
Frédéric Verreault, vice-president for corporate affairs, says the company was facing a dead end, so it widened its net.
The Philippines has a modern, automated wood transformation industry and a large pool of skilled labour. The one thing lacking was French, but Verreault says the language was something that could be taught. The work ethic was a different story.
“From day one, it’s plug and play,” Verreault says of the Filipino workers. “They come in and it’s breathtaking: their skills, their knowledge, their technical capabilities.”
Chantiers Chibougamau is a construction materials business with mills across Northern Quebec. When it became impossible to attract workers from the south, they went to the Philippines. And they’re investing a lot of money in housing and teaching Filipino workers French to convince them to stay. Community Reporter Susan Campbell went north for a look at how the region is banking on temporary foreign workers to help its businesses and communities thrive.
Faced with long delays with immigration paperwork, the company decided to pay hires their full salary so they can quit work and study French for six months before they leave home.
Verreault says that investment speaks to their commitment to the French language and integration.
Wanting to stay but worried about rule changes
Rex Ardiente, a machine operator, did full-time French before arriving in Quebec in 2021, and he’s continued with government-sponsored online classes since.
“One of my friends here, a colleague, was laughing at me at first,” says Ardiente. “But now he says, ‘Hey, you’re good! You read fast! The intonation!'”
Ardiente worked for a decade in South Korea before accepting the job in Chibougamau. His wife also works at Chantiers, and their two salaries serve to pay university tuition for their two daughters back in the Philippines.
Ardiente’s hope is to become a permanent resident, bring his children to Quebec and eventually retire in Chibougamau. But now those plans might be in jeopardy.
The federal government recently announced it will cut the number of new permanent residents from 485,000 to 395,000 this year. That came in response to what the government calls Canadians’ changing attitudes toward immigration.
“Our contract will finish in 2026,” Ardiente says. “We must save money in case they let us go, and we have to return to our country. At least we’ll have our own investments.”
Immigration a boon for town, says Chibougamau mayor
Manon Cyr has no time for the current debate about whether there are too many immigrants in Quebec.
Mayor of Chibougamau for the past 15 years, Cyr has seen the difference newcomers make to a town with an outmigration problem. She points to a provincial pilot project that saw a dozen students from the Maghreb region of Africa come to study at the local CEGEP last year.
“They are living in Chibougamau and taking care of my friends at the hospital or the CHSLD,” Cyr says. “And they’re making a difference.”
Still, there are challenges that come with an influx of new people. Chibougamau has a very low vacancy rate, and the town is making building new rental housing a priority.
Verreault says Chantiers Chibougamau didn’t want to add to that problem. The company therefore teamed up with a local construction company to build a whole new neighbourhood of 40 homes not far from Chibougamau’s downtown, destined for their foreign workers and their families.
Cyr says that kind of grassroots effort should be backed by government policies that make it easier for workers to envision a future in Quebec. That includes giving more time to workers in regions that are close to 100 per cent francophone to achieve proficiency in French.
“Even if the business gives them time to learn, you’re working 40, 50 hours a week, then you have to go to school at night to pass your exam?” Cyr says. “Come on, guys.”
Kids key to family integration
Agnes Eusantos and her children joined her husband Lamberto in Chibougamau in the winter of 2022. Both parents work at Chantiers.
Their 17 year-old son Ian and 10 year-old daughter Iyana are in French schools and take additional classes in the French language. In two years, they’ve adapted to their new life.
“At first it was hard,” Ian says. “But now I speak French. I like the winter, I go snowboarding with my friends. They’re Quebecois and Filipinos.’
Iyana answers timidly when asked what she likes most about Quebec.
“La neige,” she said, French for “the snow.”
Eusantos is grateful for the life her family has found in Quebec’s north. But it’s not easy not having the support of family. The cost of living is also steep.
“Now that we’re paying our rent, our car, our insurance, the expenses are bloating,” Eusantos says.
“We buy what’s necessary and important and we’re able to save money for the future, as well.”
With their skills and their proficiency in English, Filipino workers have options. For employers like Chantiers Chibougamau, that means finding ways to make staying in northern Quebec attractive.
Verreault and Chibougamau’s mayor are both having conversations with the Quebec government about giving regions like the Nord-du-Québec or James Bay special status to make it easier for people to come for work and make a permanent home.
“It’s about our capability to do our work and our work is producing materials for the construction industry,’ Verreault says.
“And without those people, the mills would be empty.”
