The National Citizens Coalition (NCC) is urging Canadian employers to prioritize hiring Canadian workers as the country faces its worst summer job market for young people in more than 20 years.
Amid rising concerns about unemployment and the broader economic outlook for Canadians under 34, the NCC is launching a "Hire Canadian" push, arguing that immigration levels, especially in the form of Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) and international students, are squeezing young Canadians out of entry-level jobs in sectors like retail and hospitality.
"We’re seeing what could be a generationally bad job market for Canadians aged 15 to 24, and for many into their 30s," said Alexander Brown, Director of Communications for the NCC. "This felt like the right time to hold the federal government’s feet to the fire a little bit, and to encourage businesses to support our youth.”
The NCC cites newly released federal immigration data showing over 817,000 newcomers arrived in the first quarter of 2025 when combining permanent and non-permanent streams. Brown says that while Prime Minister Mark Carney’s minority Liberal government has signaled a desire to rein in immigration numbers, recent figures show foreign work permit approvals are actually up from the same period last year.
"What came out on Friday was the data on where immigration is going in 2025, and to the surprise of many...the foreign work permit number was up again over Q1 2024," said Brown. "That’s incredibly concerning, especially when youth unemployment is already double the national average."
According to Brown, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program has seen explosive growth in the last decade: a 634 per cent increase in TFWs in restaurants and 456 per cent in retail since 2016, two sectors historically dominated by Canadian youth and students. While the TFWP was originally designed to address labour shortages in specific industries, Brown says it is now "locking young and working-age Canadians out of the job market."
"I’ve heard from people who’ve sent out 200, 300 resumes and never heard back, not even a call. They’re handing them out in person and still nothing," said Brown. "It’s a problem of too few positions and too much competition. And it’s heartbreaking when you think about what these kids already endured during COVID like missed graduations and social isolation, and now they can’t even get a part-time job to build their lives."
The NCC is calling for sweeping changes to federal immigration policy, including the abolition of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), with very limited exceptions, the closure of so-called "diploma mills" that funnel international students into Canada through questionable institutions, tighter asylum regulations and strengthened deportation policies and lower permanent residency targets along with the implementation of country caps.
Brown acknowledged that critics may view the call to abolish the TFWP as extreme, but defended the stance as necessary under current conditions. “We have thousands of young Canadians who are unemployed, and we’re still handing out foreign work permits at record levels," he said. "In agriculture, there may still be legitimate need, but across most industries, the justification is gone. If that’s an extreme position, I’ll wear that, but I think what’s truly extreme is letting an entire generation of Canadians fall through the cracks."
Brown also pointed to changing political dynamics, noting that the Conservative Party made major inroads with younger voters during the last federal election. "The Conservatives won the student vote for the first time ever. That would have been unthinkable when I was in college," he said. "One of their top ballot issues? Immigration." He believes this signals a growing political shift among younger Canadians who are increasingly frustrated with the job market, housing affordability, and lack of opportunity.
The NCC’s campaign aims not only to pressure the federal government, but also to challenge Canadian businesses to take action. Employers are being asked to prioritize hiring Canadian youth and recent graduates for entry-level and skilled positions, support workforce training and upskilling to better prepare young Canadians for long-term careers, and call out abuses of the TFW program and demand it be used only when no qualified Canadians are available. "If businesses are going to ask consumers to ‘Buy Canadian,’ they must also be willing to Hire Canadian," said Brown. "This is a crisis of leadership, and Canadian companies have a responsibility to their communities."
The "Hire Canadian" campaign is part of the NCC’s larger push for what it calls "Responsible Immigration," a return to more sustainable, managed immigration levels that prioritize citizen outcomes and preserve opportunities for the next generation.