Jasper wildfire leaves hundreds of foreign workers scrambling to arrange work, homes

It didn’t take long for Namneet Singh to find full-time employment again, after a fire in Jasper, Alta., last week destroyed the hotel he had worked at for more than a year.

Singh, who was among hundreds of temporary foreign workers earning a living in the picturesque Rocky Mountain town, was on shift when the community was ordered to evacuate the night of July 22.

All 25,000 people in Jasper National Park, including 5,000 residents of the townsite, were given five hours to get out when flames began cutting off roads and escape routes. Two days later, fire destroyed a third of the town’s buildings, leaving Singh and others in limbo.

Now staying in Edmonton, Singh, who was raised in India, is working at the Jasper Employment and Education Centre to help other displaced foreign workers get new passports and other documents in order to get employment insurance or look for new jobs.

He helps them better the odds of getting work by helping them apply for open-work permits rather than permits that are employer-specific.

It’s also providing a distraction for Singh, as he’s had trouble sleeping since the fire.

“At night when I try to sleep, I’m having nightmares,” Singh said in an interview.

“Even if I don’t have my documents, I want other people to get their documents as soon as possible, so that they can have hope they can get a new work permit, so that they can start working and getting back to their normal life.”

The employment centre is in a temporary office inside All Saints’ Anglican Cathedral in downtown Edmonton.

The centre’s executive director, Heidi Veluw, who employed Singh part time before the fire, said it’s likely her organization will be operating for a while out of the church.

Veluw said the centre is seeing 90 people per day, many of whom were previously using the organization’s services in Jasper.

“Their places of employment, or both their house and their employment, has burned,” she said.

Veluw said Jasper is home to about 1,500 temporary foreign workers in retail, food service, hospitality and many other industries.

Workers on permits that only allow them to work in specific jobs face the biggest hurdle, she said, especially if their employer’s business was burned in the fire.

She said the goal is to get them open work permits, but applying for the documents is complicated and lengthy.

“Just like any government form, some questions are just confusing for anybody,” she said.

Immigration Canada is trying to make it easier. It has temporarily waived the fees for foreign workers to apply to have their personal documents replaced and their work permits changed.

The City of Edmonton has set up an evacuation centre for those from Jasper with no place to stay. There are also reception centres in Calgary and Grande Prairie.

Jasper officials have yet to provide a timeline for when evacuees can go back. Singh said his return is uncertain.

“I don’t even have a home there now,” he said.

“It will be just ashes.”