Temporary foreign workers from Jasper face hurdles following devastating wildfire

Gaganpreet Kaur, Gurbinder Singh and Namneet Singh all started working in Jasper within the last year and a half.

While they were born and raised in India, they say the town and park that was devastated by wildfire last week was starting to feel more familiar as time went on.

"You start living there for such a great long time, you feel this is your home," Namneet Singh told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.

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All three are temporary foreign workers employed in the hospitality and retail industry. They say they were working when the evacuation order was issued on July 23.

"We had other people — like our guests at the hotel — we had that priority to make sure they were leaving out safely, then we could think about ourselves," Gurbinder Singh said.

With no time to grab anything other than the clothes on their backs, they evacuated to Edmonton. The trio rents a home together in Jasper, a home that no longer exists. It burned to the ground, along with it their passports, work visas and education documents.

"We have basically lost everything. It's all gone," Kaur said.

They're now volunteering their time to help other foreign workers in a similar situation to theirs.

The Jasper Employment and Education Centre has set up a support centre at the All Saints' Anglican Cathedral in downtown Edmonton. It's helping people with their work permits, employment insurance and other employment or immigration issues.

"The biggest concern is, 'What am I going to do with my future? Where am I going to be working? Where am I going to be living? What is going to happen with my life?," said Heidi Veluw, the executive director of the Jasper Employment and Education Centre.

Another problem: Workers who are in Canada on a closed working permit.

That means they are tied with the employer in Jasper for whom they work. Immigration Canada says those temporary workers can apply for a work permit extension or apply to transition to an open work permit.

"We really are cognizant that people need long-term emotional and mental support because this is a big trauma for people," Veluw said.

The support centre at the All Saints' Anglican Cathedral is open each day from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.