CANADIAN CONSULATE IN BUFFALO WILL CEASE OPERATIONS AUGUST 27, 2012: REPORT

Canadian consulate employees get closing notice - Buffalo - Business First


Canadian consulate employees get closing notice

Business First by Allissa Kline, Buffalo Business First Reporter

Date: Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 4:41pm EDT

Employees of the Consulate General of Canada in Buffalo today received official notice that the office will be shuttered this summer by the Canadian government.

A consulate employee who spoke on the condition on anonymity confirmed that 75 to 80 employees who provide immigration assistance and business development support will lose their jobs Aug. 27. However, immigration services will start to be handled internally or shifted to other offices “within the month,” so the Buffalo office will effectively close by the end of June, the employee said.

The closure stems from federal budget cuts and a change in the way immigration processing is handled, the employee said. Similar shutdowns are set to take place in smaller trade offices in Philadelphia, Phoenix and Raleigh-Durham.

No details about the Buffalo closure have been released by the Citizenship and Immigration Canada department. More information may be available later this week.

News of the closure of the Buffalo office was reported May 25 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. The consulate is a longtime tenant of One HSBC Center, the tallest building in downtown Buffalo.

The office recently completed more than $1 million in office renovations and renewed its 10-year lease with Seneca One Realty LLC in 2010. The employee did not know the terms for getting out of that lease.

The closure follows the May 24 announcement that HSBC Bank USA N.A., the anchor tenant at One HSBC Center, is eliminating its anti-money laundering monitoring unit in Buffalo between Sept. 18 and Oct. 18. The department’s 77 employees are located at the tower.

The Phillips Lytle law firm will vacate the building in 2013 when it relocates to the former Donovan State Office building, now known as One Canalside.

About half of the consulate employees in Buffalo are Americans.