Commercial and Janitorial Cleaning Jobs in Canada

Wages: Job Bank, updated 19 November 2025  ·  Covers: NOC 65312 and 65310  ·  Checked: 13 September 2026

Commercial and janitorial cleaning is the steadier, better-paid side of the trade: buildings have to be cleaned every night whatever the season, and Job Bank puts janitors and heavy-duty cleaners at a national median of $21.27 an hour. The catch for applicants abroad is that most of this work sits in exactly the cities where low-wage LMIAs are currently refused.

What commercial and janitorial cleaners do

Job Bank describes janitors, caretakers and heavy-duty cleaners as the people who clean and maintain the inside and outside of commercial, institutional and residential buildings and their grounds, usually 35 to 40 hours a week. In practice that means three overlapping jobs:

• Commercial cleaners service offices, shops and public buildings, mostly on evening and night shifts (often filed as light duty cleaners, 65310).
• Janitors and custodians look after schools, apartment blocks and institutions, adding floor care, waste, snow and minor repairs (65312).
• Heavy-duty cleaners work in plants, warehouses and industrial sites with scrubbers, pressure washers and stronger chemicals (65312).

One of the eight postings open to applicants abroad when we checked shows the industrial end: a heavy-duty cleaner job in Iqaluit, Nunavut at $25.50 an hour, scrubbing and waxing floors and stairs and operating industrial equipment.

Janitor and heavy-duty cleaner pay by province

Hourly, Canadian dollars. Job Bank wages for NOC 65312, updated 19 November 2025.

British Columbia leads the provinces with a $24.65 median and a high of $34.00, and the territories go higher still. Some regional highs are far above these: $40.00 in the Thompson–Okanagan and $38.00 in Wood Buffalo–Cold Lake.

Who holds the cleaning contracts

Most commercial buildings do not employ their own cleaners. They sign a contract with a cleaning company, which hires, trains and schedules the staff. For you, that means the employer on your LMIA and work permit is usually the contractor, not the office tower, hospital or university where you work.

That distinction decides whether the refusal rule applies. Hospitals (NAICS 622) and nursing and residential care facilities (NAICS 623) are exempt, but the exemption follows the employer’s industry. A janitor hired directly by a hospital is exempt; a janitor hired by the cleaning contractor that services the hospital generally is not.

What the postings show

Two of the eight postings open to applicants abroad were commercial cleaning contractors in British Columbia, both at $21.00 an hour:

• Virgo Cleaning Services Ltd, Victoria — light duty cleaner for offices and commercial buildings at various locations, 40 hours a week, permanent. Posting on Job Bank.
• Dhillon Janitorial Service Ltd, Terrace — light duty cleaner, 30 to 40 hours a week, permanent, no experience needed. Posting on Job Bank.

Both were advertised until mid to late September 2026. None of the Ontario or Alberta cleaning postings we opened accepted applicants without a Canadian work permit.

How to apply for janitorial work from abroad

1. Search both codes on Job Bank’s temporary foreign worker filter: cleaning postings, then janitor and custodian.
2. Keep postings that accept candidates without a Canadian work permit and are outside the refused areas.
3. List every machine and chemical process you have used: stripping, waxing, burnishing, carpet extraction.
4. State your shift availability in the first lines of your CV and email.
5. Apply to the big facility companies too, filtering their careers sites for small-city and remote locations.

Frequently asked questions

How much do janitors earn in Canada?

Job Bank puts janitors, caretakers and heavy-duty cleaners at $16.00 to $28.72 an hour nationally, with a median of $21.27. British Columbia’s median is $24.65.

What is the difference between a janitor and a cleaner?

A janitor or caretaker looks after a building as well as cleaning it, including floor care, grounds and minor repairs, and is classified as NOC 65312. Office and hotel cleaners are usually light duty cleaners, NOC 65310.

Can commercial cleaning companies in Toronto hire from abroad?

Not through the low-wage stream right now. Toronto is one of 26 areas where low-wage LMIA applications are not processed for applications submitted from 10 July to 8 October 2026.

Are night shift cleaning jobs common in Canada?

Yes. Offices and shops are cleaned after they close, so commercial cleaning is largely evening and night work.

Do janitorial jobs lead to permanent residence?

Janitor work is TEER 5, which Express Entry does not count. The Rural Community Immigration Pilot accepts some TEER 5 offers, and promotion to cleaning supervisor, TEER 2, opens Express Entry.

Which companies hire commercial cleaners in Canada?

Large facility-services companies such as GDI, Dexterra and Compass Group Canada hold many of the contracts, alongside thousands of local cleaning contractors.

Sources

• Job Bank — wages for janitors, caretakers and heavy-duty cleaners (65312)
• Job Bank — postings from employers using the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
• ESDC — refusal to process LMIA applications in the low-wage stream
• IRCC — Express Entry
• IRCC — Rural Community Immigration Pilot work experience

Kept current. Every figure on this page was checked against the sources listed above on 13 September 2026. Wage tables, fees and the list of cities where low-wage applications are refused all change; where this page and the government page disagree, the government page is right.

Disclaimer. We are an independent publisher. We do not recruit, we are not paid by any employer named here, and we cannot place you in a job or speed up an application. This page explains public rules and public postings in plain language; it is not legal or immigration advice. If you decide to pay someone to represent you, check their licence first on the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants register.