Canada's foreign worker program a 'breeding ground for contemporary slavery,' says UN report

File image: A farm worker is silhouetted. (Joshua A. Bickel, The Canadian Press)

Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program serves as a "breeding ground for contemporary slavery," according to a scathing UN report examining Canada's efforts to limit unfair labour.

The program allows employers to hire foreign workers to fill temporary jobs when they can't find qualified Canadians. The number of workers employed through the program has grown considerably in recent years. According to the UN report, there were just over 84,000 permit holders in 2018. In 2022, there were nearly 136,000. Most of them worked in agriculture and related labour sectors. 

The report, written by UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery Tomoya Obokata, says the program puts workers in an unfair power imbalance with their employers.

For example, if a worker is fired, they may be deported. Some workers are deliberately not informed of their rights or too fearful to report exploitative working conditions, wrote Obokata. Many of them are also ensnared in debt bondage while participating in the programs, according to the report.

"They may also incur debts to third-party recruiters, including costs that legally should be borne only by the employer," reads the report dated July 22, and shared with the federal government before publication.

The program is administered by Employment and Social Development Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency. In Quebec, the provincial government is an administrative partner.

"The government defers a significant portion of responsibility for informing temporary foreign workers of their rights to employers, despite the obvious conflict of interest," according to the report.

Because workers lack access to justice, they are at risk of a variety of other abuses, Obokata wrote.

"The Special Rapporteur received reports of underpayment and wage theft, physical, emotional and verbal abuse, excessive work hours, limited breaks, extracontractual work, uncompensated managerial duties, lack of personal protective equipment, including in hazardous conditions ... Women reported sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse."

In a statement to CTV News, Mathis Denis, spokesperson for the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, said the government has recently increased fines for companies that don't offer appropriate working conditions to their foreign workers.

Last fiscal year, Canada's 2,122 inspections resulted in fines totalling $2.1 million, up from $1.54 million the year before, he said.

Employers found to be non-compliant are listed on a public-facing website managed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Notable companies on that list include a Vancouver Domino's Pizza location, where pay, working conditions or specifics of the job did not match the offer of employment, according to the government. That location was fined $21,000.

A Freshii in Richmond, B.C. was fined $15,000 because they didn't supply an inspector with requested documents, the government found. Quebec-based farm, Ferme L. Campbell et Fils Inc., was fined $60,000 and received a five-year ban from the program for the same reason, and because the government found it "didn't put in enough effort" to ensure the workplace was free of reprisal and physical, sexual, psychological or financial abuse.

“The health and safety of temporary foreign workers (TFW) in Canada is paramount," wrote Denis.

Responses to a government survey of temporary workers found that the majority -- 76 per cent -- of workers knew about their rights and responsibilities, he added. About 80 per cent of the 1,600 workers surveyed said their knowledge of their rights and available services improved.

"It is the responsibility of employers who hire TFWs to ensure their safety and well being for the entirety of their employment. It is the responsibility of the federal government to ensure that employers are complying with the program, and to hold those who are not, to account," wrote Denis.