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