Foreign workers file human rights complaint against Manitoba trucking company
CBC
Several former employees of a Manitoba trucking company have filed a human rights complaint alleging they drove in unsafe conditions and were discriminated against because they were foreign workers.
Five long-haul truck drivers recruited from outside Canada filed the complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2020 and 2021, saying they were treated unfairly compared to their Canadian colleagues.
Mirsad Herceglic, a former bodyguard for diplomats in Afghanistan, said his job working for Gladstone Transfer Ltd. was more stressful than his bodyguard job.
"I spent, like, 10 years working around, in a dangerous and a hostile environment. And I was, like, under … less stress in Afghanistan than in Canada," Herceglic told CBC News from his home in Gladstone, Man., which is about 135 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
Originally from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Herceglic was recruited to work for Gladstone Transfer in 2019 after an interview with company owner Scott Kinley.
He said the company took advantage of him once he arrived by forcing him to work long hours away from home and not paying him when he took federally mandated breaks during his long hauls to British Columbia.
"If you come here with a family … and someone [is] taking advantage of you, that's not okay for me," he said.
CBC News spoke to seven former employees of Gladstone Transfer who believe their treatment by the company is based on the fact they are not Canadian.
They allege the company took advantage of the precarious nature of their immigration status by overworking and bullying them, because their employer knew the workers were reliant on the job.
Herceglic was one of five workers who filed a complaint with the commission, alleging the drivers were subjected to discriminatory treatment linked to their national or ethnic origin.
CBC News was provided with a summary report of the complaint, authored by a human rights officer with the commission.
The report is not a decision by the commissioner but was created to help the members of the commission decide on the next steps in the complaint.
The summary report says the foreign workers allege they were:
Recently, the complainants got a letter from the commission, saying it was sending the complaint to conciliation.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a farewell message to Canadians Thursday as he marks his last full day in office.
The Association of Yukon Fire Chiefs says about 80 per cent of volunteer firefighters in the territory are wearing expired protective equipment, putting them in danger and in violation of occupational health and safety regulations when they respond to emergencies.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault will be given a new portfolio in Mark Carney's cabinet, a source with knowledge of the decision told Radio-Canada.
The Alberta government has suspended a loan program at Picture Butte Feeder Cooperative, the province's largest cattle financing cooperative, after an inspection alleged a number of financial mismanagement and regulatory issues.
If you look up at the sky late, late Thursday in the Toronto area, there's a chance you'll be able to see a total lunar eclipse and what's called a blood moon.
When wintertime calls, go where it's warm.
Colby Leamon had lost a close family member, and was looking for a dog to provide emotional support.
The cost of a 24-pack of beer could increase $3 to $5 because of 25 per cent tariffs on aluminum exported to the United States, according to a craft brewery in northern Ontario.
Fire tore through a seafood processing plant in Cape John, N.S., on Wednesday night.
Another of New Brunswick's new municipal councils has become embroiled in drama and bitter conflict.
Tardiness is nothing new at Via Rail, but late arrivals are reaching historic levels in a key corridor since passenger trains have been forced to slow down at hundreds of rail crossings operated by CN Rail.
Walmart Canada will stop selling machetes — a type of weapon frequently used in violent crimes — in stores across the country, after Manitoba's government pressured the retailer to restrict online sales.
The parents of two 15-year-old girls at Evan Hardy Collegiate in Saskatoon say they went to police and the school multiple times between June and August 2024 with concerns about escalating online threats from the student now accused of setting one of the girls on fire in a school hallway.