U.N. report condemns Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program as modern-day slavery

Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) has come under severe criticism in a United Nations report published in July 2024, which labels it as a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.” According to U.N. Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata, “wage theft, excessive work hours, limited breaks and physical abuse” are just some of the ways that Canada’s temporary foreign workers are being mistreated, CBC News reports.

Power imbalances and de facto debt bondage

The program, designed to allow employers to hire foreign workers for temporary jobs when qualified Canadians are unavailable, has expanded significantly. According to the report, there were over 84,000 permit holders in 2018, nearly 136,000 in 2022, and approximately 240,000 in 2023.

Obokata stated that the program places workers in a significant power imbalance with their employers, which is partly the cause of the abuse. The temporary foreign workers are tied to their employers through “close worker permits,” which only allow them to work for the employer who applied to bring them to Canada.

The report details widespread abuses, including underpayment, excessive work hours, and physical and sexual abuse, particularly affecting women.

“The Special Rapporteur received reports of underpayment and wage theft, physical, emotional and verbal abuse, excessive work hours, limited breaks, extracontractual work, and uncompensated managerial duties,” Obokata wrote.

According to CBC,

The report says employers argue closed work permits are necessary to allow them to recuperate the cost of recruiting and transporting workers, creating “a de facto debt bondage.”

Amanda Aziz, a staff lawyer with the Migrant Workers Centre who authored the 2022 report stated,

“Workers are often experiencing wage thefts from their employers. We have heard of, I would say even more very egregious and atrocious recruitment fees. These are illegal recruitment fees that are being charged to workers in order to access employment or a job in Canada.”

A fall short government response

In response to growing concerns, the Canadian government has increased penalties for employers who fail to provide adequate working conditions. Last fiscal year, over 2,100 inspections resulted in $2.1 million in fines, a significant increase from the previous year. Non-compliant employers are listed publicly by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada, with notable fines issued to companies like a Vancouver Domino’s Pizza location and a Quebec-based farm, Ferme L. Campbell et Fils Inc.

Despite these efforts, the U.N. report criticizes the government for deferring much of the responsibility for informing workers of their rights to employers, who have a clear conflict of interest. As Amanda Aziz from the Migrant Workers Centre put it, “Compliance is one component of ensuring that employers abide by employment contracts, but it’s not preventing abuse in the first place.”

Freedom United stands with the UN Human Rights Council in urging the Canadian government to take stronger action to protect migrant workers from exploitation and address the systemic vulnerabilities created by tied worker permits.