Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program reveals its Ugly Side

BY: BRITTNEY CHANNER

Every year, thousands of individuals obtain the opportunity to come to Canada and gain meaningful employment through many outlets. One of the main methods into the country is through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program which allows employers to hire foreign workers, using the Labour Market Impact Assessment, to fill temporary labour and skill shortages. (Canadian Council for Refugees, 2018) The (LMIA) verifies that there is a serious need for a temporary foreign worker and there are no Canadians available to do the job. The program first commenced in 1973 where a majority of employees were considered “high skilled workers. As of 2002, an additional category referred to as “low skilled workers” was added and currently makes up a majority of the temporary workforce (Canadian Council for Refugees, 2018).

Many men and women from across the world leave their home countries in search of developing their current skills and creating new avenues of incomes by using the foreign worker program as a foundation. However, recent documented concerns of abuse, exploitation, wage theft and neglect have begun an inquiry regarding how Canada treats its foreign workers and hopefully started the process in ensuring these forms of incidences come to an end.

According to the Canadian Council for Refugees, the problem lays within Canada’s continuous promotion of temporary migration rather than permanent migration. In other words, Canada consistently brings in workers only on a temporary basis with fewer rights, limited to no access to health care and no federally funded services they can utilize.

Examples of this are commonly seen amongst migrant workers in which are deemed especially vulnerable since there is no monitoring system in place to ensure that their rights are protected (with exceptions to certain provinces that have taken the initiative to protect migrant worker rights). Migrant workers along with many other temporary workers lack basic access to information regarding their rights and sometimes choose not to speak up due to fear of deportation or cruel treatment.

For example, in the month of January 2015, a migrant farm worker from Jamaica named Sheldon McKenzie suffered a severe head injury at work, where his family says that the program that brought him to Canada, tried to send him back to Jamaica without getting the proper medical care he desperately needed. After months of being in a coma, Sheldon passed away without speaking to his family again. (Marchitelli, 2017). Instances such as these are just one of the main acts of injustice that is seen amongst foreign workers today.

Additionally, many foreign workers such as migrant workers are usually denied federally funded settlement services that cater to their specific needs and sometimes, these helpful programs are not available, to begin with. Information regarding health, community, legal and medical services in which they are entitled to be usually inadequate therefore creating additional barriers in their ability to survive.

Lastly, temporary foreign workers such as migrant workers usually have difficulty accessing adequate permanent residence that is sufficient for their overall stability. It has been argued that federal migrant labour programs such as the one explained above discriminate individuals on the basis of skill which therefore leaves many people without access to permanent residence. Based on the Labour Market Impact Assessment, individuals who are granted access to the temporary foreign worker program are judged based on a particular skill set.

Those who are deemed to be “highly skilled” usually do not have many issues attaining residence. However, according to the Canadian Council for Refugees, those who are deemed to be of a “lower skill set” such as migrant workers, have more difficulty. (Canadian Council for Refugees, 2018) Nevertheless, they are willing to accept hazardous conditions due to the minimal options they have to feed their families from their home countries.

To many, the idea of injustice surrounding Canadian based worker programs can be shocking and a tough pill to swallow, however, it is mandatory that we as Canadians refuse to turn a blind eye to the prejudices and exploitation that exists on our homeland. It is evident that Canada benefits from migrant workers and all various types of foreign employment as they address an employment demand that Canadian citizens refuse to meet.  Additionally, some may suggest the importance of handling the mistreatment and injustice of Canadian citizens first before looking to tackle the issues surrounding foreign workers but as the great late Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.