Changes leave foreign workers more vulnerable
Like other immigrants, TFWs should have a path to citizenship
Most of those against the recent changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program have focused on the negative consequences to the Albertan and the Canadian economies.
Ironically, very little attention has been given to the way these changes affect temporary foreign workers themselves, whose experiences of abuse were the reasons why there was such a public outcry against the program in the first place. Instead of improving temporary foreign workers’ situations, Employment Minister Jason Kenney’s and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander’s changes instead make temporary foreign workers more vulnerable.
Kenney and Alexander give the appearance of being balanced by providing measures to protect temporary foreign workers from abuse. At first glance, these measures appear strong. One in four businesses that hires temporary foreign workers will be audited and abusive employers will be fined up to $100,000. These measures, Kenney and Alexander argue, will reduce temporary foreign workers’ vulnerability.
But further scrutiny reveals there is no incentive for temporary foreign workers to tell the truth about their abusive employers.
Decreasing the number of years that temporary foreign workers can work in Canada from four years to two means that temporary foreign workers are more likely to withstand harsh working conditions so they can stay in the country.
Increasing the application fees employers would have to pay will mean that temporary foreign workers’ indebtedness to their employers increases, too. It’s very likely these increased costs will be borne by temporary foreign workers themselves. Employers will find even more ways to get back the money they paid by taking a cut of temporary foreign workers’ paycheques, charging more money for rent and so on.
In addition, Kenney and Alexander do not mention what will happen to temporary foreign workers after their employers are found guilty of abuse. The Canadian government is not ready to provide temporary foreign workers with other jobs if their employers are caught and will likely deport them. So what incentive is there for temporary foreign workers to speak out? If the choice is either speaking out against abuse and getting deported or keeping quiet and staying in Canada, temporary foreign workers will opt for the latter.
Kenney and Alexander said an employer blacklist that will bar bad employers from hiring temporary foreign workers would be publicly available.
Kenney made that same promise in 2009 when there was tremendous political outcry against the abuses live-in caregivers are facing. It took until 2011 for this blacklist to be created.
Since then, there have been no abusive employers or employment agency placed on the blacklist.
And while there are now five entries on the TFWP employer blacklist, all of which were added in 2014, one cannot help but feel these entries were only hastily added because of public backlash.
If Kenney and Alexander truly want to protect temporary foreign workers from abuse, they would include robust measures that take into account the reality of these workers’ lives.
Workplace audits should be accompanied by a guarantee that abused temporary foreign workers will not be deported and will be given jobs in other companies for the duration of their stay in Canada.
Temporary foreign workers should be given open work permits that tie them to a specific industry, but not to a specific employer to mitigate abuse.
And, most importantly, the Canadian government should recognize that temporary foreign workers provide important economic contributions to Canada. Like other immigrants, they come to provide for themselves and their families. They should be provided pathways to Canadian citizenship.
If they are good enough to work, they are good enough to stay.