Workers left stranded as resort town shuts down
Polish ski instructor among those out of a job but unable to travel home
VANCOUVER— The powdery slopes of Whistler, B.C., offered the promise of a fresh start to Paulina Swierczyna.
The bank manager-turned-ski instructor was looking for a new life after going through a rough breakup.
But three months after she arrived, the resort has become a ghost town. And she’s stuck.
Last week, Whistler Blackcomb announced it was shutting down for the remainder of the ski season due to concerns about COVID-19. Thousands of workers and tourists left the resort town, population 30,000. Only a third of residents live there year-round. But some workers cannot leave.
Swierczyna, 34, who is in B.C. on a sponsored work visa, is one of them. “I was terrified,” she said. She cannot go home. Poland has stopped all international flights into the country in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. Like many in Europe, Polish residents are in “lockdown,” said Swierczyna, whose father is in Zakopane, a Polish town close to the border with Slovakia.
Swierczyna called the Polish Embassy and said she was told it was best to stay in Canada for now because it was too risky to fly into Europe, given that she could end up in quarantine in another country. She asked if there would be a chartered flight for citizens and was told no
Her mother lives in South Carolina, but the U.S.-Canada border is closed to visitors.
She also cannot make money.
Her sponsored work visa allows her only to work for Vail Resorts, which owns Whistler Blackcomb.
She is also not eligible to receive employment insurance because she has not worked long enough in Canada.
Swierczyna has spent her days walking the quiet streets in Whistler Village — at least social distancing has been easy — and wondering what the coming months will look like.
“Navigating this with no close friends or family has been difficult,” she said. “I feel so lonely … not knowing what will happen.”
When Swierczyna turned to her former employer for help, she said, she felt as though they simply wanted her gone.
“He was pushing me to go back home,” she said, about a Vail Resorts representative she spoke with over the phone. “And I was like, that’s impossible. Physically, I cannot leave Canada right now.”
Swierczyna, who worked as a manager at a bank as well as a ski school in Switzerland before coming to Canada in December, said she doesn’t blame the resort for laying off seasonal workers due to the coronavirus situation.
But she said she wished the company had given her reassurances about legal or housing support, given the extraordinary circumstances. “I was so upset and so disappointed.”
Speaking to the Star on Tuesday from a three-bedroom apartment in Whistler — staff housing she shares with three other former co-workers — Swierczyna said she fears the company will soon tell her to leave.
In an emailed statement, a
Vail Resorts spokesperson confirmed the company is encouraging its approximately 1,000 seasonal employees living in staff housing in Whistler to return home “given the evolving situation and reduced services in the community.”
The company, however, said it would not force former seasonal workers who cannot travel to leave staff housing and that a human resources representative would be reaching out to Swierczyna to find out how the company could help.
On Tuesday, the advocacy group Migrant Workers Centre wrote a letter to the federal government, calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to extend emergency aid to migrant workers. “The Trudeau government must take action to ensure that temporary foreign workers can access the same income support benefits as other workers,” said Natalie Drolet, the centre’s executive director.
“Their future is uncertain and this is causing temporary foreign workers and their families a lot of distress.”
Juliana Dalley, a staff lawyer for Migrant Workers Centre, said there were 129,558 labour market impact assessments conducted in this country last year. That means there were likely at least that many foreign temporary workers who entered Canada in 2019 on sponsored work visas, she said. Employers are often required to conduct labour market impact assessments before hiring a foreign worker.
And while sponsored work visas fill specific needs in Canada — such as bringing in ski instructors at mountain resorts — people who enter Canada with visas tied to a specific employer are really entering into a precarious scenario, Dalley said.
When those workers get laid off, they often have little choice but to leave. But what happens if they can’t leave?
Swierczyna is likely one of thousands of temporary foreign workers stuck in limbo as more businesses close due to COVID-19, said Lorne Waldman, a longtime immigration and human rights lawyer based in Toronto.
“As the economy grinds to a halt and workplaces close, these people have been put in a situation where they can’t work anywhere else and they don’t have a support network at all,” he said.
Waldman added Vail Resorts likely has no legal responsibility to help Swierczyna — but that it ought to if it can.
“No one can blame them for this unexpected turn of events that forced them to close down, but I would hope they would try to help her and not just leave her to fend for herself, given the extraordinary circumstances,” he said.