Put Temporary Foreign Worker Program On Hold

Federal Government should follow Manitoba's lead - but not a chance with Conservatives in power.

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) is calling for an immediate moratorium of the government's Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) until a comprehensive investigation of identified abuse and exploitation cases takes place. The CLC says full suspension of this program is necessary as the government officially acknowledges that it cannot "monitor the working conditions offered by the employer following entry into Canada" - that it cannot protect these workers.

Over two months ago, Canada's poorly regulated Temporary Foreign Worker Program enabled a labour broker to lure 11 skilled trades' people to Canada for non-existent jobs. Those workers - known as the "Filipino 11" - became indentured labour after having to pay over $10,000 each in so-called administrative fees to labour brokers and intermediaries that thrive within the unregulated margins of the TFWP.

Promised jobs in their field at up to $23 an hour, some sold their homes or took out loans to cover $10,000 or more in fees demanded by labour brokers. But once in Canada, they were 'sold' to unscrupulous employers, kept in an isolated rural house, and forced to do menial jobs earning - if paid at all - a fraction of what they were promised.

"The Federal Conservative Government has done nothing to protect those most vulnerable workers from unscrupulous employers and brokers," says Darlene Dziewit, President of the Manitoba Federation of Labour. "It has simply remained passive in the light of this latest sad story of abuse of temporary foreign workers.

"Proof that something could be done if the will was there came last week when Manitoba's NDP Minister of Labour Nancy Allan announced the government's intention to enact legislation to protect Temporary Foreign Workers in Manitoba. This will be the first legislation of this kind in Canada.

"It shows the Federal position for what it is - nonsense. Of course the Federal government can do something. It can protect the workers it allows employers to import into Canada.

"If not, then why allow them into the country in the first place? Why not, at the very least, work with all of the provincial governments and insist they do what Manitoba is doing to protect Temporary Foreign Workers before bringing them to Canada and into potentially precarious situations? Surely this is what a government that cares about human beings would do.

"Well, I guess I just answered my own question - in order to want to protect those who are vulnerable, you must first care what happens to them. Where are the Feds, and just as important, where are the other provincial governments?"