Migrant Workers/Caregivers

One of the places where systemic racism is the most apparent in our immigration system is in its treatment of domestic and migrant workers.

It is my firm belief that if you’re good enough to work, you’re good enough to stay.

For caregivers and domestic workers, justice means PR status upon arrival. Domestic workers, who are mostly women of colour from developing nations, are the only class of economic immigrants who are not given PR status upon arrival. Instead, they must endure precarious working conditions with uncertain immigration status and futures as they navigate pilot program after pilot program. As they care for Canadian families, the lack of PR status separates the workers from their own families.

For temporary migrant workers, it is long known that employer specific work permits put them in highly vulnerable situations where abuse and exploitation by employers are rampant.

The Canadian immigration must treat workers with justice and respect. No more abuse of migrant workers! Landed status now!

CIMM#85: Application Backlogs and Processing Times and Closed Work Permits and Temporary Foreign Workers

I appreciate Mr. Possberg's comments about the concern over violations of labour codes, whether it's a domestic worker or a temporary foreign worker. I guess the operative difference, though, between those two categories of workers, is that temporary foreign workers do not have full status. People who are here—Canadians or people with permanent resident status—have status and, therefore, protection.

In the case of temporary foreign workers, the biggest problem, of course, is this: Because they don't have full status, they have very few options. When they are subjected to mistreatment or abuse by the employer, what happens to them? They have dilemmas. They have difficult decisions to make. If they report this situation, they stand to lose their job. If they lose their job, they run into a whole host of other problems. These include not having financial resources, not only to support themselves but also to send home to their families.

We also have situations where a lot of workers may not have access to information about where to go to make their reports. There have been surveys done. The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, for example, has done a lot of work with migrant workers. When they survey migrant workers, how many of them have actually received information about their rights? The vast majority of them say they haven't. Then, when you ask further questions about how many of them received information about their rights in the language they speak, that number reduces even more. You can anticipate the difficulties with all of that.

CIMM#84: Government's Response to the Final Report of the Special Committee on Afghanistan and Closed Work Permits and Temporary Foreign Workers

I want to say thank you to all the witnesses, as well.

I want to carry on the conversation with responses from Ms. Gagnon and Mr. Pilon.

On the issue of temporary foreign workers, I understand you're indicating there is a system problem. The system, of course, creates an environment where there's an imbalance of power. The reality is that temporary foreign workers have zero power. They are entirely reliant on their employer. If they complain about the employer, they get fired from the job. They are then in deep trouble, because they're not making the money they need to send home to support their families, for example. From that perspective, in that power imbalance environment, there can be abuse that occurs. You have cited some horrific examples to that end.

In order to create a better balance of power, some advocates have advanced the notion of an open work permit. That is to say, the employers would have to treat these employees fairly. If they don't, they will move on somewhere else. Some people argue that having an open work permit means you can't keep them in the sector, because they can go anywhere. However, as with all jobs, to be competitive and get good workers, you need to pay them and have good employment conditions.

I wonder whether you can comment on the need for system change. Should the government be considering an open work permit option for migrant workers?

HANSARD: Presenting petitions on foreign temporary workers

UFCW: Local unions, national collaboration turns hardship into dream opportunity for migrant group

In the meantime, their immigration status was taken up by the UFCW Canada national office who worked closely with NDP MP Jenny Kwan to secure an open work-permit for vulnerable migrant workers. This option for migrant victims of employer abuse was secured a few short years ago, following lengthy efforts by UFCW Canada in Ottawa to reform the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP). Since then, the union has helped hundreds of mistreated migrants to secure open work permits.

HANSARD: Will the Liberals work with the provinces to ensure that nurses get the respect, resources and support they need?

HANSARD: Should protecting Canadian jobs and workers be at the forefront of any decision on the net benefit of a foreign investment in Canada?

HANSARD: Will the government grant undocumented migrants with permanent residency?

HANSARD: Will the Liberals put an end to the odious immigration detention practice and stop putting migrants and asylum seekers in jails?

Indo Canadian Voice: Liberals fail to fix major problems in Canada’s immigration system: Federal NDP

Kwan noted: “Decades of Liberal and Conservative governments expanded Canada’s reliance on temporary foreign workers—without ensuring protections to their health and safety. For many years, these workers have been subjected to exploitation by employers who use their temporary status to drive down wages. The Liberals’ plan fails to ensure that these workers get the protections they need by not giving them permanent status, as the NDP has been calling for.”

CIMM: Jenny addressing immigration backlogs and processing times

In Canada, there are already over 500,000 people here as migrant workers or undocumented, which is to say, people who have lost their status for one reason or another. With regard to the immigration levels numbers, the government is silent on the undocumented workers or undocumented people who are here, and the migrant workers.

In your opinion, do you think that the government should put a laser focus on regularizing the people who are already in Canada to meet our labour skills shortage? That would include refugees who are here, people who came from a different country trying to seek refuge in Canada.

I'll ask Ms. Gilbert, and then I will go to Mr. Bhatti...