Montreal, Canada – Canada you have failed to take a take Meaningful Action to address systemic abuses in a decades-pd Foreign Worker ProgramSubjecting Thousands of Labours to an “Inherently Exploitative” System, Amnesty International Says.
In A 71-Page Report Release on Thursday, The Rights Group outlined A Wide Range of Abuse Linked To The Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), From Wage Theft to Excessive Work Hours, Racist Abuse and Violence.
Many of the Violations are Related to the Labours’ “Closed” Work permit, Which tie them to their employers and leave them Open to exploitation, Amnesty Said. Workers Typically do not Speak out to Fear of Reprisals.
“Exploitation, Discrimination and Abuse Are Integral Features, Not Bugs, of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program,” Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-Speaking Section, Said in a Statement.
“Cosmetic Changes are not angouh. Our Leaders Must Implement The Reforms Required To Bring the Program In Line With Canada’s Human Rights Obligations – and, Ultimately, to respect the right of worldrs. ”
Launched in the 1970s, Canada’s Foreign Worker Programmes Have a Under INCREASED SCRUTINY In Recent Years As Former and Current Labours Denounce Their Treatment.
In 2022, a Group of World Jamaica Wrote A Letter LIKENING CONDIONES On Farms in Ontario, Canada’s Most Populous Province, to “Systematic Slavery”.
To Year Later, to United Nations Special Rationur Said The TFWP Schemes “Make Migrant Workers Vulnerable to Contemporary Forms of Slavery, as They Cannot Report Abuses Without Fear of Deportation”.
‘Like Throwing Away Rubbish’
Tens of Thousands of Foreign Workers Come to Canada Each Year Through The TFWP, which the Government Says Aims to Fill Gaps in the Labor Market.
They work in low-wage industries such as Agriculture-Including on Farms or At Food-Processing Plants-and as In-Home Caregivers, Among Other Jobs.
In 2021, Temporary Foreign Workers Accouted for 18 Percent of the Workforce in Canada’s Agricultural Sector and 10 Percent in the Accommodation and Food Services Sector, A Study Release Late Last Year Found.
Migrant Workers – Many of Whom Have Been Coming to Canada For Years or Even Decades – Also Have Limited Pathways to permanent residentcy in the country.
“In its current design, The TFWP is inherently exploitative,” Amnesty International Said in Thursday’s Report.
The Group Also Said The Scheme is “Inherently Discriminatory, so itS Instances of Discrimination and Disproportionate Impacts of Human Rights Violations on Racialized ‘Lowskilled’ Workers Based On ESIR, Gender, Class and National Origin”.
Francisco, A Mexican Worker Who Spoke To Amnesty International Using The Pseudonym, Said: “The Employer Gets What He Wants, But When [the worker] is no longer useful to him … I simply sends [the worker] Back.
“And I Feel that it is like Thising Away Rubbish and Saying It’s no Longer Useful.”
Inspections and ends
The Canadian Government has previously defended the “closed” work permits as necessary to see it is Knows Which Employers are employing Foreign Workers and Where They Are Working.
Last Year, Amid A Growing Backlash Over Immigration and A Housing Crisis, The Government Also Announced Plans to Reduces The Number of Temporary Foreign Workers in Canada, Including Those In TFWP Streams.
Meanwhile, Employment and Social Development Canada, The Country’s Labour Ministry, Said in Mid-January That It had increased penalties for employers Who Fail To Comply With The Rules.
The Ministry Said It driving 649 Inspections Between April and the End of Seplant of Last Year, 11 Percent of Which Found Employers to Be Non-Compliant.
IT Also Issued $ 1.46m (2.1m Canadian Dollars) in finals and banned 20 employers from the TFWP.
“Workers in Canada Deserve and Expect to Feel Safe and Protected in the Workplace. That’s Why We’re Taking Steps to Further Protect Temporary Foreign World and Hold Bad Actors Accounts, ” Said Steven MackinnonThe Canadian Minter of Employment, Workforce Development and Labor.
“Employers Must Follow The Rules, and We Will Continue to Take Decisive Action To Protect World ‘Rights and Wellbeing While Growing Our Economy.”
But Amnesty International Stressed in its Report That Tfwp Abuses “Cannot Be Attributed To a Few Unscrupulous Employers, Nor Can They Be Understood As Isolated Incidents”.
INSERED, The Group Said Canada Bears Responsibility for the Immigration Policies and Laws Have Left Workers vulnerable.
It urged Canada to move beyond “narrow, piecemeal measures” to make “Systemic policy changes”, including the abolition of “closed” work permits.
“This System Should Be Urgently Replace with an Open Visa System That Can Fully Protect Racialized Workers From Labor Exploitation and Discrimination,” Amnesty Said.
