Advocates for migrants, employers unimpressed with temporary foreign worker changes

Advocates for both workers and employers are unimpressed with the Liberal government's changes to Canada's temporary foreign worker program.

The government initially loosened the program's regulations for the low-wage stream in 2022, in response to a post-pandemic labour shortage. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that the government will now scale back the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada after a historic surge in recent years.

"We need Canadian businesses to invest in training and technology, not increasing their reliance on low-cost foreign labour," Trudeau said during a news conference in Halifax.

"It's not fair to Canadians struggling to find a good job, and it's not fair to those temporary foreign workers, some of whom are being mistreated and exploited."

But worker advocates say the government is "scapegoating" temporary foreign workers by blaming them for rising unemployment.

"High unemployment, low wages and unaffordable housing is not being caused by immigrants and migrants — these are caused by employer exploitation and policy failures," said Syed Hussan, executive director of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.

"Migrants build communities, and they deserve equal rights and respect, not scapegoating," he said.

Raul Gatica of migrant worker advocacy group Dignidad Migrante Society said the solution is to ensure employers offer better pay and better conditions for their workers.

"Temporary foreign workers were able to do the work that nobody wanted to do … and now we are disposable. They use us and now they throw us away," he said.

One in 10 temporary foreign workers earned less than $7,500 annually in 2019, according to a Statistics Canada report published in May.

A recent UN report called the temporary foreign workers program a "breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery," in part due to so-called "closed work permits" that only allow employees to work for the employer who applied to bring them to Canada.

Gatica criticized the government for making changes to the work permit system.

"Mr. Trudeau is using temporary foreign workers as a scapegoat instead of taking responsibility to provide us [with] the open work permit [that] will save us from exploitation," Gatica said.

Both Gatica and Hussan blasted the government for backing down on a promise to offer residency status to all undocumented workers, which they said would have offered the workers more protection.