How an immigrant association helped a group of temporary foreign workers on P.E.I.

This is part two in a three-part series about a group of temporary foreign workers with a P.E.I. farm company.    Part 1:  Temporary foreign workers rescued from abusive situation on P.E.I. farm

Nine temporary foreign workers who were granted open work permits this spring received assistance from VietPEI, the association representing Vietnamese people on Prince Edward Island.

The workers agreed to have their stories told only if their names and the name of the farm were not shared. They remain concerned about retaliation against their families in their home countries by the recruiting agent in Vietnam, as well as repercussions for the farm's remaining workers.

VietPEI president Truong-Chien Ly said he is supportive of the temporary foreign worker program, and it looked like the workers in this case would be well looked after.

"It seemed very good for worker," Ly said of the initial offer of jobs on Prince Edward Island. "But when they come here, it's not like that."

Ly said the farm did not pay for everything they promised, and the work offered to the newcomers was "very short term."

The stories the workers told him were disturbing, involving contractual obligations regarding available work that were not met, and program rules regarding accommodation and transportation ignored. The workers were left struggling to find the money to survive — in at least one case, by collecting discarded bottles to cash in for the deposit money.

Ly said he didn't know what he could do about it, but he knew something had to be done.

"Life is a problem, always has problems. But any problem will have some solution," said Ly.

"We try to work together to make the right thing, to help others do the right thing."

Ly first turned to the provincial government. While the program for temporary foreign workers is a federal responsibility, Ly said provincial officials were very helpful.

They directed him to the federal government's open work permit program. 

Introduced in 2019, that program releases temporary foreign workers who find themselves in an abusive situation from their obligations to their sponsoring employer. It allows them to seek work for any employer anywhere in Canada.

The provincial officials also suggested the Immigrant and Refugee Services Association of P.E.I. might be able to help with the lengthy application forms. IRSA referred Ly to the Cooper Institute, where the job fell to Eliza MacLauchlan.