P.E.I. government orders apple orchard firm to pay thousands to foreign workers

P.E.I.'s Employment Standards Branch has ordered an apple orchard company in Kings County to pay thousands of dollars to four foreign workers who refused to participate in what the province's chief labour standards officer called a "cash for pay scheme."

Canadian Nectar Products has been ordered to pay the former employees sums ranging from about $5,000 to nearly $15,000 for unpaid wages. A related company, Fruits Canada, was ordered to pay one former employee $233 for unpaid wages.

The companies, and others linked to them, are the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency related to similar allegations, in which workers claim their employer demanded cash payments in exchange for paycheques of lesser value than the cash that was remitted.

The workers needed the paycheques to prove they were legally in Canada for the purposes of building a case for gaining permanent resident status.

Pay statements provided by the workers show their paycheques indicated they'd worked 40 hours a week, as their contracts had specified, even in weeks where there was insufficient work.

CBSA investigators raided the offices of Canadian Nectar Products and three other eastern P.E.I. farm businesses in June, seizing documents, computers and other potential evidence.

When it applied for a search warrant, CBSA officials cited a five-year period of alleged infractions by Canadian Nectar Products, stretching from Feb. 28, 2017, to the date of the court application, June 21 of this year. 

The employer allegedly withheld pay from workers who refused to cooperate, according to the P.E.I. Employment Standards Branch's findings.

"The cash-for-pay scheme meant each Complainant was effectively paying [the employer] to work," Robert Yeo, chief labour standards officer for the province, wrote in his August 2022 decision on Canadian Nectar Products. "Each Complainant returned thousands of dollars in pay.

"The [employer] went one step further, however, and made payment of wages for hours worked … conditional on pay continuing to be returned."

Kamalpreet Khaira, who is listed as one of the owners of Canadian Nectar Products and Fruits Canada, could not be reached for comment.

Former Ontario MP Sheila Copps was an early booster of Canadian Nectar Products when the company began planting apple orchards on P.E.I. in 2014. In an email to CBC News last week, Copps said she has not been involved with the company for several years.

Former Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal was once listed as a part owner of Canadian Nectar Products. He has said he has not been involved with the company since 2017.

The Employment Standards Branch reviewed text messages and emails between workers and company managers, as well as translations of sworn statements by the foreign workers themselves.