Sask. restaurant owners charged with exploiting foreign workers
CBC
A Saskatchewan couple faces immigration-related provincial charges connected with their employment of foreign workers at restaurants in Humboldt and North Battleford.
The alleged offences include charging workers illegal fees for employment, misrepresenting job opportunities and threatening deportation without lawful cause between April 2024 and July 2024 at Rick’s Place in Humboldt and Taste of Battlefords in North Battleford.
The Ministry of Immigration and Career Training says Vikram Singh and Harinder Sachdeva have been charged under the Foreign Worker Recruitment and Immigration Services Act, 2013 (FWRISA) and the Immigration Services Act.
In an interview with CBC News on Wednesday, Sachdeva said Singh is her husband. She denied the allegations.
“I’m not guilty,” she said. “Nothing is proven yet."
Sachdeva denied charging any employee a fee for employment or threatening deportation.
“Not at all. And I have all the proofs and everything … I can prove and I will prove everything,” she said.
This is the second immigration-related charge the provincial government has laid in a week. Last Thursday, a person in Saskatchewan was charged for providing immigration services without a licence.
Sachdeva said she plans to fight the charges in court.
Temporary foreign workers are eligible for an open work permit if they’re being abused or at risk of being abused at their job in Canada, according to the Government of Canada. An open work permit lets them work for any employer in the country, freeing them from any obligations to the employer that brought them to Canada.
Sachdeva said she doesn’t know for sure who filed the complaint. She said she employed around six or seven foreign workers during the time period associated with the charges.
The ministry says its program compliance branch works to protect immigrants and foreign workers in Saskatchewan. It urges workers to report concerns.
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