Senate report on temporary foreign workers compared to putting 'Band-Aids on balloons'

For all the detail in a Senate report on Canada's temporary foreign worker program about its problems, it is very short on solutions, says P.E.I.'s Cooper Institute, which advocates for temporary foreign workers.

"It's pretty frustrating," said Ryan MacRae, a program co-ordinator for the Charlottetown-based institute's Migrant Worker Program.

"They did not address the root causes that workers face from their tied work permits and closed work permits … They're putting more Band-Aids on balloons."

The report by the Senate's standing committee on social affairs, science and technology was released last week.

Committee chair Sen. Ratna Omidvar told Island Morning's Laura Chapin that the program is clearly in need of major revisions.

"The system is 50 years old. It has been added to piecemeal by piecemeal," said Omidvar. "There is no strategy to it anymore."

One of the key findings of the committee is that the current program is not working well for anyone, said Omidvar.

Established in 1973, the program was meant to be a last resort for employers who could not find workers in Canada. Now it is anything but that. Many businesses — and some whole industrial sectors — rely on temporary foreign workers to function.

For example, an estimated 40 per cent of P.E.I.'s agricultural workforce is made up of temporary foreign workers.

The top recommendation of the Senate report is the establishment of a Migrant Work Commission, an independent body that would coordinate policy for the benefit of everyone using the system.

The report also points in particular at the system of closed work permits. These permits issued to temporary foreign workers require that they work in particular jobs for particular companies. This can make them vulnerable. Leaving a bad job situation, or even an abusive one, can mean giving up the right to stay in Canada.

"Closed work permits, where an employee is tied to one employer and one employer alone, creates the conditions for abuse," said Omidvar.

The permits can also cause problems for employers, the committee found.

Companies cannot move employees to jobs where they are needed. If work runs dry in one area, they can't be moved to another. For example, a worker may be needed on a fishing boat one month, and in a processing plant the next. Nor can an employee be promoted to another job if that is appropriate.