The number of migrant workers in Canada has expanded rapidly in recent years, and many sectors now rely on temporary labour as a source of permanent labour supply. This shift has had a profound impact on workers’ rights, with the UN special envoy calling Canada’s temporary foreign worker programme a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery” in a report in August.
Like other countries, Canada’s temporary foreign worker programmes leave migrant workers uniquely vulnerable to abuse, control and exploitation. The temporary and restrictive nature of work permits and visas, and the precarity of the work in sectors like agriculture and food services, mean that job loss and the resulting loss of immigration status is an ever-present threat for most migrant workers.
Canada has made some efforts to acknowledge these issues. It has, for example, introduced an open work permit for workers who are facing abusive or exploitative working conditions. But far more must be done to ensure access to justice for migrant workers. We can start now.
Employer-tied visas leave workers trapped
Like many other destination countries, Canada ties a migrant worker’s authorisation to one employer. This means a worker must obtain a new work permit before changing workplaces, even if they are facing abuse or exploitation at work. Rights groups and labour experts have long recognised the harmful effects of these kinds of rules.
In 2022, the Migrant Workers Centre in Canada surveyed 30 people who had fled abusive and exploitative workplaces. Of them, 29 had experienced financial abuse. This came in the form of unpaid wages, unpaid overtime, excessive hours, forced return of wages to the employer, and extortionate recruitment fees.
Seventy percent of the workers experienced employers who were verbally and psychologically abusive. They had faced verbal insults, threats of deportation, and/or racist and discriminatory remarks. Thirty percent of the workers experienced physical abuse by their employer, and 10% experienced sexual abuse.
Workers who complain to regulators risk being fired, repatriated, and replaced by another worker
Despite formal recognition of migrant workers’ labour and human rights in Canada, workers are often unable or unwilling to assert their rights in practice. Many are scared to report abuse or seek redress while still employed, fearing they will lose their jobs and subsequently being stripped of their ability to work in Canada if they complain.
This fear is well-founded. Workers who complain to regulators risk being fired, repatriated, and replaced by another worker. And it may not end there. Even after leaving their employment, employers and labour recruiters can retaliate against workers and their families back home.
Time is also a factor when choosing whether to complain. Workers may not be in the country for very long, so even if they successfully lodge a complaint, it could easily not be dealt with before they must leave Canada. This prevents them from following up on their case or properly advocating for themselves.
These complexities mean that real justice for migrant workers is often just a fiction. Employers can abuse with impunity.
Can ‘justice visas’ solve the problem?
Governments must take steps to ensure that migrant workers have meaningful and effective access to justice if their rights are violated. Some countries are beginning to take steps to enforce these rights. But there is a still a long way to go.
As part of a pilot to crack down on workplace exploitation, Australia introduced a ‘workplace justice visa’ earlier this year. The visa allows migrant workers to remain in the country for up to one year in order to pursue a complaint against their employer, while also providing authorisation to work.
The visa is not dissimilar to Canada’s ‘open work permit for vulnerable workers’, launched in 2019. The programme allows immigration officers to issue an open work permit to those able to demonstrate they are being abused or exploited by their employer in Canada.
The programme was initially welcomed by workers and advocates, since it recognised the difficulties faced by migrant workers and seemed committed to addressing them. However, many issues flagged at the outset have still not been addressed more than five years on. These include the inaccessibility of the permit for most workers, and the lack of longer-term immigration solutions for workers after the permit expires.
Piecemeal efforts to offer justice to migrant workers will never result in real change
Ultimately, both the Australian and Canadian programmes ignore the glaringly obvious fact that structural change is needed to effectively address exploitation of migrant workers. This includes untying immigration status from employers, and permitting workers to stay and work in the host country in order to pursue labour complaints after they have left an abusive employer. Countries must also cooperate and introduce measures to ensure access to justice even after a worker has returned to their home country.
Migrant workers and advocates are also calling for permanent residence to be granted on arrival, and for the creation of pathways to permanent status for workers already in Canada – including for undocumented workers. These same calls were recommended by the UN special envoy after his visit to Canada. He also recommended measures to ensure enforcement, inspections and consequences for employers found to have violated workers’ rights.
All these recommendations reveal a system in desperate need of repair. Piecemeal efforts to offer justice to migrant workers will never result in real change. Only a structural overhaul of the immigration system will result in full access to justice for migrant workers and accountability for abusive employers.
The transnational search for justice
The International Labour Organization estimated there were 169 million migrant workers around the world in 2019. Economic inequality continues to drive people from the Global South to look for work in the Global North, where they hope to earn a decent living to support themselves and their families. And the Global North relies on their labour.
Canada is a popular destination country, but its post-colonial foreign policy and extractive industries also play a large role in creating that global economic inequality. It directly feeds into the displacement of workers from their countries of origin – and their subsequent migration to countries like Canada.
This makes justice for migrant workers not only a moral duty for Canada and other host countries, but an essential part of accounting for and repairing global economic loss and damage.
Transnational networks of non-governmental organisations, trade unions and other advocates across the world are already assisting workers with their search for justice. Their solidarity and collaboration are key to holding employers accountable and ensuring workers can obtain remedies across borders.
But they can’t win this fight on their own. Governments must step up to ensure that migrant workers can seek out justice for workplace exploitation and abuse, whether they’re in the host country or not. And they have to get serious about eliminating the structural vulnerabilities that lead to systemic abuse and exploitation in the first place. They can start by listening to the experiences and recommendations of migrant workers themselves.
Explore the rest of the series
This series looks at how seasonal worker visas, which usually tie workers to their employers, are putting migrant workers around the world at risk of exploitation.
- Seasonal worker visas are tying migrants into exploitation
Caroline Robinson, Worker Support Centre - Exploitation embedded in Spain’s seasonal worker programme
Yoan Molinero-Gerbeau, Comillas Pontifical University - Migrant workers demand justice after abuse, exploitation in Canada
Amanda Aziz, Migrant Workers Centre - Seasonal worker visa puts migrants at risk on UK farms
Valeria Ragni, Worker Support Centre - Non-citizen workers still exploited in Israel, despite court ruling
Maayan Niezna, University of Liverpool - Israel is going backwards on protecting migrant workers
Aelad Cahana, Kav La'Oved - Did Brexit unleash new suffering on UK farms?
Margarita Permonaite, Worker Support Centre - Why I quit being a migrant farm worker in the UK
Jean-Pierre du Toit, seasonal migrant worker - The wage slaves of the Kafala system
Vani Saraswathi, migrant-rights.org
