Canadian temporary scheme of foreign workers ‘inherently exploiting’: Amnesty | News of the rights of work

Montreal, Canada – Canada failed to take significant measures to deal with system abuse in decades old Foreign workers programSubject to thousands of workers inherent exploitation system, says Amnesty International.

In a report on 71 pages published on Thursday, the group for the rights emphasized a wide range of abuse related to the temporary program of foreign workers (TFWP), from theft of salaries to excessive hours, racist abuse and violence.

Many violations are related to “closed” work permits of workers, which bind them to their employers and leave them open to exploitation, Amnesty said. Workers usually do not speak for fear of retaliation.

“The exploitation, discrimination and abuse are component, not errors, temporary foreign workers program,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General Amnesty International Canada’s English Language Department.

“Cosmetic changes are not sufficient. Our leaders must implement the reforms needed in order for the program to align with Canadian human rights obligations – and, ultimately, to obey workers’ rights.”

Started in the 1970s, Canadian foreign workers’ programs found Increased supervision In recent years, when former and current workers have condemned their treatment.

2022. A group of Jamaica workers wrote a letter Establishment conditions On the farms in Ontario, the most populous Canadian province, to “systematic slavery”.

A year later, the united nations said a special reporter The TFWP schemes “make migrant workers vulnerable to modern forms of slavery, as they cannot report abuse without fear of deportation.”

‘Like throwing garbage’

Tens of thousands of foreign workers come to Canada every year via TFWP, which the Government says it aims to fill in the labor market disadvantages.

They work in low-salaries industries such as agriculture-in-farms or in food processing facilities and home care plants, among other things.

In 2021, temporary foreign workers made up 18 percent of the working force in the Canadian Agricultural Sector and 10 percent in the accommodation and food services sector, study Posted at the end of last year.

Migrants workers – many of whom have come to Canada for years or even for decades – are also Limited path to a permanent stay in the country.

“In his current design, TFWP is inherently exploiting,” Amnesty International said in a report on Thursday.

The group also said that the “inherently discriminatory discriminatory, because it strengthens the cases of discrimination and the disproportionate impacts of human rights violations on rationalized” abandonment “of workers on the basis of their race, gender, class and national origin.”

Francisco, a Mexican worker who spoke with Amnesty International using pseudonym, said: “The employer gets what he wants but when [the worker] he is no longer useful … he simply sends [the worker] back.

“And I feel like it’s like throwing garbage and say it’s no longer useful.”

Inspections and fines

The Canadian government has previously defended “closed” work permits as a necessary measure to ensure that she knows what employers employ foreign workers and where they work.

Last year, in the midst of a growing return attack on immigration and housing crisis, the Government also announced that it plans to reduce the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada, including those in TFWP flows.

Meanwhile, the employment and social development of Canada, the Ministry of Labor in the country, said in mid -January that it has increased penalties for employers who do not meet the rules.

The Ministry said 649 inspections had been conducted between April and the end of September last year, 11 percent of which revealed that employers were not in accordance with.

He also issued $ 1.46 million ($ 2.1 million in Canadian dollars) fines and banned 20 employers from TFWP.

“Workers in Canada deserve and expect that they will feel safe and protected in the workplace. Therefore, we take steps to further protect temporary foreign workers and consider bad actors responsible, “” said Steven MackinnonCanadian Minister of Employment, Development of Workpiece and Labor.

“Employers must follow the rules, and we will continue to take decisive measures to protect the rights and well -being of workers during the cultivation of our economy.”

But Amnesty International emphasized in his report that TFWP abused “cannot be attributed to a few unscrupulous employers, nor can they be understood as isolated incidents.”

Instead, the group said Canada bears responsibility for immigration policies and laws left by the workers vulnerable.

He urged Canada to move outside the “narrow, parts of measures” to make “systemic policy changes”, including the abolition of “closed” work permits.

“This system needs to be urgently replaced by an open vision system that can fully protect rationalized workers from work exploitation and discrimination,” Amnesty said.