The facts date back more than two and a half years, when Maxime Beaudry punched an employee under his authority. This agricultural producer and maple syrup producer was found guilty last week of assault causing bodily harm, as revealed by The Duty. But, during this time, neither the federal nor the provincial authorities have sanctioned it.
Joshua*, meanwhile, is still waiting for surgery to reconstruct his nose, is no longer allowed to work and lives “in fear and stress.” He asked us to keep his identity secret for fear that the authorities will try to deport him.
However, he did use several of the levers at his disposal, including reporting the violence to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). There is no indication that an investigation actually took place, since the company Les Vergers de la montée Covey Hill is not listed among the non-compliant employers, nor is the numbered company registered in the name of Maxime Beaudry.
The ministry refuses to confirm whether such a process is still underway, but writes that all reports “are examined within two working days and [que] appropriate measures are taken”.
ESDC is the first authority to give employers the green light to hire foreign workers. This department can notably decide that “the employer has not made sufficient efforts to ensure that the workplace is free from mistreatment, sexual assault or psychological violence,” according to the Immigration Regulations.
This provision has been used in the past for other employers, some of whom have been excluded from the program permanently or temporarily.
Other companies are being penalised for not providing the documents or information requested by inspectors, or for not showing up at a meeting, for example.
Neither a criminal charge nor a criminal conviction prevents an employer from continuing to participate in the program.
Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault recently boasted of having imposed 36% more sanctions in the 2023-2024 fiscal year than in the previous one.
In a pitiful state
Josué, however, remembers speaking to Service Canada (ESDC) when he had just left his employer and was in a community shelter. “Then I didn’t hear back,” he says.
He himself admits that his mental health took a hit and that he had difficulty doing all the necessary follow-ups. “I couldn’t learn everything at once, how complaints worked and all that,” he sums up.
Josué’s first claim to the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) was thus rejected because it was not filed within six months of the events.
“You have not presented any reasonable grounds for your delay,” the Commission wrote in a letter seen by The Duty.
It is his psychological state that explains his delay, he says today. At that time, the organization Accueil aux immigrants de l’est de Montréal (AIEM) was already trying to obtain psychological support for him. His request for reimbursement from the Crime Victims Compensation will finally come in May 2023.
In the winter of 2023, when his status has just expired and he is no longer working, Joshua finds a small job: cleaning the offices of a very prominent politician.
Cleaning the home of a well-known MP, “he was so close and so far at the same time,” notes Viviana Medina, a community organizer at the Immigrant Workers’ Center. “And in total, sad irony,” she adds.
She is the one who “took over the file” in recent months, and is now asking the federal Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, to use his discretionary power to restore her status.
Stress and fear
Her second complaint to the CNESST, this time for psychological harassment, continues to progress. It is now her physical presence that is required for hearings on the latter before the Administrative Labour Tribunal.
The fact of being without status worries Josué a lot, who keeps a certain reserve on the harassment complaint, waiting to present all the facts before a judge.
It was also this concern that prevented him from going to the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courthouse last week for his former employer’s appearance.
“I’m too afraid of the police, I’m too afraid of Maxime, I didn’t know if I was going to be protected,” he said.
“For me, it has become the worst example of all these bureaucratic barriers in the system, a system that is supposed to work for once, but which fails again to protect workers,” says Viviana Medina.
“I have often thought about leaving again, I no longer know if I should expect something, but at the same time, I don’t want these years to have been for nothing,” Josué concludes in an interview.