The number of temporary immigrants has exploded in Quebec, as in the rest of Canada for that matter. And among them, low-wage foreign workers, whether in warehouses or in the fields, are at the mercy of unscrupulous employers.
Discussing a threshold of 50,000 landed immigrants, the figure programmed by the Legault government, is to discuss a very partial portrait of immigration to Quebec. As reported The duty recently, this threshold has been greatly exceeded by the influx of temporary immigrants. Thus, the number of foreign nationals holding work and study permits present in Quebec will exceed 180,000 in 2022. In all, according to the Institut de la statistique du Québec, on 1er last July, there were 290,000 non-permanent residents, all categories combined. This number has almost doubled in ten years.
The CAQ government only has it for professionals and skilled workers, united under the term economic immigration and commanding the high salaries that François Legault favors. We need this well-trained workforce sought by employers struggling with recruitment difficulties.
But we cannot hide the fact that Quebec also needs workers with little education, willing to take jobs that Quebecers do not want and to be satisfied with the low wages that go with it. Ungrateful jobs, often physically demanding, which nevertheless represent an important cog in the economy. We are talking about labourers, handlers, maintenance workers, workers in food processing plants, agricultural workers.
Since 2015, the workforce recruited by Quebec companies through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) has more than tripled to reach 34,000 people.
Whatever their skills, temporary foreign workers, if they want to extend their presence in the country, which is often also the wish of their employer, must renew their work permit, an often agonizing process given the administrative negligence of the federal authorities. Some of these immigrants are here for three years, five years, even ten years. This is the great hypocrisy of the system: many temporary workers occupy permanent positions. Many want to immigrate to Quebec.
Unlike students and people eligible for the Federal International Mobility Program, low-skilled workers recruited by the TFWP do not have an open work permit, but a “closed” permit that links their presence in Quebec to an employer. unique. They are placed in a position of vulnerability which exposes them to abuse and shameless exploitation by employers. These workers are reluctant to file a complaint for fear of losing their jobs and being forced to return to their country, which they are threatened with.
This is the kind of situation that the survey shows Essentials. The dark side of immigrationa documentary presented on Télé-Québec, directed by Ky Vy Le Duc and signed by activist Sonia Djelidi and the journalist from To have to Sarah R. Champagne. We see that agricultural workers have been forced to toil in the fields for up to 17 hours a day and that they have gone several weeks without taking a single day off. Housed on the farm, they have to squeeze into cramped and unlivable barracks that are said to comply with federal standards. We see immigrant workers being exploited by an employment agency without a license. Or this worker who has been employed by Savoura greenhouses for ten years and who only saw his family, who remained in Guatemala, for three and a half months during the decade, failing to obtain a Quebec selection certificate.
Unlike the Canadian Charter, the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects foreigners. We should remember that. Also remember that the minimum labor standards are for them too. On the farm, Quebec can remedy the discrimination perpetuated by Ottawa and guarantee them accommodation worthy of the name, subject to the same standards that govern the accommodation provided by employers to Quebec workers.
To put an end to the abuse and mistreatment of foreign workers, closed permits should be abolished and replaced by open permits linked to a sector of activity and possibly a region. These essential changes unfortunately depend on the goodwill of the federal government. Quebec should be responsible for temporary foreign workers in our territory, as provided for in the Canada-Quebec agreement on immigration. Ensuring respect for the dignity of all workers on Quebec soil is, in short, their responsibility.