Business representatives are slamming the UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery. They acknowledge that improvements can be made to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, but the closed permit has several advantages, they argue.
Tomoya Obokata’s final report, dated July 22 and detailed in The Duty Tuesday, described this temporary migration route as a “breeding ground” for forms of modern slavery. After his visit last year, he said he was “deeply troubled by the stories of exploitation and abuse.” He persists and signs in this document: closed permits should be eliminated and all migrant workers should have “access to a clear procedure for obtaining permanent residence upon arrival in the country.”
“The biased report of the special rapporteur does not at all reflect the reality of Canadian employers,” argues Karl Blackburn, president and CEO of the Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ). He calls on the government to come out “loud and clear” to denounce this report which “harms the credibility of Canadian employers and that of Canada,” according to him.
While there have been cases, including high-profile ones of abuse or exploitation, we should not “take the data out of context,” Blackburn argues. “We will never defend companies that do not respect the law, that is unequivocal.”
But the reality is far from a “form of generalized slavery,” he argues. “I would very much like to know the cases of abuse he mentions and which companies he met.” The CPQ had also asked to meet Mr. Obokata after his end-of-mission declaration, which was done last January. “He was still missing a lot of information,” says the head of the Council, citing as an example the tools made available to employees who are victims of mistreatment.
The Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) also rejects the use of the word “slavery.” “It’s a disturbing term, it’s smearing,” retorts its general president, Martin Caron. Temporary migration programs have existed for over 50 years in agriculture, and these workers now make up at least a third of the entire workforce in the sector, he points out.
“We cannot put everything at risk, condone improper actions and mistreat a third of our people, it makes no sense.” The agricultural sector “is far from that” and the UPA does not hesitate to denounce employers when necessary, retorts the general president.
In total, 15 agricultural businesses in Quebec have been sanctioned in recent years, “a tiny minority” in the sector, according to Mr. Caron. Workers who wish to change employers can contact agricultural employment centres. A round table has been set up in Quebec and includes employers, the government, as well as associations defending the rights of migrant workers.
A polarizing debate
“It’s verbal bullshit, it’s meant to shock,” thinks Anthony Chiasson-Leblanc, a regulated immigration consultant for the firm Equinox, which represents more than 1,000 foreign workers. “All the employers we’ve done business with care about their workers, their working conditions are important to them and it’s profitable.” [de bien les traiter] ” he insists.
Most employers are compliant with current regulations “and even do more,” he says. His clients include landscaping companies, construction companies and manufacturers.
He points out that the principle of the closed work permit, linked to a single employer, exists in several countries: “What would be so different in Canada?” He acknowledges that certain situations can be precarious and blames “certain individuals who are really problematic.” “Clearly the bad apples should be removed from the program, but the general discourse is missing the point,” describes Mr. Chiasson-Leblanc.
Conversely, the word “slavery,” which makes employers jump, is “absolutely the right term,” according to Viviana Medina, a community organizer at the Centre de travailleurs et travailleuses immigrants (CTTI). “It’s sad to say, but it’s the word that workers who find themselves in these situations use themselves, it didn’t come from me,” she says. The CTTI is among the organizations that met with the special rapporteur in 2023. Two women told him about sexual assault and “extreme surveillance” in their workplace. Another man worked nearly 120 hours without pay, Ms. Medina reports.
Violations “are not a minority,” she believes, citing the number of fines given by the government that have increased. The number of people heading to the CTTI is also increasing.
Desired improvements
If the permit is closed, it is in particular because the employer assumes the costs of recruitment and plane tickets, explain Messrs. Blackburn and Chiasson-Leblanc.
The Temporary Foreign Worker Program was set up to gain access to a workforce in certain sectors where there are no employees in Canada, the Council representative points out. It is therefore a form of control over the economy that would be lost by opening up permits, he believes: “It allows us to maintain a certain balance in the ecosystem.”
We must neither “trash it” nor “throw it in the trash,” he argues, because that would be “a very hard blow to employers.” Mr. Chiasson-Leblanc fears that the end of closed permits would give rise to “a parallel industry” where foreign workers themselves would “pick up the bill” in a poorly controlled environment.