Labor Minister Jean Boulet said he was “very concerned” on Thursday by the latest revelations from Le Devoir on the use of volunteer workers at Villa Mon Domaine. He also intends to ensure that the investigation already launched on his subject incorporates this new information.
“The Minister will ensure that the investigation by the Commission for Equity in Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) is broad enough to cover the facts reported in the article,” he said. he indicates.
Thursday morning, an investigation by Le Devoir revealed that two women had filed a complaint for “human trafficking” in Ottawa after being used for months as volunteer beneficiary attendants at Villa Mon Domaine, a residence for seniors in Lévis.
They claimed that the directors of the residence had introduced them to volunteering as a good way to obtain a work permit and that they had asked them to disappear, in the fall, after inspectors from Immigration Canada announced their visit to the residence.
Owners Éric Simard and Natacha Gauthier declined to comment on the new allegations. In a previous interview in March, they had maintained that the use of volunteers was marginal in their company.
Four statements of offense filed
This is not the first time that their residence has been the subject of such accusations. In a previous report published in March, Le Devoir revealed that at least six temporary workers of African origin had filed various types of complaints against the owners in Quebec and Ottawa.
Following this first investigation, Minister Jean Boulet had asked the CNESST to reopen an investigation that it had launched on the residence, but which had not led to sanctions.
Last May, the CNESST filed four statements of offense against the residence. The government agency criticizes Villa Mon Domaine for not having declared the hours worked by one of its employees during a period of eight months.
He also accuses him of having made illegal deductions from a worker’s salary for five months, as well as of having prevented an employee from benefiting from all of her maternity leave.
Finally, the residence allegedly failed to give a worker her payslip for 14 months. Villa Mon Domaine is liable to a fine of $600 to $1,200 for each of these offences. The owners having pleaded not guilty, the case will be heard by a judge of the Court of Quebec on September 26.
As for the federal government, which is responsible for the temporary worker program, it did not return our messages on Thursday.