Latest news with #TemporaryForeignWorkerProtectionAct
CBC
15-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Temporary foreign workers will still be at risk after new P.E.I. safeguards take effect, advocate says
Social Sharing P.E.I.'s Temporary Foreign Worker Protection Act, which was passed nearly three years ago, will finally take effect next month, but advocates say the legislation doesn't go far enough to address the systemic injustices faced by this vulnerable population. Starting April 1, the first phase of the act will introduce new regulations for people who recruit foreign workers, requiring them to be licensed. The act will also prohibit recruiters from charging foreign workers fees for recruitment services and ban practices such as providing false or misleading information or withholding workers' official documents, including passports. The province's website says the second phase of the act will introduce an employer registry and administrative penalties, though the site does not mention a timeline for when this phase will be implemented. Joe Byrne, who runs the Migrant Workers Resource Centre at the Charlottetown-based Cooper Institute, said the act does not address one of the biggest vulnerabilities temporary foreign workers face — the closed work-permit system, which ties them to a single employer. He said this system creates an environment where workers are more susceptible to abuse and mistreatment. "We've heard about harassment and actually sexual assault. Why people are scared to report it is because if they report it, they can lose their job. Once they lose their job, they lose their pathway to permanent residency and everything. Their dreams are shot," he told CBC's Island Morning. "That is still the same kind of indentureship that we need to address. I don't think the act is designed to even begin to address that, because it's a systemic thing." Temporary foreign workers face major barriers in P.E.I. 1 month ago Duration 1:56 A panel discussion in Charlottetown focused on the challenges temporary foreign workers deal with on the Island, especially the issue of sexual violence in the workplace. Many workers don't report incidents out of fear that they may lose their status. CBC's Connor Lamont has more. Addressing systemic issues The federal government issues closed work permits to people who come to Canada under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. However, a report last year from the United Nations' special rapporteur said the program is a "breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery" due to the widespread mistreatment, exploitation and abuse of workers. Byrne said that while the new provincial act may provide some protections, it does not address the core issue and requires action from the federal government. For years, he and other advocates for temporary foreign workers across Canada have been calling on Ottawa to give all temporary foreign workers open work permits, allowing them to leave abusive situations without risking their ability to remain in the country. "We have to start addressing these injustices, and that means open work permits," he said. Reliance on temporary foreign workers Temporary foreign workers make up an estimated 40 per cent of P.E.I.'s agricultural workforce. When you add in employees in seafood processing, the trucking industry and other jobs, the number of temporary foreign workers arriving on the Island every year has grown from about 400 in 2015 to nearly 1,500 in 2024. "If they're not here, that means the fish plants don't work and the grocery stores don't stay open," O'Leary Mayor Eric Gavin told CBC News recently. "That is a very big concern." Given the province's significant reliance on these workers, Byrne said protections should have been in place much sooner, rather than not coming into force until nearly three years after the act was passed in the provincial legislature. "Why does it have to take so long if something's going to be a priority? And we see when government puts a priority on things, they can actually get things done efficiently and quickly. This cannot be considered quick." Byrne said he looks forward to seeing how well the act can protect temporary foreign workers after April 1. One of his biggest concerns is how the act will be enforced.
CBC
10-02-2025
- CBC
Workplace sexual violence against temporary foreign workers in P.E.I. underreported, advocates say
Better protections are needed for temporary foreign workers facing sexual violence in the workplace, advocates say. Instances of sexual violence against workers often go unreported, said Sarah Dennis, program manager with the RISE Program, which provides free legal support for people who have experienced workplace sexual harassment. "There are many barriers in place for temporary foreign workers to come forward to disclose sexual violence," Dennis said. "There's language barriers, there is isolation when they're working in rural communities, so limited access to resources, and then also the fear of deportation and losing their status." The issue was the topic of a panel discussion on systemic barriers faced by temporary foreign workers that was held at the Charlottetown Learning Library on Feb. 7. An estimated 40 per cent of P.E.I.'s agricultural workforce is now made up temporary foreign workers. Adding in employees in seafood processing, the trucking industry and other jobs, the number of temporary foreign workers arriving on the Island every year grew from about 400 in 2015 to more than 1,600 in 2023. Protective mechanisms for foreign workers that would make them less vulnerable to abuse need to be implemented by the federal and provincial governments, Dennis said. 'We're only hearing a fraction' It's hard to know just how prevalent workplace sexual violence is among the temporary foreign workforce, said Joe Byrne, co-ordinator of the Migrant Worker Resource Centre at the Cooper Institute. "We feel that we're only hearing a fraction of the actual abuses that are happening because of the fear of reporting," Byrne said. "The question of status is often the essential one, so the fear of violence or coercion or exploitation is secondary to the fear of losing status." Many foreign workers fear that reporting sexual violence or abuse on the part of their employer may cause their pathway to permanent residency to disappear, Byrne said. "People arrive with the same hopes and dreams that many of us have," Byrne said. "Then they find when they get here, or even before they get here, that their status and their ability to live out those hopes and dreams rests on the willingness of their employer to keep them employed." That's a result of the nature of the temporary foreign worker system itself, Byrne said. "We should not be surprised that when we structure oppression into a system that the system becomes oppressive," he said. "That is a natural consequence of poor policy making that puts workers in a vulnerable position with no pathway for dispute, or dispute resolution, without putting their status at risk." Removing barriers Although the Temporary Foreign Worker Protection Act was passed in the P.E.I. Legislature in 2022, it has not yet been proclaimed into law. That's because the province is working on the act's regulations, such as enforcement, said Karla Bernard, interim leader of P.E.I.'s Green Party. After listening to the "powerful panel discussion," Bernard said she heard a clear message. "There are people in our communities who are essentially invisible, and as a result are put in really vulnerable situations when it comes to being exploited," she said. "We need to make foreign workers more visible. They need to have more connections in our community." Although supports for temporary foreign workers exist, it can be challenging to access them, Bernard said. "They're not connected, they don't have relationships built. There's language barriers, there's trust barriers, there's all sorts of barriers." Providing information and resources to workers is something the government could take on, Bernard said. She said she plans to bring the issue forward in the legislature and do more work on in her role as an MLA. "Everyone in P.E.I. deserves to live safely and freely and in security," Bernard said.
