The number of temporary workers will be further restricted in the food processing sector. (Archives)
Despite everything, [these regulatory changes] are not seen as a good thing. Labor is our biggest problem.
A quote from Chris Conway, CEO of Food and Beverage Ontario
The fact that the work permit of temporary foreign workers is linked to a particular employer is a constant source of concern for these workers. A temporary foreign employee who must leave his job must then find a new employer who has a Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) in hand and who agrees to hire him, otherwise this worker risks finding himself in the administrative limbo, Migrant Workers Alliance representatives explained earlier this month.
According to Santiago Escobar of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, the current program presents an imbalance of power because migrant workers are tied to a single employer, which is an ideal scenario for employers. unscrupulous people who take advantage of migrant workers.
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Santiago Escobar represents the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
Mr. Ramsaroop agrees with Mr. Escobar. This statement from the federal government that action will be taken on May 1 will do nothing to alleviate the concerns that [these workers] are raising and continue to raise.
He calls on the federal government to open more doors for temporary workers. If pathways to permanent residency were expanded, it would be good news for migrant workers.
Last September, Tomoya Obokata, the United Nations special rapporteur, said that Canada's temporary foreign worker programs are a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.
As part of the government's broader commitment to protecting temporary foreign workers from mistreatment and abuse, Budget 2021 committed $49.5 million over three years to implement a new support program for migrant workers to better support temporary foreign workers by addressing power imbalances between employers and workers, the federal government said in a press release issued Thursday.
For his part, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Thursday that the growing number of asylum seekers who have an open work permit while waiting for their paperwork to be processed is a factor that plays into the government's decisions. federal.
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Federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marc Miller. (Archives)
We cannot ignore the pressures created by the historic volumes of asylum seekers arriving in Canada. It is essential to have a sufficiently resourced system to efficiently and fairly process asylum applications and to manage temporary resident volumes.