New rules for hiring temporary foreign workers came into effect Monday following the federal government’s announcement last week of stricter measures to combat fraud in the program. The changes come two months after a Star investigation found the government was fast-tracking worker applications by directing processing officers to skip crucial steps designed to prevent abuse of the federal program.
Starting Oct. 28, employers seeking to hire temporary foreign workers “will no longer be able to use attestations from professional accountants or lawyers to prove their business legitimacy,” Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault announced last week.
These measures aim “to ensure that only genuine and legitimate job offers are approved, helping prevent misuse of the program and ensuring stronger worker protection,” Boissonnault said.
He added that the temporary foreign worker program “will further build on existing information-sharing agreements with provincial and territorial partners, as well as existing employer registries.”
The program has come under fire for allegations of mistreatment of temporary foreign workers amid surging demand, with employers given the green light to hire almost 240,000 temporary foreign workers in 2023, according to data from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) — more than double the number in 2018.
As the program has expanded, so has the number of allegations of fraud, to the point where Boissonnault in August declared that the “abuse and misuse of the temporary foreign worker program must end,” and promised more stringent oversight to keep “bad actors” in check.
The Star’s investigation into the program’s application process found that beginning in January 2022 ESDC directed staff to implement “streamlining measures” when evaluating the legitimacy of applications by employers who want to hire temporary foreign workers.
Routine checks meant to ensure the system is not abused by unscrupulous employers were suspended in an effort to process applications faster. These checks include contacting employers to confirm they actually applied to hire a worker as well as verifying that lawyers and consultants applying on behalf of employers are in good standing with their regulatory bodies.
Directives told staff to “discontinue the practice of checking on the website of the law society or the CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant) association to validate that the lawyer or the CPA who provided the attestation is a member in good standing” — a troubling finding according to experts, as fraud in the program is primarily driven by consultants and employers who have learned to manipulate the system and continue to hire migrant workers to make profit.
Employment and Social Development Canada did not respond to inquiries on whether it would completely abandon the expedited process.
A labour market impact assessment (LMIA) is required for an employer to hire a temporary foreign worker and is used to demonstrate there aren’t enough Canadian workers to fill the positions.
Before Monday’s changes, immigration lawyers and licensed consultants in good standing with the College of Immigration and Citizenship could apply for LMIAs on the behalf of employers wishing to hire a temporary foreign worker. Chartered professional accountants could demonstrate the validity of the business and “its ability to fulfil terms of the job offer to the temporary foreign workers,” according to the ESDC website.
While the changes are a “step in the right direction,” they fall short of adequately protecting migrant workers whose permits and status in Canada are tied to a single employer, said Catherine Connelly, a professor at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business and an expert on the temporary foreign worker program.
“This isn’t some tiny boutique program with a few thousand (workers),” Connelly said. “This involves hundreds of thousands of people and there’s just not enough oversight from the government.”
Critics and advocates have repeatedly called for temporary foreign workers to have permanent resident status or, at minimum, open work permits, which would allow workers to leave abusive employers without the fear of losing their status in the country.
Granting temporary foreign workers open work permits “would allow individuals to resolve issues they’re having rather than relying on a huge bureaucracy, which hasn’t shown it’s been able to protect people,” Connelly said.
The federal government is also expected to boost the minimum hourly wage that must be paid to temporary foreign workers in the high-wage stream as a way to encourage employers to hire more Canadian staff. The change is scheduled to come into force on Nov. 8.
In Ontario, the median hourly wage is $28.39 for the temporary foreign worker program’s high-wage bracket, so once the change takes effect an employer will need to pay workers in this stream at least $34.07 per hour.
The changes are the latest in a series of moves to tighten eligibility rules in order to limit temporary residents, including international students and foreign workers. Those changes include imposing caps on the percentage of low-wage foreign workers in some sectors and ending permits in metropolitan areas with high unemployment rates.
With files from The Canadian Press.
