Migrant workers say program changes would hurt, not help

Ottawa is considering changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program that migrant workers say would reduce their income.

In internal documents provided to The Tyee, Employment and Social Development Canada proposed changing how migrant workers in the agriculture and fishing sectors are paid, housed and brought into the country.

The changes include the creation of a new type of work permit that would allow migrants to switch between pre-approved employers.

But the changes would also increase the amount of money employers could deduct from workers’ paycheques to pay for housing.

While the federal government said the changes are intended to improve workers’ experiences, a migrant workers’ group said it believed they would worsen their working conditions.

Pablo Serrano, a temporary foreign worker at a BC farm, voiced his concerns about the changes at a press conference Wednesday hosted by Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, a national advocacy organization of migrant workers and students.

“We reject the government’s idea of allowing more rent deductions,” Serrano said via a translator. “This opens the doors for some employers to profit from our housing by charging us for spaces that do not guarantee our safety and well-being.”

Nearly a quarter of all agriculture employees in Canada are temporary foreign workers and are subject to the TFW program’s rules.

In its plan for 2025 and 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced last month it would work with Employment and Social Development Canada to reform how agriculture and fish-processing employers hire temporary foreign workers.

The proposed changes come after international criticism of Canada’s TFW program. Earlier this year, human rights advocacy organization Amnesty International said the program exposes workers to abuse.

Employment and Social Development Canada spokesperson Maja Stefanovksa said in an email that department was asking stakeholders for input about how it might change the TFW’s hiring rules for agriculture and fish-processing employees.

She added with the consultations were for “the sole purpose of understanding best practices to strengthen worker protections and the program.”

“No determinations or proposals have been made,” she said. “Canada is committed to fair and stable compensation for workers and suggestions of pay cuts do not reflect intentions for the program moving forward.”

The department is reviewing stakeholder input now.

Last March, Employment and Social Development Canada sent documents that described proposed changes to advocates, employers and other program stakeholders for consultation. The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, which has long criticized the program, provided the documents to The Tyee.

One document outlining how the department’s changes would affect worker wages said it has “the objective of better supporting employers [and] improving worker experience.”

The department proposed creating a new type of work permit for the agriculture and fish-processing sectors that would allow migrant workers to switch between employers without having to leave the country. Currently, most temporary foreign workers’ work permits are tied to their employers, meaning if they leave their jobs or are fired, they are required to leave the country.

Some advocates have previously welcomed changes that would make migrant workers less reliant on employers.

But Syed Hussan, the executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, said it would likely be unrealistic for most workers to switch jobs.

And Hussan said many of the other proposed changes would hurt, rather than help, workers.

“Not one of these changes is to protect workers,” Hussan told The Tyee. “This is all about having more control over more workers.”

Under the new permit, employers would be allowed to dock workers’ wages to pay for housing — a measure the program currently allows for some migrant workers, but not others.

The TFW program currently requires employers to pay to house migrant farmworkers from Mexico and some Caribbean countries. Migrant farmworkers from other countries have about five per cent of their pre-tax wages deducted for housing, the department said in the document.

Employment and Social Development Canada’s changes would let employers in the agriculture and fish-processing sectors deduct up to 30 per cent of workers’ pre-tax income to pay for housing, regardless of nationality.

Currently, employers are required to provide adequate housing that also meets local building bylaws.

With the new changes, the department would require employers to ensure that the provided housing meets more specific criteria. The rules would require a home to be “adequately” supplied with running water, have “adequate” plumbing systems and “sufficient” heating and cooling appliances.

Migrant workers told the Migrant Worker Alliance for Change that they do not want the proposed changes, Hussan said.

“Employers are going to force workers to live in these homes and be able to just cut from the cheque, and workers will have no choice,” Hussan said.

The guidelines for housing are too vague and leave too much room for poor interpretation, Hussan added. He said the department should set specific and measurable metrics for the temperature, water pressure and cleanliness of each unit.

“These are not enforceable, not measurable guidelines,” Hussan said. “It will be impossible for workers to complain, because anything can be deemed ‘adequate.’”

The current guidelines already put workers in crowded, inadequate housing, a United Nations special rapporteur said in a 2023 report. That report said temporary foreign workers were often provided overcrowded and mixed-gender housing that sometimes forced up to 30 people to share a single washroom. Housing often lacked adequate heating or cooling and did not have enough laundry facilities or kitchens.

The rapporteur called Canada’s TFW program “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.”

Hussan’s organization has long advocated for all migrant workers to be granted permanent residency, which he said would allow workers to freely switch employers and find housing without fear of deportation.

“At some point or another, people will stop coming,” Hussan said. “When you keep squeezing people, they will eventually walk away.”

_{Isaac Phan Nay is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with The Tyee.}