“Manitoba hotel owners charged with trafficking employees who were underpaid, threatened with deportation: RCMP”

A couple who own a hotel in the rural municipality of Portage la Prairie have been charged with human trafficking following a months-long police investigation, where four employees from India reported being underpaid, forced to work 15-hour days and threatened with deportation.

Jai Inder Sandhu, 62, and Satbir Sandhu, 48, were charged with trafficking in persons and receiving material benefit from trafficking…

Jai Inder Sandhu was also charged with withholding or destroying documents and uttering threats.

Police did not identify the hotel by name, but CBC News confirmed Jai Inder Sandhu is an owner of the Howard Johnson hotel in Portage la Prairie.

CBC has reached out to Howard Johnson's corporate office for comment.

…Two female employees later came forward to report their situation to police, and another woman and a man were later also identified as victims, according to RCMP….

Farrell said all four were promised fair wages, affordable living and legal work in Manitoba through federal labour market impact assessments — documents issued to employers by the federal government that allow them to hire foreign workers if they can't find a Canadian or permanent resident to fill a position…