The federal government recently announced important changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program, a program that allows Canadian employers to hire foreign nationals to fill labour shortages at low wages.

As of Sept. 26, 2024, the federal government will stop processing employer requests for temporary foreign workers in cities with an unemployment rate of six per cent or higher, with limited exceptions…

…these changes still fall far short of the reforms needed to address the program’s deeper issues. …

Nothing is being done to change the exploitive system that gives employers steady access to low-wage, vulnerable migrant workers with precarious work and immigration status…

These employment terms create conditions for wage theft, excessive work hours, limited breaks and physical abuse. These issues were highlighted in a final report from the UN’s special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Tomoya Obokata…

There should be permanent residency and a path to citizenship for all workers entering Canada….

Union membership and permanent residency remain the only real solutions to the exploitive working conditions and employment system for temporary foreign workers…

Rather than tinkering around the edges, the federal government needs to fundamentally overhaul the Temporary Foreign Worker program to end the exploitation of these workers.