'There's a lot of groups out there who criticize the program, and some of them just don't know about the program'
One expert who has benefited from Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program is hitting back at critics who may not be familiar with the inner workings of the program.
“There's a lot of groups out there who criticize the program, and some of them just don't know about the program. They just criticize everybody anyway,” says Ken Forth, president, Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services (FARMS), in talking with Human Resources Director.
“It's pretty darn easy to criticize people rather than try to build something.”
Previously, Tomoya Obokata, United Nations special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, claimed that the TFW Program “serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery, as it institutionalizes asymmetries of power that favour employers and prevents workers from exercising their rights.”
Forth says that the program has faced criticism for 30 years.
“They make all kinds of crazy stories up, usually – most of the time. They never identify anybody. They just say the whole program is like this, and it's always just anecdotal.”
There has been a lot of criticism from stakeholders over the recent rule changes that Ottawa announced pertaining to the TFW Program.
What are the rights of temporary foreign workers in Canada?
Temporary foreign workers who step into Canada are protected by their rights, says Forth.
For those who work on Ontario farms, for example, their rights are well-established under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program – which FARMS has been using – and other temporary worker programs, he said.
“They also are protected by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which ensures that their rights are upheld, besides the fact that their ministries of labour are in the country and come and see the workers at different times of the year,” he says.
“They don't have any more rights than we do, but they have it from two different directions to make sure that it is of help.”
In August, as Alberta was dealing with wildfires, the provincial government announced that the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP) will start accepting work permits issued by Immigration, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (IRCC) in the Alberta Opportunity and Tourism and Hospitality Streams, reported Immigration.ca.
New rules for LMIAs in TFWP
Forth did admit that there was a need for some changes to the TFW Program.
Effective Sept. 26 this year, the federal government has started refusing to process Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) in the low-wage stream of the TFW program in census metropolitan areas with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher.
Forth noted that the agriculture program under the TFW Program has had its rules in place for years.
“The Seasonal Worker Program from day one, from 50 some years ago, had rules, a lot of rules, a lot of oversight. None of the other programs had any rules to start with, none.”
About 20 years ago, the federal government started with other programs under the TFW Program, he says.
“They wanted to start another temporary worker program to address a lot of other industries, but there weren't going to be any rules. We were flabbergasted,” he says.
“And that's come back to roost, because what's happened over the last 25 years is that they found they needed those rules. And outside of the farming program, there's been some issues, sometimes because there were no rules.”