This Canadian province has paused the controversial worker program accused of promoting slavery

Quebec, Canada, has temporarily suspended the entry of new temporary foreign workers for low-wage jobs in the Montreal area. As a result, applications for jobs in the Montreal area paying less than $27.47 per hour will be paused for six months, starting September 3.

The decision will not apply to the construction, agriculture, food processing, education and social services sectors.

This comes after the country's temporary foreign worker program was described as a 'breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery' in a report by UN investigator Tomoya Obokata, according to an article in Canada's leading daily, the Globe and Mail.


The final report cemented Prof. Obokata’s initial impressions, which he first expressed last year after visiting Ottawa, Moncton, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver on a fact-finding tour, Globe and Mail reported.

"The special rapporteur retains the view that the temporary foreign worker program serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery, as it institutionalizes asymmetries of power that favour employers and prevent workers from exercising their rights,” states the final report, which is dated July 22 and was recently posted online.

Federal programs that allow Canadian companies to bring in foreign labour on a temporary basis have existed in various forms for decades, with numerous waves of reforms to the rules over that time. Historically, it has primarily been used in the agricultural sector to cover seasonal spikes in labour demand, according to Globe and Mail.

The program is now facing renewed scrutiny over the steep rise in a separate stream of the program focused on low-wage workers, which employers are using to fill positions such as fast-food counter attendants, according to Globe and Mail.

During the first quarter of 2024, employers received government approval to hire 28,730 people through the low-wage stream of the temporary foreign worker program, an increase of 25 per cent from a year earlier, according to figures from Employment and Social Development Canada. It was the highest quarterly number for such approvals in government records that date to 2016, according to Globe and Mail report.

The low-wage stream was allowed to grow after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in response to calls from business groups that said such measures were urgently needed to help business owners struggling with acute labour shortages, the Globe and Mail report claimed.

"Given the structural inequities between temporary foreign workers and employers and their insufficient access to justice and remedies, workers experience a wide range of abuses,” the report states.

“The special rapporteur received reports of underpayment and wage theft, physical, emotional and verbal abuse, excessive work hours, limited breaks, extracontractual work, uncompensated managerial duties, lack of personal protective equipment, including in hazardous conditions, confiscation of documents and arbitrary reductions of working hours. Women reported sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse.”

The report said that while the program does allow workers to apply for an open work permit, it said this is unrealistic for many given the rules involved.