New rules for hiring temporary foreign workers take effect to ‘prevent misuse of the program’

Author(s): Alsharif, G.

Date: 2024

Resource: Toronto Star.

New rules for hiring temporary foreign workers came into effect Monday following the federal government’s announcement last week of stricter measures to combat fraud in the program. The changes come two months after a Star investigation found the government was fast-tracking worker applications by directing processing officers to skip crucial steps designed to prevent abuse of the federal program.

Starting Oct. 28, employers seeking to hire temporary foreign workers “will no longer be able to use attestations from professional accountants or lawyers to prove their business legitimacy,” Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault announced last week.

These measures aim “to ensure that only genuine and legitimate job offers are approved, helping prevent misuse of the program and ensuring stronger worker protection,” Boissonnault said. […]

While the changes are a “step in the right direction,” they fall short of adequately protecting migrant workers whose permits and status in Canada are tied to a single employer, said Catherine Connelly, a professor at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business and an expert on the temporary foreign worker program.

“This isn’t some tiny boutique program with a few thousand (workers),” Connelly said. “This involves hundreds of thousands of people and there’s just not enough oversight from the government.”

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Related Research Areas: Temporary and Gig Workers