The Ontario government wants to increase penalties for employers who are reported to have withheld passports of their foreign staff on temporary worker visas in Canada.
In a recent announcement made through twitter, Ontario’s Minister of Labor, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development, Monte McNaughton, has revealed the increase in fines, adding that those who “prey on vulnerable members” of the community have no place in the Canadian society.
“We’re establishing the highest maximum fines in Canada for employers convicted of retaining a foreign national’s passport or work permit. No matter your immigration status you have rights,” he said.
Whereas in a press release, the Ministry has pointed out that if the Working for Workers Act, 2023, is passed, those withholding passports would face fines between $100,000 and $200,000 for every worker. In addition to these penalties, the individuals convicted could be further fined with an amount of up to $500,000, or up to 12 months in prison, and in some specific cases, both.
Corporations who are found guilty of this crime, on the other hand, may be fined with up to $1 million, VisaGuide.World reports.
“If you think you’re going to deny someone’s basic human rights by withholding their passport, we’re going to hit your pocketbook, and you will be behind bars for a long time,” the Minister said in the same press release.
However, not everyone has been left happy with the new changes. The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change Canada has called the move a “distraction” from Ontario’s labor law exclusions which enable migrant exploitation and abuse.
According to Syed Hussan from this alliance, under the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act, it is too difficult for migrants to prove exploitation, and increasing fines under this law, will not bring these workers justice.
“We call on Ontario to end Employment Standards exclusions, increase proactive inspections, implement the Temporary Help Agency licensing regime to regulate employers and recruiters and hold employers financially liable for any exploitation throughout the recruitment process,” Hussan said in a statement released following the decision announced by Minister McNaughton.
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change has also called on the federal government to ensure permanent resident status to all workers, insisting that this is the sole mechanism for migrants to assert their rights at work.
Penalties for those who seize passports are not the only changes introduced through the Working for Workers Act, 2023, as the government also wants to introduce fines for corporations convicted of an offence under the OHSA from $1.5 million to $2 million, which at the same time would be the highest maximum corporate fine under workplace health and safety legislation in Canada.
Data by Statistics Canada, the country’s agency for statistics, show that eight per cent of Canada’s total employed labor force, in 2021, were migrants who had reached the country within the last ten years.
The agency claims that in particular, temporary foreign workers and international students in Canada have become an integral part of the labor force in the country, with the number of the first having increased seven-fold from 111,000 in 2000 to 777,000 in 2021.
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