Question Period Note: TEMPORARY FOREIGN WORKER PROGRAM: ACCOMMODATION

The Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program recognizes the importance of ensuring employers comply with conditions related to accommodations to protect the health and safety of temporary foreign workers.

While in Canada, temporary foreign workers have the same workplace rights and protections as Canadians and permanent residents. Mistreatment of temporary foreign workers – or any worker – is unacceptable.

The Government of Canada remains firmly committed to the rights and protections of temporary foreign workers and recognizes the importance of ensuring employers comply with Temporary Foreign Worker Program conditions related to accommodations to protect the health and safety of temporary foreign workers.

IF PRESSED (Worker protections)

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program has tools in place to protect temporary foreign workers, including a compliance regime to verify, through inspections, that employers are meeting program requirements. This includes compliance with accommodation requirements when employers provide housing for temporary foreign workers.

The Government of Canada funds the Migrant Worker Support Program, which supports temporary foreign workers in better understanding and exercising their rights while in Canada.

The Government of Canada also maintains a confidential tip line and online reporting tool where temporary foreign workers or other informed parties can anonymously report potential wrongdoing and misuse of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Employers that are determined to be non-compliant can face significant consequences, including administrative monetary penalties and bans from the Program. Non-compliant employers are also listed on a public-facing Government of Canda website.

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations stipulate that employers hiring workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program must ensure that working conditions (including accommodations, if applicable) for temporary foreign workers meet generally accepted Canadian standards. Furthermore, as per TFW Program policy, employers hiring workers via the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) and the Agricultural Stream must provide housing to temporary foreign workers, meanwhile employers hiring temporary foreign workers under the Low-wage Stream must provide or ensure that suitable and affordable housing is available. In Fiscal Year 2024-25, 6,220 employers using the TFW Program were required to provide accommodations to 86,792 temporary foreign workers.

Accommodations is a multi-jurisdictional issue, with provincial and territorial (PT) governments or local authorities being responsible for setting housing standards. ESDC has consulted extensively with stakeholders and PTs on accommodations in recent years, including:

Fall 2020: consultation on employer-provided accommodations, with the subsequent release of a What We Heard Report in 2021;

March 2022: ESDC assembled a federal, provincial and territorial working group on accommodations to share jurisdictional perspectives;

July 2022: a Ministerial Roundtable on Housing Standards to address the most pressing concerns related to accommodations; and

2024-ongoing: consultations on the new Agriculture and Fish Processing Stream, which include seeking feedback on the proposed accommodation approach.

The TFW Program has tools in place to protect and empower temporary foreign workers, including a compliance regime to verify, through inspections, that employers are meeting program conditions set out in pertinent regulations, including compliance with accommodation conditions when employers provide housing for temporary foreign workers. Employers found non-compliant can face significant consequences, including administrative monetary penalties (known as AMPs) of up to $1 million per year, and/or bans from the Program. Non-compliant employers are listed on a public-facing Government of Canada website.

ESDC also maintains a confidential tip line, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with live agents offering services in 200 languages, Monday to Friday from 6:30 AM to 8:00 PM, and an online reporting tool where temporary foreign workers or other informed parties can anonymously report situations of potential wrongdoing and misuse of the TFW Program. 

The Government of Canada remains firmly committed to the rights and protections of temporary foreign workers, and works closely with provincial and territorial governments, international partners, and worker support organizations on worker protections issues. 

KEY FACTS

Employers hiring workers via the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) and the Agricultural Stream of the TFW Program must provide accommodation to temporary foreign workers.

Meanwhile, employers hiring temporary foreign workers via the Low-wage Stream must provide or ensure that suitable and affordable housing is available.

Employer-provided accommodations requirements under the TFW Program are a multi-jurisdictional responsibility, with provinces and territories, the Government of Canada conducts inspections to make sure that employers are meeting their obligations related to worker accommodations.

In recent years, ESDC has consulted extensively with stakeholders, including migrant workers support organisations, employers, and provinces and territories on employer-provided accommodations via the TFW Program. These consultations have played a role in the continuous enhancement of the TFW Program’s overall compliance regime.