Question Period Note: TFWP - Coroners Findings Workers Death In ON

How is the Government of Canada ensuring the safety of Temporary Foreign Workers while working in Canada during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

• I would like to express the Government’s deepest condolences to the families of the workers who passed.

• We acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic caused incredibly challenging situations for everyone, including Temporary Foreign Workers.

• The Government of Canada has been working towards ensuring the safety of all workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• We are committed to working with our federal partners, including the Public Health Agency of Canada and Immigration, Refugees, Citizenship Canada as well as our provincial counterparts to improve the health and safety conditions of Temporary Foreign Workers

Approximately 72,000 foreign seasonal agricultural workers come to work on Canadian farms each year, which accounts for over 60% of all TFWs entering Canada under the program.

Mexico, Guatemala, Jamaica and ten other Caribbean countries are the main source countries and account for virtually all of the foreign agricultural workers that come to Canada each year.

While in Canada, TFWs have the same rights to workplace protections under applicable federal, provincial and territorial employment standards and collective agreements as Canadians and permanent residents.

For most employers, labour laws and workplace safety rules are established and enforced by the provincial government. However, in order to protect the health and safety of Canadian and migrant farm workers, the Government is working with municipal, provincial and territorial governments, as well as farmers, workers and other employers who participate in the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program.

The Program has a comprehensive employer compliance regime designed to protect temporary foreign workers by verifying that employers are meeting their obligations under the TFW Program. For the Government of Canada’s requirements for employers of temporary foreign workers, Employment and Social Development Canada/Service Canada is continuing to enforce employer compliance requirements.

Employers who do not comply could be subject to penalties of up to $1 million and a ban from hiring foreign workers, depending on the seriousness of the situation and number of workers affected.

The Government is communicating directly with employers and workers, producing multilingual guidance, and continues to engage with stakeholders and partners to facilitate understanding of these requirements. In addition, a pamphlet entitled “Temporary foreign workers: Your rights are protected” is available online in English, French and Spanish.

ESDC continues to work with provincial and territorial governments and other key stakeholders in the TFW Program to inform other potential policy and program changes designed to better protect the health and safety of Canadian and migrant farm workers.

Much of the Toronto Star article has to do with health care and quarantine protocols. These fall within the jurisdictions of the province and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Given that COVID protocols and restrictions were different from one province to another (i.e. where PHAC approved Alternative Testing Protocols proposed by the provinces), it would not have been reasonable nor efficient for ESDC to have oversight.

With regards to findings that touch upon ESDC’s mandate, they have to do with workers needing information, education and support. This was addressed through the COVID-19 funding to find six support organisations across Canada and will continue to be addressed through the new Migrant Worker Support Program.

The report also advocates for increased mobility within Canada and greater job mobility. ESDC launched a new Job Bank functionality to help temporary foreign workers to search for jobs from eligible employers. These features will help workers, and the migrant worker organizations that support them, connect with employers through a trusted source. ESDC is also working with IRCC to further address the mobility issue.

Finally, the reports recommends that ESDC adopts a robust set of housing standards. In early December 2021, the “What We Heard” report was released. The ‘What We Heard’ Report outlined feedback received from approximately 150 stakeholder submissions received during Fall 2020 consultations on housing standards. Following the release of the report, the TFW Program has been working to develop proposed amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulation (IRPR) that propose to include a set of outcome-based accommodation requirements that employers must comply with in order to participate in the TFW Program’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, and Agriculture Stream. These requirements will seek to address the most immediate health and safety concerns surrounding employer-provided accommodations that were raised in consultations.

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