Alberta immigration experts watching for changes to temporary foreign worker program

With changes likely coming to Canada's temporary foreign worker program, experts in the immigration and labour sectors in Alberta — where job-selling scams persist — are paying close attention.

The federal government is looking at rejecting applications for low-wage temporary foreign workers, to prevent further fraud and abuse of the system. However, agricultural businesses won't be targeted.

Measures also being considered include applying stricter oversight in "high-risk areas" when processing labour market impact assessments (LMIAs), a federal document employers need before hiring a TFW, and a possible hike in LMIA application fees.

Anila Umar, CEO of the Centre for Newcomers in Calgary, says tackling abuse of this program is long overdue.

"We consistently get reports of temporary foreign workers that have been exploited," said Umar.

She says the settlement agency is currently helping a worker who was illegally charged for a job and has been struggling to find a way to get his money back or get status in Canada.

However, Umar says she isn't sure these measures are the right approach to deal with the growing problem.

She says it would make sense to create a low-wage stream under the regular immigration system to remove opportunities for exploitation.

Jatin Shory, a Calgary-based immigration lawyer and partner with Shory Law LLP, says some measures announced are "a good place to start."

For example, Employment and Workforce Development Minister Randy Boissonnault is looking to eventually change regulations regarding employer eligibility for the program, such as a minimum number of years the employer has been in business and its history of layoffs.

"It does, I think, weed out any employer who may just have created an operation or a company that has become a vehicle, let's say, for LMIA [sales]," said Shory.

On the other hand, he says, increasing government fees for LMIAs will very likely just increase costs to potential workers, "especially if we're operating under the assumption that the employee does not recognize or even know that they're engaging in a scheme that is illegal."

The standard LMIA processing fee is $1,000 and is supposed to be covered by the employer. But as CBC News has previously reported, it's often sold to potential workers for tens of thousands of dollars.

Shory is also against blocking the low-wage stream under the temporary foreign worker program as a blanket solution, though he says low-wage workers are some of the most vulnerable groups and it's likely that's where the federal government is seeing the most abuse.

"It could have the offset result of branding Canada as a bit elitist."

Marco Luciano, director of Migrante Alberta, an organization that advocates for migrant workers' rights, says Ottawa is tackling this area because it's easy.

But he worries it could lead to current low-wage migrant workers becoming undocumented if they take the chance of staying in the country after their permit expires and they aren't able to get a new one.

"The intention is supposed to be [targeting] the bad employers, but in the end it's really the migrant workers who suffer," said Luciano.

For Jason Foster, a professor of human resources and labour relations at Athabasca University, the announcement feels like deja vu.

"This is a recurring cycle. They open it up, they make it easier to get TFW, then that blows up in their face. And so then they restrict the program," said Foster.

"I feel like this is just the latest of a long string of reactionary decisions without really thinking through what is the best policy approach."

Foster says the federal government hasn't addressed what will happen to temporary foreign workers who are already here.

But Foster says he does feel vindicated following the United Nations report on Canada's temporary foreign worker program, which called it "a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery."

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said he objected to the use of that phrase but acknowledged the abuses outlined in the report.

After watching the program shift under different governments over the decades, he said he hopes this becomes a catalyst to a complete overhaul of the immigration system.

"I'm hopeful that they will finally open their eyes to a problem that is largely their creation."