Thank you, Chair.
I thank all of you for coming.
I wasn't going to go first, but I want to respond to this.
First of all, I've listened to your story, and what I heard is a very sad story. It must be something that has been very difficult for you.
When I saw the notes today and saw that you were coming, I did a little bit of investigating. I went on Google and tried to find the story. I found one story, and it is in the paper. You're absolutely right. After that, I found nothing. I was kind of at a loss, so I looked up the owner. I called and talked to the owner.
As is so often the case—and Mrs. Jennison-Yung, I'm not here to judge; that's certainly not my job—there's another side to the story. Of course, that other side talks about having to make some changes in the status of the business. It's a business, and one has to pay the bills and has to pay for the lights and all the others costs that are incurred when one runs a business.
I asked the owner some of these pointed questions, because I had your testimony. I asked him to tell me, because if I was going to talk about this, I needed him to tell me that he took issue with this, which is fair enough, because he's not here. Quite frankly, it's really unfair for us to make a judgment.
The other thing I should mention as well is that we're not here to make that judgment. I want to say at the outset that this case at this moment is being looked at, and he couldn't comment on all these things because this case is before a tribunal that looks after this type of thing.
The owner had some different numbers, and I jotted them down. As far as the foreign workers go, you're right. There are some foreign workers who are working there, but I think he talked about three foreign workers out of ten in the restaurant. In housekeeping, he tells me, it's half and half.
Again, I say that because you're going to say one thing and he's going to say another thing. That's for the courts or for those who identify these things.
Please understand I'm not here to criticize or even challenge you on these things. I just want this committee to understand that without having all the facts in front of us, it's pretty hard for us because, understandably, you may not even have all those facts. That's why we're going to look at these things.
I want to say as well that the minister is very concerned about this. This issue is being investigated. We have introduced laws within the temporary foreign worker program such that if abusers are found, they will be charged. I can assure you that is the case.
Do you know what the unemployment rate in your neck of the woods is?