Mr. Chairman, could I take just one minute?
It's just an amendment to what was mentioned previously around temporary worker programs. I'm here representing the workers rights division of Parkdale Community Legal Services and the Workers' Action Centre, which works with many precarious low-wage workers, including many people here through temporary worker programs.
We are seeing a very alarming increase in complaints about their labour rights from people who are here through temporary worker programs. These kinds of violations range from employment standards violations such as failure to pay overtime or failure to pay basic wages to charging fees for securing work--which is illegal--and serious health and safety violations.
I want to give you one example of a case that we have supported recently. This was someone who arrived on a temporary worker visa to work in a restaurant. His employer had gone to the home country of this worker in order to contract the worker and had charged over $3,000 for the processing of the visa. When the worker arrived, he immediately was put to work in the restaurant working 12-hour days. His passport was confiscated by the employer; he was put in an apartment with four other employees and told not to talk to the other employees. As a result of the very long hours and the very heavy pace of work, he had a workplace injury. He was pushed to keep working. Finally, out of desperation, he was forced to quit his job.
We have to look at the circumstances of this employee. He is now out of work, he has no status, and he has no social safety net. This is the vulnerability that we see temporary worker programs creating for many people.
This vulnerability happens because it's very difficult for workers to speak up about violations without jeopardizing their immigration status. That's directly related to the fact that temporary workers are denied full immigration status: their status is tied to one particular employer, and there is no fair appeal process.
We have a series of recommendations on how to address some of these violations. I would be happy to go through them.