Evidence of meeting #92 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was employers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
February 26th, 2024 / 11:05 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
I call this meeting to order.
We're meeting in public.
Welcome to meeting number 92 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.
In the first hour, we are continuing our study on closed work permits and temporary foreign workers.
I'm pleased to welcome Mr. Tomoya Obokata, the United Nations special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery. He is joining us online from abroad.
Mr. Obokata, you will have five minutes for your opening remarks and—
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
Before we get to the special rapporteur, there's one thing I want to bring to our attention, which I think is very important for the committee.
We currently have six—
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Thank you, Mr. Redekopp.
Mr. Obokata, you will have five minutes for your opening remarks. Then we will begin questions.
Before we start with him, I would like to welcome the clerk officiating today, Ms. Audrée Dallaire.
I'm always encouraged to see new interns when they come in with the MPs. Today we have Christian working with Mr. Redekopp. Welcome to you, as well.
With that, I'll give you the floor, Mr. Redekopp, before we go to the special rapporteur.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
Thank you. I won't be long.
I want to highlight that we have six requests to have the minister appear at this committee. I also want to highlight that we have very limited time in the coming weeks.
I'll quickly remind you there's a motion by Ms. Kwan on the Auditor General's report from October, which we need to have the minister appear on. I have another one to talk about immigration levels. I must also add that, just recently in the House, the Bloc had an opposition day when they also requested—and it was adopted—that we review the immigration targets. Those go together. That's very pertinent information we need to get from the minister. We also have a motion by my colleague Mr. McLean on Hong Kong MPF funds, which requests the minister—and the ministers of finance and foreign affairs—to be here. We then have the motion by Ms. Kwan on international students and the task force, as well as the cap on international study permits, with another request for the minister. The motion by Ms. Kwan on the ongoing conflicts in Sudan and Gaza needs the minister.
Finally, we have the motion I put forward about the supplementary estimates (C). As you know, we need to have the minister before the end of the supply period, which is the end of March. That means he must appear here either this week or the week we're here in March. I also note the IRB did not put in supplementary estimates (C). We don't need to hear from them on this, but we need to hear from the minister.
These are very important requests this committee has made to the minister. I'd be curious to know where we're at with those. If we aren't getting the minister, and if he's afraid to come to committee, as it sometimes seems he is.... He has been willing to come here and that's good, but we have lots of questions we need to get his answers on. I hope he would be willing to come to give those answers.
I'm curious to know where we're at with that.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Thank you.
Mr. Redekopp, I want to tell you that the minister has been very accessible to this committee. I was going to mention the question you raised in the second hour. He has already committed to appear next Wednesday. He's already confirmed, and I'm sure the clerk is already working on his next appearance. That is going to be on the international students.
Conservative
Conservative
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Not only that, it's my understanding that the clerk is in constant touch with the minister's office and he is in the process of committing his appearance here in March, as well. I have these on my list of things to talk about in the second hour. Certainly, we can talk about this in detail, because I have some notice there, as well.
Thank you for raising that, Mr. Redekopp. It's always welcome.
With that, we are going to our special rapporteur, Mr. Obokata, for five minutes.
Please, go ahead.
Tomoya Obokata Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, United Nations, As an Individual
Thank you.
I would like to begin by thanking the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration for inviting me today.
I am Tomoya Obokata, from Japan, currently serving as the UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery.
As committee members are well aware, I visited your country officially between August 23 and September 6 last year in order to investigate how Canada addresses contemporary forms of slavery. I began my mission in Ottawa and visited other locations, such as Moncton, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, and met over 200 stakeholders. In relation to the treatment of migrant workers, I expressed my serious concerns over the low-wage and agricultural streams of the temporary foreign worker program.
In this regard, I received first-hand information from a wide variety of stakeholders, including close to 100 migrant workers I met across Canada, with regard to appalling working conditions that include excessive working hours, physically dangerous tasks, low wages and no overtime pay, as well as sexual harassment, intimidation and violence at the hands of their employers. When workers try to negotiate their working conditions, many are reportedly threatened or even dismissed instantly.
In my view, the key factor increasing the vulnerabilities of migrant workers to exploitation in Canada is the closed nature of the program that ties workers to specific employers. This creates a dependency relationship between the employers and the workers in many cases, allowing the former to exercise strong control over the latter, significantly raising the risk of exploitation and abuse.
I am aware of open permits for vulnerable workers, but this is a temporary solution lasting up to 12 months, and the process is reportedly so bureaucratic, with high evidentiary requirements, that many workers are hesitant to pursue this route. I understand that undocumented workers are also excluded from this scheme.
In view of these findings, I recommend that the federal government modify the closed nature of the program itself so that migrant workers can change their employers at their own will. Such an approach has already been taken by some countries and is being considered by others.
Canada already has the international mobility program that grants full access to the labour market, for example, and the government could consider extending this to all migrant workers.
There is also scope to improve labour inspections. According to the information I received during my visit, inspections reportedly do not occur regularly. When they do, they may be conducted remotely via telephone or video, or, when in person, with advance notice given to employers in many cases so that they can make necessary preparations on the day of the inspection.
In addition, workers' access to justice and remedies should be strengthened. I am aware that there are established channels for complaints, but many workers informed me directly that they do not report instances of abuse and exploitation due to a fear of reprisals by employers such as blacklisting or dismissal. The lack of access to information and language barriers also seem to serve as additional obstacles in accessing justice and remedies by many workers.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that migrant workers make vital contributions to Canada's national economy, yet paths to long-term or permanent residency are extremely limited for most workers in agriculture and other low-wage sectors. I regard this to be discriminatory and would like to recommend that equal opportunities for long-term or permanent residency be open for all migrant workers.
Thank you very much for your attention, and I will be very happy to take any questions.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Thank you very much, Mr. Obokata.
Now we will go to the honourable members. We have six minutes for Mr. Maguire.
Mr. Maguire, please go ahead.
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for your presentation, Mr. Obokata.
As my first question, did you visit a Canadian farm that employs temporary foreign workers when you did your study?
Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, United Nations, As an Individual
Not physically, no. I did not have a chance to visit.
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
You didn't. You brought out this report without ever going to a farm. This is pretty striking—to me at least, anyway. You've claimed that the agriculture stream of the temporary foreign worker program serves as “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery”. You didn't even make an effort to personally visit a farm.
Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, United Nations, As an Individual
My time was limited, and I had to visit various places. But—
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Please don't speak at the same time. Otherwise, it's very hard on the interpreters.
Mr. Maguire, go ahead, please.
Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, United Nations, As an Individual
I was here for 14 days.
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Yes, and in that time you never had time to visit a farm. You were all over Canada and in major cities, but you never visited a farm. Without having visited these, how were you able to arrive at the sensational conclusion you came to, calling farms “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery”?
Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, United Nations, As an Individual
I met close to 100 migrant workers and other stakeholders, such as trade unions and employee associations. I also met virtually and consulted with farmer associations in various parts of the country. This is how I gathered the information. Although I did not get a chance to visit a farm—