Transport Committee on Jan. 26th, 2026

[Janet Campbell]

We get these kinds of calls to our office because individuals in the situation we've talked about often feel trapped: they feel like they have no choice, they're being threatened, they're under control, they are being threatened about getting in trouble with the law and all these kinds of things. It sometimes prevents them from wanting to talk with some of the agencies, such as law enforcement, because their perpetrators have instilled such fear and they're under such pressure.

When they have tried to raise their hands with respect to some of the missed wages and other treatment like that, their entire picture on those cases that are forced labour isn't seen in its entirety and these are falling through the gaps.

[Navneet Aujla]

I had some trouble with the interpretation. Could you repeat the question?

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

The question was about whether other tools like a whistle-blower line might be useful in this context or something like that. I know that that's been successful in other sectors.

[Navneet Aujla]

Yes, definitely. That's one of the biggest issues raised by drivers and owner-operators. Companies are able to exert so much pressure on them so that they can save money by asking them to sometimes falsify logbooks, drive excessive hours or drive vehicles that are not maintained. They have nowhere to turn to report this.

The entire responsibility is put on the driver to say no, and then at most they can file a reprisal claim. As we've seen, it's very ineffective when they try to go through the Canada Labour Code enforcement, so they need a place to turn where they can report companies and where the companies can be investigated. They should be able to report anonymously so they're not risking their jobs or having to report every time they try to refuse something that's unsafe.

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

Some of the other measures and recommendations we've heard about are more data sharing between the provinces and a kind of registry of drivers who have been problematic. Are there other kinds of joint initiatives that you think we should be considering as a committee to recommend for implementation?

[Navneet Aujla]

I just want to add as well that what we are hearing from our organization and the folks who we work with is that it's mostly new immigrants who are facing these issues. I just want to make clear that we are seeing this across the board with citizens, permanent residents and folks who do not have precarious status issues. It's not an immigration status issue; it's an issue of enforcement and making sure that all drivers can access that fairly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you.

We'll turn it over to Ms. Corbett for one last word.

[Amanda Corbett]

In terms of what other things should be considered in that registry, I think it's important to include things like insurance and a proper way of tracking a company, as sometimes companies change names or go from one province to another. That kind of thing really needs to be considered as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you.

Mr. Barsalou‑Duval, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will begin with a question for the Caledon Community Road Safety Advocacy Group.

I did some research—I believe you helped us out a bit with that—and I found that a company by the name of Sun Transportation Systems is operating an illegal truck fleet in Caledon. It is the subject of a complaint and legal proceedings with the Town of Caledon. As it turns out, it is also a member of the Canadian Truckers Association, which lobbies on behalf of the Driver Inc. model. We often see photos of association members with members and elected officials of all political stripes from various levels of government, whether municipal, provincial or federal. Many of them are reportedly contributors and even donors to the Liberal Party.

When you see organizations like this infiltrating the political sphere, are you concerned that it will undermine law enforcement down the road?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

The floor is yours, Ms. Corbett.

[Amanda Corbett]

Yes, it is a concern. I would say that, within our community, there are a lot of illegal truck yards. Sun Transportation isn't necessarily the only one of concern. We find that there is a lot of lobbying power as these companies give money to political parties and influence political decisions and policies that are made. It's very concerning for us residents, especially given the safety concerns that we have, like the public safety crisis.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Thank you.

I'll take this opportunity to ask one last question of the Joy Smith Foundation.

The Canadian Trucking Association told us that the fight against the Driver Inc. model was essentially based on racist ideas. I would like to hear the Joy Smith Foundation's opinion on this. Is that indeed the case, or is it more of a pretext to conceal another model, which could include forced labour and human trafficking?

[Janet Campbell]

When it comes to forced labour, we certainly do see this across demographics. We see that when you have environments where somebody has control over somebody's immigration status, their hours, their work and all of these things, it does create an imbalance of power. Certainly, we see, very consistently, cases where the use of immigration pathways and misclassification add to people's vulnerability and puts others in a position of control.

These foreign nationals come to our country very innocently with false promises. We've worked with many individuals who we've supported after their exit, where they've been in really horrific circumstances.

They've been threatened and—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Ms. Campbell.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to cut you off there, because I'm on a hard stop with resources for our committee today. I want to make sure that the last two members have a chance to ask questions.

With that, I'll turn it over to you, Mr. Albas, for four minutes, please.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to all of our witnesses here today. It's very powerful testimony.

I'll allow Ms. Campbell to complete the last part of her reply. The Women's Trucking Federation of Canada had originally said that there were a number of people, either temporary foreign workers or students with permits.... Maybe she could identify the program where these bad actors seem to be taking advantage of people.

[Janet Campbell]

Bad actors will use the fringes of these legitimate pathways as well as jurisdictions, such as labour, tax, etc. to stay in plain sight without the full picture really being seen.

By and large, the percentage of individuals we have on the forced labour side are individuals who have come to our country under some sort of promise. In some cases, that's through LMIAs. In other cases, it's other pathways. In some cases, it's the promise of a pathway that was never really established for them in the first place. That's primarily what we see.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna, BC]

Thank you, Ms. Campbell. I appreciate the work you do on behalf of the Joy Smith Foundation.

I'd like to quickly ask CCRSA for little bit more information.

Regarding the problem of such congestion that it's aggravating folks, do you know the source of those vehicles? Are they registered in Ontario? Are they simply intraprovincial, or are they trucks from another province, which makes it even more difficult to get them to comply?

[Franca Pisani]

The congestion in our area is that we're basically ground zero for Driver Inc. Kyle Seeback has taken a tour of the area. He knows the area very well.

What boggles our minds is that the minister of transportation lives just kilometres away. He knows what's going on. We haven't been able to get through to him.

A lot of the trucks are registered. Most of the trucks are registered in Ontario. They have Ontario licence plates. Some of the businesses are registered in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. That's the problem. They have those licence plates.

What they're doing in these truck yards is beyond.... We've contacted the minister of the environment, because we know these trucks are pouring motor oil and diesel fuel into the waterways. Unless we have proof, the ministry won't come out.

A few months ago, there was a transport truck dumping quite a bit of motor oil into stormwater ponds. Our municipality had to clean that up. That was only because the driver was caught in the middle of the night; somebody caught him on camera.

What's going on is very dangerous. It's almost impossible to find out who these people are, where they're registered and the names of the shell companies that are there.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna, BC]

A witness in the previous hour talked about a national database to help coordinate enforcement efforts to know who these people are. They may simply close in one location and open up in another. They may get a new safety fitness certificate; the conditions in it would be the responsibility of the federal government.

There was a suggestion in the previous testimony of a national database that could coordinate and identify these actors and that could hold them accountable. Do you believe that would be one of the necessary solutions?

[Franca Pisani]

It is one of the solutions. It needs to be Canada-wide. They have shell companies everywhere, and the database needs to be across Canada, because they go from Ontario to Quebec. They do something in Quebec, and then they change to Saskatchewan and keep on driving.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna, BC]

I want to thank you for the work you do, and I invite any members to see the website. I've seen some video footage of your hometown and some of the incidents that have happened. It's very disturbing, and I'm glad to see that your MP is working hard for you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much.

Finally, for today, we'll turn it over to Mr. Kelloway, who is joining us online.

Mr. Kelloway, the floor is yours. You have four minutes, sir.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Sydney—Glace Bay, NS]

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate it very much.

Thanks to everyone attending today, both online and in person in Ottawa.

I don't want to repeat a lot of the great questions asked today, with all the great, important and constructive answers. I want to try to dive a little deeper into a couple of things. A consistent theme has been accountability and collaboration.

I'm wondering if we can start with the Caledon group there and work our way to Ms. Campbell and Ms. Aujla to get two recommendations on whether it should be federal or provincial. Let's be clear; this is a shared responsibility.

In the time I have left, I want to dive into key recommendations. Give your top two that we need to look at right away. It sounds like, potentially, a national registry is one, as well as greater federal oversight on things that may traditionally be provincial. I don't want to put words in your mouth, so I'm looking to see if I can get a couple of recommendations, first from those in attendance right now in Ottawa, and then we can move to Ms. Campbell and Ms. Aujla.

[Amanda Corbett]

In terms of the registry, definitely, that's one of the things in our opening statement.

We definitely want to see some changes in terms of training. I know that's provincial, but I think there needs to be a lot of federal oversight or some policy mandates for the provinces to actually step up and really follow through, especially within Ontario. We have issues with a lot of the training and licensing being outsourced to third parties; that really shouldn't be allowed.

I also want to mention criminal charges. That really needs to be considered when there is a truck driver who has committed...something, because that's not happening now. It is outrageous that someone dies and a truck driver only gets a 55-day jail sentence. It's absolutely not acceptable.