Mr. Speaker, I rise today to table three petitions from constituents in Guelph and other concerned Canadians on the ratification of the UN migrant workers convention. The petitions recognize the important role thousands of temporary foreign and seasonal labourers play every year in Canada's workforce performing necessary work, consuming local goods and services, and paying taxes.
The petitioners are concerned that the workers are vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, and unsafe or substandard working conditions. They state that the United Nations developed the migrant workers convention entitled the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families to address these vulnerabilities and that it entered into force on July 1, 2003.
The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, which it has failed to do for the last ten years.