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In 1973, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program was created “as a last and limited resort to allow employers to bring foreign workers to Canada on a temporary basis to fill jobs for which qualified Canadians are not available.”[1]  Fifty years later, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program has become a central component of the labour market in Canada, with sectors including agriculture, seafood processing and caregiving, relying on migrant workers to staff their workforce.

It is clear that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is neither temporary nor a last and limited resort. The program is not working for migrant workers and could work better for employers.

In November 2022, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology (the committee) set out to study Canada’s temporary and migrant labour force. The committee has a broad mandate, including social and labour matters, immigration and citizenship, and health and welfare. As such, the committee welcomed these and other perspectives over the course of 14 meetings held in Ottawa, hearing from witnesses representing workers, employers, sector and industry experts and advocates, academics and government officials.

During this study, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and related concerns were often the focus of witness testimony. However, the complex entanglement of Canada’s immigration and labour systems broadened the study to address more than the one single program. As it continued, members of the committee and witnesses examined the very essence of immigrant labour infrastructure in Canada.

This subject has been extensively reviewed and studied from the perspectives of workers, labour rights advocates, employers, economists and governments. The committee, therefore, sought to avoid duplicating this work. Individual and systemic cases of abuse have been well documented, with a majority of employers and government officials attributing this to a small proportion of bad actors slipping through the cracks. However, they would agree with migrant workers and advocates that the conditions of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and other high-risk migrant work programs, establish the potential for abuse. Rather than focusing on the abuse that exists, the committee hoped to better understand why it happens and address these issues.

This report responds to the calls to action and recommendations brought to the committee throughout the study by all stakeholders key to this issue. The objective was to identify issues common to migrant workers and employers across sectors and regions, understand their impacts and investigate innovative solutions. Through considering the experiences and needs of both employers and employees, the committee hopes to distill this complex conversation into recommendations for reforms that will better meet the employers’ need to access an available, predictable, skilled workforce, as well as improve migrant workers’ living and working conditions and their ability to exercise their rights.

In addition to testimony in Ottawa, members of the committee were fortunate to hear lived experiences from migrant workers, employers, community support organizations and government representatives during a fact-finding mission to New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) in September 2023. Throughout the trip, members spoke with migrant workers and employers in sectors including agriculture, seafood processing and food production, caregiving, tourism and hospitality.

The fact-finding mission presented a unique opportunity for members of the committee to get a first-hand glimpse at some of the working and living environments of migrant workers, as well as the role that this population is playing in revitalizing parts of rural Canada. From seafood processing plants and fast-food franchises to farms and orchards, members heard that without migrant workers, these Canadian businesses would no longer be operational. Migrant workers are essential to these industries and local economies.

However, unlike the testimony heard in Ottawa, a majority of conversations in New Brunswick and P.E.I. were often focused around programs other than the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Many employers are sponsoring migrant workers for permanent residence due to the advantages of increased flexibility around wages, skill level, training and place of work, for both employers and employees.

The first “generation” of migrant workers arrived in larger numbers in many parts of New Brunswick and P.E.I. around fifteen years ago. During the fact-finding mission, members heard and saw how workers who have obtained permanent residence eventually sponsored other relatives and are now part of multi-generational families that have revitalized rural communities, schools, churches and businesses. Acknowledging that this is only a snapshot of some workers’ experiences in Canada, migrant work programs play a significant role in permanent immigration, despite being ostensibly limited to a temporary basis. 

While the study lasted for over a year and covered diverse regions and industries, some themes echoed throughout:

• The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is not working well for employers or workers. The employer-specific work permit inherently makes migrant workers more vulnerable to abuse at the hands of bad actors as well as imposing structural barriers to accessing rights and protections. For well-intentioned employers, the employer-specific work permit limits their flexibility to move workers where needed, to provide higher-skilled employment and to recognize good work and long service through promotions.
• Over the past fifty years, the intersection of immigration and migrant labour needs has created a confusing web of programs, streams and pathways to temporary and permanent work and residence, each with different eligibility requirements, application processes and employer and employee rights and responsibilities.
• Immigration and migrant labour policy has often been reactive rather than strategic. This is evident in the various temporary exemptions, changes and updates to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and other programs, as well as in the proliferation of pilot programs and temporary public policies. While pilot programs are integral to policy development, program design should be coordinated across departments and take historic policies into consideration.
• Due to the involvement of multiple federal departments, in addition to various provincial, municipal and community actors, neither workers nor employers know who to turn to for information or support.
• When it comes to enforcement, employers are frustrated by duplicative inspections that are not coordinated between governments or departments. Migrant workers and their advocates have expressed that despite unannounced inspections being authorized as part of program compliance, a majority of inspections are still announced. This provides an opportunity for an unscrupulous employer to manipulate conditions. Workers and employers agreed that the enforcement regime should be strengthened to remove abusive employers and prohibit their future access to workers.
• Labour shortages in various sectors were frequently attributed to work being low-wage, physically demanding and often seasonal, with rural and remote employment further exacerbating the scarcity of Canadian workers.
• Women and gender-diverse migrant workers continue to face unique barriers in this industry. They are particularly vulnerable to instances of sexual and physical violence in the workplace, and often face inadequate access to sexual and reproductive health care. This includes avoiding or hiding pregnancies out of fear of losing their job and facing deportation. A lack of structural protections in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program both dissuades women and gender-diverse persons from reporting these experiences and encourages them to accept mistreatment and exploitation in the workplace.

Between the beginning of this study in 2022 and the drafting of this report in 2024, the Government of Canada made numerous changes to immigration and migrant labour programs. When these changes rendered earlier testimony moot, the report has been updated to reflect the more recent information, whenever possible.

The frequent changes to immigration and migrant labour programs and policies were a constant reminder of both their complex nature and the fast pace of change that can be achieved when deemed necessary. What is clear to all committee members is that change is, indeed, necessary. Canada’s migrant labour infrastructure is failing workers and employers alike.

At the end of this study, the Minister of Employment, Social Development and Official Languages charged the committee with providing recommendations on reforms to migrant labour infrastructure in Canada, including with regard to the future of employer-specific work permits.[2] The committee resoundingly heard that there are significant disadvantages to closed permits, for workers and employers, and is, therefore, recommending that they be phased out. However, acknowledging that these permits play an important role in balancing the Canadian economy, ensuring compliance and responsibility, and providing a stable workforce, the committee is recommending that the Government of Canada investigate how sector-and/or-region-specific work permits may be implemented.

In considering this and other recommendations, members were reminded of the scope of the committee’s mandate and remained focused on bridging the gaps between employers, workers and all other stakeholders. However, the committee acknowledges that this is ongoing work that requires dedicated expertise.

Therefore, the top recommendation is the establishment of a Migrant Work Commission—an arms-length, independent agency of the Government of Canada that would coordinate policy and respond to Canadian employers, Canadian workers, and migrant workers alike. All other recommendations target reforms to the overall system and would be guided by the work done by the Migrant Work Commission.

What is clear to all is that migrant labour infrastructure in Canada, created under the guise of a temporary last resort, is here to stay. Entire sectors are relying on this workforce to maintain their operations and ability to stay in business. It is imperative that the Government of Canada acknowledge the history of the program and its current issues and challenges and implement a plan to improve Canada’s migrant labour infrastructure for workers, employers and all Canadians.

[1] Emphasis by author. Employment and Social Development Canada, Archived – Overhauling the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, 2014.

[2] SOCI, Evidence, 28 September 2023 (Hon. Randy Boissonnault, P.C., M.P., Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages).

Ex-officio members of the committee: The Honourable Senator Marc Gold, P.C. or The Honourable Senator Patti LaBoucane-Benson, The Honourable Senator Donald Neil Plett or The Honourable Senator Yonah Martin

Other Senators who have participated in the study: The Honourable Senator Stan Kutcher, The Honourable Senator Rebecca Patterson, The Honourable Senator Josée Verner, P.C., The Honourable Senator Yonah Martin, The Honourable Senator Pat Duncan, The Honourable Senator Margo Greenwood, The Honourable Senator Iris Petten, The Honourable Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne, The Honourable Senator Yvonne Boyer