OTTAWA, CANADA – Jamaicans are among the thousands of foreign workers who are routinely exploited and abused by their employers under Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), an Amnesty International Report released on Thursday has found.

“A Jamaican woman said her supervisor told her to go back to the tree you came from and a few reported being physically assaulted by their employers,” said the report that was released on January 30.

It added that “Many lived in inadequate housing, and a few said they did not have drinkable water in their accommodation. Some workers suffered severe injuries or developed medical conditions as a result of unsafe working conditions. Workers reported being threatened with repatriation by their employers and, in a few cases, were taken to the airport against their will”.

Amnesty said many workers reported suffering discrimination at work, including by being tasked with the hardest physical jobs, which they could not refuse. Women reported gender-based violence and discrimination.

The situation is compounded by the fact that many workers fail to report the abuses they suffer out of fear of reprisals, including unfair dismissal, non-renewal of their contract, and repatriation. “Those who do complain are faced with Canada’s complex enforcement system, which is not designed to protect individuals with precarious status. These individuals often don’t have time to engage in proceedings or may not be able to navigate bureaucratic systems in either of Canada’s official languages,” said Amnesty.

For example, Walter (not his real name) arrived in Canada to work in agriculture on a two-year closed work permit, but was subjected to long working hours and was not provided with the necessary protective equipment. He was also banned from eating, drinking or taking a break except during transportation.
Pointing to what it called systemic discrimination, the report noted that unlike other temporary labour schemes in Canada, TFWP’s closed work permits don’t allow migrants to change employers.

TFWP work permits are mostly granted to low-skilled workers from low- and middle-income countries in the Global South, with a majority of Black, Latin American and other racialised populations. In 2023, the top countries of origin of TFWP workers were Mexico, India, Philippines, Guatemala and Jamaica, together representing almost 70 per cent of the work permits granted.

Worryingly, the report said “low-skilled racialised workers are subjected to a high risk of labour exploitation for long periods of time, as many continue travelling to Canada year after year, with little prospect of obtaining a more secure status, due to Canada’s immigration system which privileges high-skilled workers for permanent residence”.

“The reality is that labour exploitation is a foreseeable and systemic result of closed work permits,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International. “Any reform that fails to abolish closed work permits and replace them with open work permits fails to address the root causes of the abuses and will fall short of complying with Canada’s international human rights obligations. Migrant workers should have the freedom to change jobs and employers, just as Canadians are,” Guevara-Rosas added.

The report’s findings are based on in-depth interviews and desk research conducted between February 2023 and June 2024, involving a total of 44 migrant workers from 14 countries. Amnesty International selected the interviewees based on referrals from partner organisations and in a few instances, from other workers interviewed by the organisation.

Said Guevara-Rosas, “The abuse experienced by migrant workers in Canada is deeply troubling, especially for a country that claims to be a leader when it comes to protecting human rights. Many migrant workers have told us they came to Canada hoping to secure a better future, yet instead, they felt they were treated like slaves. These workers are vital for putting food on the country’s tables and caring for the elderly. They deserve much better.”

Emphasising that abuse is systemic in the TFWP, Amnesty found that most of the 44 workers interviewed reported unpaid wages and excessive working hours. Some contracts seen by Amnesty International stipulated zero rest days. Some workers reported being subjected to racist language by their employers and supervisors, including being called “donkey,” “Indian,” or “shi..y Mexican.”