TFWP

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program Background

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) began in 1973. The government introduced this program in order to help facilitate workers coming from outside of Canada to have an opportunity to work in the country for a limited amount of time. This was initially intended for a variety of workers, many of them having special skills ranging in everything from: craftsman work, academia and acting.

The premise of the program was to allow for easier access for professionals from abroad, particularly for those with expertise that would help stimulate the Canadian economy and fill vacancies. However, in 2002, the program saw its expansion to incorporate a new program that would focus on low-skilled workers. This allowed individuals to come and work in the country who have minimal education (such as those with a high school degree).

Then in 2006 the government expanded the program to encompass several more programs open to all kinds of employers, everything from families looking for nannies under the Live-in Caregiver program to multi-billion dollar corporations. Some of the additions to the program included an accelerated approval system for workers overseas. Individuals who wanted to immigrate to Canada thought they had found a chance in the TFWP. With requirement for coming into Canada as a permanent resident becoming more difficult, many of those applying to the TFWP did so with hopes of moving into a position for permanent residency, but in many cases were confronted with controversy and immense hardship.

Since the early 2000s, the number of employers claiming that they lack the needed human labour to sufficiently run their business has steadily increased over each subsequent year. Although it is clear that Canada has a declining workforce, analysts find that this short-term solution to fill shortages will hurt the countries economy and "the cost of a weakly design program can be quite high in the medium term".

Ongoing Problems with the TFWP in Canada

The current program is still up in the air, after multiple revisions of the program (going through is speculative dismantlement, through a moratorium and finally national reforms) it is still unclear what fate this program and the workers within it will have in the future. With an election close approaching in 2015, the program will come over heavy scrutiny as advocates from all sectors have their different solutions.

Initial issues began arising in the TFWP when stories from the Temporary Foreign Workers, began to gain coverage. Particular cases such as that in the Fernie, B.C. Tim Hortons, where a manager was caught cashing-in paycheques of TFWs and taking a percentage of their salary to pay for costs caught national attention. However, unlike this story, cases of TFWs being abused by employers only surfaced after TFWs had left the program, many are forced to keep quiet due to the fact that employers at any moment have the power to deport their TFWs.

Although, the program lack of oversight and workers abuses caught national attention, the real dialogue on the TFWP began when a young Canadian-citizen worker from McDonalds went public with a complaint that his hours were being cut back and given to TFWs. Canadians were angry that the government had allowed this program to not only be expanded but to create an underclass of workers in which employers have been profiting off as TFWs statuses in Canada are tied solely to their employer.

Proposed Solutions

When the program went under its drastic changes in the early 2000s, changes were made with the employers in mind and not the workers. "The safeguards to ensure that employers in certain sectors do not become dependent on low-paid and subordinate temporary migrant workers are not secure"

With the program under massive scrutiny, the current solution that has been made by the conservative government has been to make reforms. These reforms have 3 main changes made to the program outlined:

1. Limiting access to the TFWP to ensure Canadians are first in line for available jobs
2. More and better labour market information for stronger screening
3. Stronger enforcement and tougher penalties

These stricter rules, though an improvement to the program in general, for many do not go far enough. These changes to the program are focused on limiting the recruiting powers of employers and examining the Canada's current labour demand. However, what the government's solutions do not do are protect the most vulnerable in this case, the workers. Both the TFWs and the Canadian-citizens and Permanent-resident workers, are at a loss with these changes. None of these solutions: incentivize employers to decrease their use of TFWs, to stop abusing the program by giving more hours to TFW workers, and to give the same labour rights to TFWs that Canadian-citizens and permanent residents have.

Groups such as the Canadian Labour Congress and others, have called for an alternative, a dismantlement of the program. They claim the program was made on a broken model, one which creates a double-standard for the TFWs. TFWs are put in a position where they have no rights under labour laws and where they can easily be taken advantage. How approvals for employers to use the TFWP are plentiful but there remains a huge backlog in the application of these TFWs for permanent residency. Labour organizations and migrant worker advocacy groups want to return to a model of promoting immigrants to come to Canada as a permanent residents and stop treating TFWs as commodities .

Sociological Implications

The controversy over TFWP has caused a clear shift in the conversation around the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. It is interesting to note how this issues has been framed, it has become one of 'us versus them', where 'they' (the TFWs) have become a 'faceless enemy' taking jobs from hard working, young 'Canadians' that need it. However, what is not talked about is how the government works closely with employers and how the program lacked major oversight and was one made for employers, by employers.

With tensions between Canadians and TFWs high, we see reaction to the program take shape. Studies holding interviews with these migrant workers have shown that they have become ghettoized, isolated from the rest of Canadian society and forced to live within their own communities.

The problems not only arise between communities but also with the TFW community itself. Research shows that "the rules of the TFWP construct a precarious status for foreign workers that severely restrict the potential for community inclusion...the temporary nature of their residency imposes a degree of insecurity and fear...restrictive work permits (specifying employer, occupation, and location) curtail mobility rights, dampen labour rights protection, and heighten dependence on the employer...the practice of foreign workers being last hired/first fired contributes to economic precariousness.".

Sources: