(Photo by Tara Walton / via Getty Images)
JANUARY 30, 2025
The design of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) exposes labourers from the Global South to shocking abuse and discrimination, Amnesty International charges in a new report.
Released on Thursday, ‘Canada has destroyed me’: Labour exploitation of migrant workers in Canada [PDF] criticizes the structure of the TFWP, which allows employers to hire migrant workers, primarily for low-paid jobs, across various sectors, including agriculture, food processing, the care system, construction and hospitality. TFWP work permits tie workers to a single employer who controls both their migration status and labour conditions.
As Amnesty International’s report details in-depth, despite recent minor changes to the program, labourers in the TFWP will be vulnerable to abuse as long as the closed work permit requirement and other harmful provisions remain. In total, the report recommends 32 actions that federal, provincial and other authorities must take to eliminate abuse in the system and ensure victims can access justice.
“Exploitation, discrimination and abuse are integral features, not bugs, of the Temporary Foreign Worker program,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. “Cosmetic changes are not enough. Our leaders must implement the reforms required to bring the program in line with Canada’s human rights obligations – and, ultimately, to respect the rights of workers.”
“Every year, thousands of people from around the world leave their homes and their families to carry out essential jobs in Canada,” said France-Isabelle Langlois, Executive Director of Amnistie internationale Canada francophone. “Rather than receiving a warm welcome, some are met with unsafe working conditions, racist intimidation and threats, sexual harassment and physical violence. We applaud the 44 workers who courageously shared their stories with us, and we thank them for their efforts to expose appalling human rights abuses taking place in our own backyard.”
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.
Migrant Worker
Migrant Farm Worker
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 organizations and in a few instances, from other workers interviewed by the organization.
“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,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International. “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.”
Bénédicte, a woman from Cameroon, suffered racist psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of her employer as soon as she arrived in Canada in 2016 with a two-year closed work permit to work on a farm. She was made to work 70–80-hour weeks performing tasks including domestic work, was substantially underpaid, and was constantly controlled. Her employer deceived her, promising to bring her children to Canada, to continue exploiting her. She eventually fell sick and was diagnosed with severe anaemia. When she finally left the farm in July 2018, her employer cancelled her work permit, leaving her with an irregular migration status. “I did not expect to be a slave here,” she told Amnesty International.
Most of the 44 workers interviewed by Amnesty International 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 “shitty Mexican.”
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. 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.
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.
For instance, Hélène and Sylvie (not their real names), two Ivorian nationals working in a nursing home, told Amnesty International they had to commit to paying the recruitment fees incurred by their agency in Ivory Coast and the employer in Canada in case they failed to comply with their “commitments.” These included not being pregnant at the time of departure, not getting pregnant and not abandoning the employment before their two-year contract ended.
Migrant workers remove weeds surrounding strawberry plants at a farm in Markham, Ontario on July 30, 2023. (Photo by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Miguel, a Guatemalan migrant worker with a two-year visa under the TFWP, faced severe forms of control by his employer.
Miguel was promised a 40-hour work week, $13.50 per hour, free accommodation, and the possibility of bringing his family to Canada in the future. However, when he arrived in Canada, he worked between 60 and 72 hours per week without adequate rest or compensation.
His boss confiscated his passport and placed cameras inside and outside the container where he lived and the garage where he worked. Threats and other forms of verbal abuse were also frequent, including threats to send him back to Guatemala. Sometimes, he would enter Miguel’s room uninvited, ordering him to “Come on, get to work.”
Miguel decided to gather evidence of his situation and report it to his recruitment agency. When his employer found out, he ended his contract early and drove him to the airport. Miguel never got on the plane. Instead, he reported the abuse he suffered to the police.
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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.
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.
My work permit and work almost killed me … If we did not obey, we would be deported.
Eventually, the owner of an unauthorized placement agency deceived Walter and several of his co-workers into believing he could help them change jobs lawfully. For a year, he lived in the basement of the owner of the placement agency and was not allowed to leave except to work on jobs that the agent arranged for him.
“My work permit and work almost killed me … If we did not obey, we would be deported,” he told Amnesty International.
Walter has not yet received adequate redress for the severe abuses he suffered.
A migrant farm worker prepares a field in the rain on April 28, 2009, in Vittoria, Ontario. (Photo by Tara Walton/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Unlike other temporary labour schemes in Canada, TFWP 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 racialized populations. In 2023, the top countries of origin of TFWP workers were Mexico, India, Philippines, Guatemala and Jamaica, together representing almost 70% of the work permits granted.
Moreover, “low-skilled” racialized 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.”
Jennifer Pfenning and farm worker Gabriel Allahdua stand in a carrot patch at Pfenning’s Organic Farm in New Hamburg, Ontario, on August 28, 2018. (Photo by Jim Rankin/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Desmond Daley from Jamaica packs freshly cut cilantro at Pfenning’s Organic Farms in New Hamburg, Ontario, on August 28, 2018. The owners would like to see their Jamaican migrant workers given open work permits that allow them to change employers easily. (Photo by Jim Rankin/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Conroy Sterling, left, and Desmond Daley, both from Jamaica, pack freshly cut cilantro at Pfenning’s Organic Farms in New Hamburg, Ontario on August 28, 2018. (Photo by Jim Rankin/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Conroy Sterling, right, from Jamaica, takes a break beside a fellow farm worker from Canada at Pfenning’s Organic Farms in New Hamburg, Ontario, on August 28, 2018. (Photo by Jim Rankin/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Pfenning’s Organic Farms in New Hamburg, Ontario, employs Canadians and Jamaican migrant farm workers to work its fields and packing warehouse. The owners would like to see its Jamaican workers afforded better pathways to becoming permanent residents and have open work permits. (Jim Rankin/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Canada’s TFWP was launched in 1973 to allow employers to bring foreign workers to Canada on a temporary basis, although the first migrant workers began arriving from the Caribbean in the 1960s. The program has gone through several reforms but closed work permits have remained a fundamental component over the years. In 2024, the Canadian government adopted additional reforms to reduce the number of migrants in the country and the length of TFWP work permits.
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Please send a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, calling on Canada to abolish closed work permits and instead grant open work permits to all TFWP participants.
Ilustration – Migrant workers in Canada by Rachel Kara Lim
Amnesty International decided to research labour exploitation of migrant workers with tied visas in Canada to support local efforts by unions and migrant-led and civil society organizations to end abuses against workers in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
Amnesty also considered it essential to bring international attention to Canada’s immigration policy, given the country’s positive reputation as a multicultural country with welcoming asylum and migration policies. Canada also relies significantly on migrant labour for important sectors of its economy.
Hundreds of people demanding the government grant permanent resident status to all migrants gathered at Yonge St. and Bloor St. in Toronto on September 17, 2023. (Photo by Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
However, Canada is not the only country where Amnesty International has conducted research on tied visas. The abuses documented, which primarily stem from the nature of tied visas and the power imbalance they grant to employers over the labour conditions and status of migrant workers, are similar to those documented by the organization in other countries – such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Italy, Nepal, Hong Kong or Australia.
Amnesty International has an extensive body of work focusing on labour exploitation of migrant workers in different countries. Research into labour exploitation is ongoing in Australia and France.
Over more than a decade, the organization has documented the abuses migrant workers are exposed to in Qatar as a result of the kafala system, including wage theft, restrictions on changing jobs and inadequate grievance and redress mechanisms. While authorities have implemented reforms to the kafala system, migrant workers continue to face bureaucratic hurdles when seeking to change jobs without their employers’ permission, even though such permission is no longer a legal requirement.
In Saudi Arabia, migrant workers, who make up around 77% of Saudi Arabia’s private sector workforce, are, as in Qatar, governed by the abusive kafala sponsorship system. Despite some limited reforms introduced in 2021, the kafala system still imposes strict limitations on the freedom of migrant workers once they are in the country, and they continue to face significant challenges in exiting the country or moving jobs without their employer’s permission. By creating a deeply imbalanced relationship between workers and employers and enabling employers to exercise significant control over the life of the worker, the system directly enables forced labour and other serious abuses. The abuses documented by Amnesty International include instances of forced labour practices, deception in the recruitment process, passport confiscation, inadequate pay, late or non-payment of salaries, inadequate living conditions, and restrictions on changing jobs or leaving the country. (Saudi Arabia: ‘Don’t worry, it’s a branch of Amazon’: Exploitation of migrant workers contracted to Amazon in Saudi Arabia – Amnesty International)
In Lebanon, migrant domestic workers are excluded from the Lebanese Labour Law and are governed instead by the kafala system, which ties the legal residency of the worker to the contractual relationship with the employer. If this employment relationship ends, even in cases of abuse, the worker loses regular migration status. Moreover, the worker cannot change their employer without the latter’s permission. This allows the employer to coerce the worker to accept exploitative working conditions. If a migrant domestic worker refuses such conditions and decides to leave the home of the employer without the latter’s consent, the worker risks losing their residency status and consequently detention and deportation. (Lebanon: ‘Their house is my prison’: Exploitation of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon – Amnesty International).
In Hong Kong, research conducted by Amnesty International in 2012-2013 revealed that the Two-Week Rule- which allows migrant workers only an impossibly short time to find a new employer after the end of an employment relationship- exacerbates migrant workers’ vulnerability to exploitation. Under the New Condition of Stay (NCS) 1987, migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), also known as foreign domestic helpers (FDH), must find new employment and obtain an approved work visa within two weeks of the expiration or premature termination of their employment contract. Failing that, they must leave Hong Kong.
Amnesty International research found that Indonesian women who had worked in Hong Kong as domestic workers from 2008-2012 had their identity documents confiscated by their employer or placement agency, were not free to leave their employer’s home, received a salary below the minimum wage, were physically or verbally abused by their employer, and many claimed stated they did not receive a weekly day off. The research also found that obtaining new employment and a new work visa within two weeks was an impossibility due to the bureaucratic processes for obtaining the new visa. The inability to legally change employment in the two-week window left migrant domestic workers with little choice but to remain in abusive and/or exploitative conditions or accept jobs with unfavourable work conditions in order to maintain their regular migration status.
Research conducted by Amnesty International in Nepal in 2017 revealed how migrant workers were trapped in a vicious cycle of deception, extortion, debt, and exploitation abroad, due to the Nepali government’s failure to crack down on recruitment agencies which charged illegal fees for jobs abroad. (Nepal: Turning people into profits: Abusive recruitment, trafficking and forced labour of Nepali migrant workers – Amnesty International).
In 2012 Amnesty International conducted research in Italy on the human rights situation of migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and Asia, employed in low paid, often seasonal or temporary jobs, mostly in the agricultural sector. Amnesty International’s research found evidence of widespread labour exploitation of migrant workers in the agricultural sector, and documented, in particular, wages below the minimum wage agreed between unions and employers’ organizations, arbitrary wage/salary reductions, delays or non-payment of wages and long working hours.
Further, Amnesty International expressed concern that Italian migration policy increased the risk faced by migrant workers, especially those in an irregular situation, of being subjected to labour exploitation. (Italy: Exploited labour two years on: The ‘Rosarno Law’ fails to protect migrants exploited in the agricultural sector in Italy)
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Temporary labour migration visas have almost quadrupled between 2015 and 2023, reaching 946,785 temporary permit holders in 2023. That’s 3.5 times the number of permanent labour migration visas.
Two different labour migration programs combine to produce these figures: the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and the International Mobility Program (IMP). In 2023, Canada granted 763,195 work permits under the IMP, more than 80% of all temporary work permits.
In 2023, Canada granted 183,590 Temporary Foreign Worker Program permits, primarily to migrant workers in the agriculture and the agri-food industry.
Wages for Canada’s temporary foreign workers vary widely depending on the industry, occupation, and region. Employers must pay wages comparable to the prevailing wage rates for the occupation and region, ensuring that migrant workers receive fair compensation similar to Canadian workers. However, the migrants Amnesty International interviewed reported being underpaid or not paid at all for their work.
In 2023, 70,267 Temporary Foreign Worker Program workers were in the agricultural sector, mostly in Ontario (41,3%), Quebec (33.1%), and British Columbia (15.6%). Another 45,428 migrants were working in food and beverage manufacturing.
Temporary foreign workers are individuals from other countries authorized to work in Canada temporarily under the Temporary Foreign Workers Program. They come from various countries and fill roles across multiple industries to address labour shortages. In 2023, the top countries of origin of temporary foreign workers in Canada included Mexico, India, the Philippines, Guatemala, and Jamaica, accounting for 70% of the work permits granted.
Canada’s temporary foreign workers are subject to the same tax obligations as Canadian residents. This includes deductions for the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Employment Insurance (EI), and income tax. However, many workers cannot access employment insurance benefits, as they are swiftly repatriated if they are injured, fall sick, speak out against their employer, and/or have short contracts.
A lawsuit filed in December 2023 estimates that over the past 15 years, Canada has collected nearly $500 million in employment insurance deductions from workers in the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (part of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program) but denied workers access to those benefits because of the short nature of their work permits.
Yes, in theory. However, the structure of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers Program and immigration system privileges occupations classified as “medium or high-skilled” and require high educational and language levels, savings, and non-seasonal offers of employment. Therefore, few people in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program qualify for permanent residency.
Canada’s immigration system favours people with privileged class backgrounds, such as graduates from the Global North and nationals of countries with increasingly prominent IT and business sectors, such as China and India. In 2023, 39.4% of permanent residents admitted to Canada’s immigration system came from “medium—and high-skilled occupations,” while only 1% came from “medium-skilled or low-skilled occupations.”
Although Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers Program appears race-neutral, it is anchored in a legacy of colonial and white migration policies. Closed work permits were first introduced to control Black Caribbean workers who arrived in Canada to work in the 1960s to avoid a “race problem” and have since then been a fundamental component of the program. This system has allowed the extraction of racialized labour for economic gain without granting long-term security or rights.
Addressing these issues requires creating equitable pathways to permanent residence for all workers in Canada, regardless of their skill level or nationality.
Despite having equal rights on paper to Canadian workers, migrant workers under the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) do not enjoy the same rights in practice. As this report documents, these migrant workers are at higher risk of labour exploitation compared to Canadian nationals and other migrants with open work permits, mainly due to the nature of their closed work permits. Abuses include wage theft, unsafe working conditions, inadequate housing, racist psychological and physical abuse, gender-based violence, discrimination at work and failure to get medical care.
Closed work permits under the TFWP render migrant workers dependent on employers to enjoy fair working conditions or effectively access several of their rights, including adequate housing, health, or social security. For instance, some migrant workers live in employer-provided accommodation and may find themselves homeless if they are dismissed. They rely on the employer to access health insurance or for transportation to get medical care. They also depend on their employer to remain in the country with regular status and the ability to effectively access social benefits.
Further, in some provinces, sectors disproportionately filled by workers under the TFWP are exempted from key labour protections. For example, farmworkers in Ontario are not entitled to a minimum wage, overtime pay, daily rest periods or limits on work hours.
Moreover, when migrant workers under the TFWP suffer abuses, their closed work permit puts them in a situation where they fear reporting abuses. Seeking and obtaining justice can be extremely difficult for many of them, as the simple act of reporting can have adverse consequences: they can lose their jobs and income and the opportunity to stay in Canada.
Amnesty International conducted research in Ontario and Quebec and interviewed 44 migrant workers from 14 different countries who experienced abuses across sectors and nationalities. Some of them worked and suffered abuses in other provinces, including British Columbia, Alberta, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The findings of our report are consistent with reports from other organizations documenting labour exploitation in other Canadian provinces over years and decades.
While it is difficult to quantify how many people are subjected to abuse, in part because of the many barriers to complaining that workers face, abuse is not rare or the result of a few unscrupulous employers. More importantly, Amnesty International has concluded that the risk of labour exploitation is systemic to the program: it is an intrinsic feature and a foreseeable outcome of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program due to the closed nature of the work permits. In other words, the program creates an increased risk of labour exploitation for all participating workers.
According to domestic regulations, migrant workers under Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program should have access to medical care. Employers are responsible for providing them with health insurance for the first months they are employed in Canada until the provincial public health system covers them.
However, Amnesty International has documented several instances where employers failed to get medical care or prevented workers from doing so. Migrants working in remote and isolated areas depended on their employers for transportation to get medical care, which sometimes was not provided. In some cases, employers failed to provide them with medical insurance, and in some other instances, employers imposed unfair and unlawful deductions for costs associated with medical care and treatment.
The Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery stated in his 2023 report on Canada that “[T]he Temporary Foreign Worker Program serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery, as it institutionalizes asymmetries of power that favour employers and prevent workers from exercising their rights.”
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), “modern slavery covers a set of specific legal concepts including forced labour, concepts linked to forced labour (i.e., debt bondage, slavery and slavery-like practices and human trafficking) and forced marriage.
Although modern slavery is not defined in law, it is used as an umbrella term focusing on commonalities across these legal concepts. Essentially, it refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power.”
Amnesty International chose to use the term “labour exploitation” in its research on Canada as its primary focus is Canada’s immigration policy and closed work permit system. It strategically decided not to use the term “modern slavery” as in the Canadian context, this terminology risks turning the focus away from the systemic issues that lead to labour exploitation and other abuses, putting the exclusive responsibility on employers and recruiters for labour abuses and favouring a criminal enforcement approach to tackle them.
Stopping labour exploitation in Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers Program requires a system that effectively prevents, detects, and punishes it. Effective, proactive, and targeted labour inspections can deter abuses, protect migrant workers, and help enforce labour and health and safety standards. However, they will not end labour exploitation per se if authorities maintain a system of closed work permits whereby migrants’ labour conditions and status are controlled by employers.
Amnesty International is calling on Canadian authorities to abolish closed work permits. This does not mean the Temporary Foreign Workers Program should be eliminated, but rather overhauled to eradicate the root cause of the abuses: the closed nature of the work permit. The regime of closed work permits should be replaced with open work permits that allow migrant workers to freely choose and change employers and jobs, as Canadian nationals and other migrant workers with open permits can do.
In addition, the Canadian immigration system should not discriminate or set insurmountable barriers for migrant workers in “low-skilled” positions to access a more secure status in the form of permanent residence.
The duration of a temporary foreign worker’s employment in Canada depends on the terms specified in their work permit. Work permits can range from a few months to several years, depending on the job offer and the specific program under which the worker is employed. Extensions may be possible, but they require approval from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
Some workers return to Canada year after year under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, remaining in precarious status and at risk of labour exploitation as they are unable to access permanent residency.
Employers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program do not have the legal authority to deport workers to their country of origin. However, the structure of closed work permits creates a substantial power imbalance, giving employers control over workers’ immigration status.
A worker’s status in Canada is tied to their employer, meaning that if a migrant worker lodges a complaint, the employer can terminate their employment. This termination effectively results in the workers losing their right to continue working in Canada. Scholars have highlighted that workers who report abuse are at risk of being removed from Canada without access to due process or appeal rights.
In addition to controlling labour conditions, employers can—and in some cases documented by Amnesty International have—try to take workers to the airport against their will following termination. The barriers to obtaining a new work permit are significant for those who choose to stay. Workers cannot legally take another job without first applying for and securing a new permit, a lengthy and challenging process. As a result, many workers feel compelled to endure exploitative or abusive conditions.
Media and government narratives suggesting migrants have decreased the housing supply, leading to Canada’s housing crisis, are misleading and harmful, perpetuating xenophobia and racism.
Many Temporary Foreign Worker Program participants work in agriculture and live in inadequate employer-provided accommodations outside the rental market, making them far from the “competition” they are vilified to be. Migrants are not to blame and should not be scapegoated for policy failures.
Amnesty International is a human rights organization and global community of more than 10 million people in over 170 countries and territories who defend and promote human rights.
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