Is a $1 million fine enough?
October 10, 2025
| The following is from the Migrant Rights Network: Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is demanding the government scrap the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, blaming migrants for taking jobs and increasing housing prices. But here’s what he’s not telling you: he wants to keep agriculture and fisheries workers in place – the largest segment of the program where abuse is most rampant. This isn’t about protecting jobs. This is about scapegoating workers to distract from corporate profiteers while keeping a system that exploits migrants and citizens alike intact. Send an email to politicians demanding that migrant food and fishery workers get equal rights and permanent resident status. The numbers distraction Conservatives and Liberals want us to be obsessed with the “numbers” of migrant workers – how many should come, how many should leave. Because fighting over numbers allows them to distract us from the rights of migrants and corporate responsibility. Our neighbours and friends who feed us, care for us, and keep our communities running are facing systematic abuse. Poilievre and others in the media claim temporary foreign workers are taking jobs from youth. But the majority of temporary foreign workers are in agriculture, fisheries, and food processing – not summer youth jobs. Plus youth unemployment is historically high regardless of migration numbers – averaging 13.4% between 2009 and 2025, compared to 14.6% in 2025. Migrant exploitation is rampant On September 17, Bolero Shellfish Processing in New Brunswick was fined a record $1 million and banned from the program for 10 years. Sounds like justice, right? Wrong. [1] Workers at Bolero don’t see a cent of that money despite what they lived through. Workers have Bolero have said they faced: Forced “debt” scheme: Workers scheduled for 16-hour days, then hours cut to 20 per week. The employer still paid for 30 hours as required – but told workers they “owed” the difference and had to work for free to pay it back. This debt ran into the thousands. Starvation wages: Out of 25 weeks in a season, some workers only worked 16. They weren’t paid, went hungry, but still had to pay rent to their employer! Medical emergencies ignored: One worker developed severe allergic reactions, was hospitalized twice, but supervisors forced him to keep working. He was eventually sent back to Mexico and rushed to emergency. Fired and deported for organizing: When workers asked not to be charged rent during unpaid periods, several received termination letters and were forced to leave. As Estefania Montes, a migrant worker who worked at Bolero said, “If the government is fining employers for their abuses, that money should go to the workers who suffered. We are the ones who carry the psychological and financial harm.“ After being fined, Bolero’s parent company president Gabriel Elbaz responded with open racism, telling the Telegraph Journal that “Mexicans are more rotten.” This is what temporary status creates: employers who think they can abuse workers with impunity and punish them for speaking up. Bad laws support racist employers. Compensation through the complaints system is not enough The median fine for TFW violations is only $5,000 – and just $10,000 in 2025 – a fraction of what employers save through exploitation. Worse yet, 40% of fined companies simply don’t pay at all – that’s $7.5 million in uncollected penalties. [2] What’s needed is for migrants to have permanent resident status so they have the same rights as everyone else. Add your name, demand permanent resident status for migrant workers. There is no legal complaints process for workers – only an anonymous tipline. Workers can’t speak to enforcement officers, present evidence, or get any follow-up. When inspections do happen, employers get advance warning. Meanwhile, in Newfoundland, a migrant worker paid $24,000 for a job, was underpaid and fired after one month, then faced deportation for speaking out. These stories keep coming. [3] Don’t be fooled into scapegoating Migrant workers are not the problem – housing speculators, corporate lobbyists and billionaires are. What we need is a solution to the affordability crisis – so that all of us – migrants and citizens alike – have decent housing and good jobs. For nearly 60 years, migrant food and fishery workers have harvested our crops, processed our food, and fed our families. They are the backbone of Canada’s food system – yet they remain trapped in temporary status. When workers have permanent status, they can defend themselves against abuse. They have the same rights as any other worker. They can’t be threatened with deportation for speaking up. Migrant food workers’ contributions to Canada are permanent. Their status should be too. Sign now. Together, we will win. Migrant Rights Network [1] Toronto Star: Canadian company that employed temporary foreign workers gets record fine for abuses — but workers won’t get any money and CBC: N.B. shellfish plant fined $1M, banned from foreign worker program for 10 years [2] Globe and Mail: N.B. seafood processor fined record $1-million for breaking temporary foreign workers rules [3] CBC: ‘Sleepless nights’: Migrant worker says immigration lawyer owes him $24K |
