UN Expert Raises Alarm About 'Contemporary Forms of Slavery' in Canada

Tomoya Obokata, the Human Rights Council-appointed special rapporteur, has urged the Canadian government to take stronger measures to protect workers' rights and establish a clear path to permanent residency for migrants.

Obokata, who spent two weeks traveling through Canada, expressed deep concern about the exploitation and abuse faced by migrant workers. He highlighted that employer-specific work permit regimes make migrant workers vulnerable to contemporary forms of slavery, as they fear deportation if they report abuses.

According to the National Post, the report follows recent allegations that a farm in Southwestern Ontario sent six Jamaican seasonal workers home early after they protested their living and working conditions. These allegations are currently under investigation by both the federal government and Jamaica's ministry of labor and social security.

In response to these issues, the Canadian government made updates to the temporary worker program in 2022 to prohibit employers from retaliating against employees. Violating the requirements of the program can result in fines of up to $1 million and temporary or permanent bans from the program for offending employers.

Temporary foreign workers account for about 25% of Canada's agricultural workforce and approximately 10% of the food and beverage manufacturing sector, according to Statistics Canada. The 2022 updates also removed limits on the number of low-wage positions that employers in seasonal industries, such as fish and seafood processing, can fill with temporary foreign workers and extended the maximum employment duration for high-wage workers from two to three years.

Despite these changes, Obokata emphasized the need for further action to regularize the status of foreign migrant workers in Canada. He called on the government to enact legislation requiring Canadian companies to implement mandatory human rights due diligence and to expand the independence, powers, and mandate of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE).

During his tour of Canada, Obokata observed that marginalized communities, including migrants with uncertain status, people of African descent, and Indigenous populations, face the highest risk of contemporary slavery. He also noted areas where Canada could improve its efforts to combat slavery, including the need for trauma-informed personnel, human rights-centered approaches in law enforcement and the judicial system, and greater survivor consultation in policy-making.

A 2021 report from Canada's Auditor General Karen Hogan found that Ottawa had failed to adequately protect foreign temporary workers during the pandemic, despite warnings about systemic problems in its inspection regime. Hogan emphasized the need for immediate attention to address these issues and improve the situation for temporary foreign workers in Canada.