By: Greg Staley
Written On: 2025-09-04
The United Nations has said that Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker program (TFW) “serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery” and yet, Mark Carney has hinted that we need more TFWs in Canada, not less.
(below) – United Nations Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
Conservatives call for an end to the TFW program – Liberals double down on its use
After Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre called for an end to the TFW program in Canada, Prime Minister Carney responded in a way one would expect an investment banker to react – that is, he doubled down on the “need” for these workers.
In a press conference discussing the matter, Prime Minister Carney told reporters that he was hearing from businesses around the country that the second biggest issue they present to him is their “access to temporary foreign workers.”
There are many reasons I believe the TFW program needs to be scrapped, and I’ll do my best to address them in this article. In addressing the problematic components of the program’s problems, I’ll address how the program lowers wages for Canadians, is set up in a way that allows for abuse of foreigners, how the program is taking away job opportunities that Canadians would love to have and how this program amounts to nothing more than government-sanctioned slavery.
Abuse of Foreigners seeking a better life through the TFW program is all too common
There is huge profits to be made in scamming foreigners coming to Canada through the countries Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program. According to one Immigration consultant, some foreigners are paying up to $60,000 for a LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment) in Ontario. The actual cost of an LMIA is just $1000. That being said, there are huge profits being made in exploiting those seeking a better life in Canada.
Manan Gupta, is the president of Skylake Immigration. In an interview with TruckNews.com, he told them that visitors to Canada often buy an LMIA through “unethical consultants and employers” who then convert their visitor visas into work permits. The going rate for an LMIA charged by these scummy consultants and employers runs up to $60,000 in Ontario, but the prices vary by province. One example of this was how one Ontario woman charged 35 foreign workers illegal recruitment fees and is still allowed to operate.
This illustrates a pervasive issue in the TFW program – abusers of the program often go unpunished in any meaningful way. Many abusers of the program are simply paying the fines given to them and are still eligible to bring in more TFWs after violating the program’s rules and regulations.
Diverge Media went through 46 pages of companies that were deemed to be in non-compliance with the government’s requirements, and many were still eligible for the program even after refusing to hand over paperwork to investigators and falsely advertising wages. So those jobs you see for $36 an hour to be a cook at a pizza joint or to make smoothies – it’s highly unlikely that those companies are paying those wages.
What’s even more ludicrous is that some employers were still eligible for the program after it was found that they didn’t “put in enough effort” to ensure the workplace was free from physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, financial abuse, and to ensure there wasn’t reprisal against TFWs.
A short list of non-compliant employers of TFW and International Mobility Program
What makes the situation worse is that if a temporary foreign worker were to complain that they aren’t receiving the wages they were promised or that they had unfair working conditions, their employer can just fire them, and they will be sent home. This makes the program ripe for abuse by scummy employers.
The TFW situation is so bad that the United Nations actually blew the whistle on the program, saying that it “serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.”
UN report describes Canada’s TFW program as a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery”
As the Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney hints that he wants more TFWs in Canada, the United Nations has given Canadians every reason to condemn him for it. You see, according to the UN Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of
slavery, the very nature of the TFW system creates a “significant power imbalance,” and the program is a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.” This is because if a TFW is fired, for example, for standing up for their rights or refusing to come in on short notice or for arguing about a shift being rescheduled, they “may be deported back to their countries of origin.”
Canadians wouldn’t tolerate this kind of abuse and mistreatment, but TFWs who will be sent home if they lose their job will.
The report also detailed how some employers were housing TFWs in substandard conditions that included overcrowding, mixed-gender housing that women had not consented to, lack of climate control, laundry facilities, food preparation and storage areas. There were some situations reported of 20 to 30 people sharing a single washroom
The report exposed that most workers were “reluctant to raise issues with their employers or to report exploitative working conditions fearing that they may be identified as complainants.” Another issue the report detailed was that the inspections of workplaces were often announced ahead of time and gave employers “time to conceal evidence of non-compliance and send away workers who are more likely to speak up.” Sixty-nine percent of the inspections were done virtually. The report added concerns about Canada’s international students being taken advantage of and workers in the International Mobility Program.
The program is beyond reprehensible. Amnesty International interviewed 44 workers and found that most of them reported “unpaid wages and excessive working hours.” Some contracts that Amnesty International reviewed stipulated zero rest days and some workers reported being subjected to racist language by their employers and supervisors, including being called donkeys, Indians and shitty Mexicans.
TFWs are being used where they aren’t needed
An example of the rampant abuse of TFWs is in the trucking industry, where freight levels are at 40-year lows according to the Canadian Trucking Association (CTA), and yet the Liberal government is still approving these applications for trucking positions in populated areas like Brampton.
The CTA has said that “Aside from the tariffs, the industry is currently experiencing the worst freight market in 40 years due to overcapacity, poor North American market conditions and an out-of-control underground economy that is driving compliant fleets out of business.”
If Canada has the worst freight market in 40 years “due to overcapacity,” why is the Liberal government approving more TFWs for these trucking positions?
What Canadians wouldn’t want these jobs?
The other obvious issue that becomes clear when examining the Canada job bank postings for TFWs is that there are so many jobs that Canadians would work if they were actually offering the wage/salaries posted with them.
We can’t find a bookkeeper in Surrey, B.C, that’s willing to work for $37.50 an hour? Are there no Canadians interested in being a drywall installer supervisor in Calgary, Alberta, for $38.46 an hour? I find it hard to believe that no Canadians are willing to work as a cook in a pizza restaurant for $36.00 an hour. We can’t find any roofers in Mississauga willing to work for $36-38 an hour? No Canadian is willing to work as a food service supervisor at Mary Browns in Bowmanville, Ontario, for $36.00 an hour?
It’s obvious, in my view, that these employers have no intention of hiring Canadians. What Canadian is turning down these jobs for that kind of money? For crying out loud, I made $36 an hour when I worked on a mine driving equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I could’ve made the same amount working at Mary Browns? It’s obviously fishy, and to that, I tell Canadians – trust your gut.
The TFW program IS modern-day slavery, and it’s allowing for a flood of foreigners to be taken advantage of and driving down wages for Canadians. Youth unemployment in Canada for returning students is over 20 percent – why do we need more TFWs? We need to create jobs for Canadians, not fake jobs that allow loathsome employers to take advantage of foreigners seeking a better life in Canada.
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