Manitoba taking significant steps to protect temporary foreign workers from potential exploitation

To adequately protect foreign workers from potential exploitation, the provincial government of Manitoba is not only improving its Employment Services Act that governs the activities of third-party placement agencies but also increasing its coordination with federal government.

As part of its legislative improvements and increased monitoring, the Labor and Immigration Ministry has proposed a new Worker Recruitment and Protection Act. This proposed legislation will replace the existing Employment Services Act that hadn’t been amended since 1987.

The proposed legislation, which is the first of its kind in Canada, will introduce provincial license to regulate third-party placement agencies that recruit temporary foreign workers from other countries. It will also make necessary for such agencies to be members in good standing of either a law society in Canada or the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC, http://www.csic-scci.ca/). It would prohibit recruiters from charging workers, directly or indirectly, any fees whatsoever for recruitment.

The proposed legislation will also look to help employers get access to "legitimate and reliable" recruitment choices by requiring all employers to first register with the province before the recruitment of foreign workers begins. The registration would ensure that employers are using a licensed recruiter and have a good history of compliance with labor legislation.

The proposed legislation will introduce significant steps to improve the enforcement of new Act. For example, there would be penalties for employers and recruiters who will fail to comply with the legislation. As an another step, province would have the authority to refuse or revoke a license, investigate and recover monies from employers and recruiters who force a foreign worker to work on changed terms and conditions than promised. This improvement in enforcement mechanism would help to reduce incidents of workers arriving with no job or an illegal job and incidents of extortion and exorbitant charges.

As part of its increased coordination with federal government, Manitoba and federal ministry of Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC) have developed a Letter of Understanding (LOU) that will strengthen protections for temporary foreign workers. After Alberta and British Columbia, Manitoba is the third province that the federal government has begun collaborating with to ensure that these workers are guaranteed safe working conditions and the fulfillment of employment contracts.

Through a legislative improvement and increased monitoring, Manitoba intend to create a positive, sustainable recruitment process that will provide business with access to skilled labor and respond to issues of worker vulnerability. Through federal-provincial coordination of services, Manitoba will be able to better understand the arrival, location and numbers of temporary workers as well as increase overall compliance with employment standards and workplace safety.