Pace of Virtual Inspections on Migrant Worker Conditions a Concern, say Critics, with Half Completed this Summer
In these excerpts, Senator Omidvar discusses the need to conduct inspections for the safety of migrant workers and the importance of workers being offered a pathway to permanent residency.
Independent Ontario Senator Ratna Omidvar said she asked the question as part of an ongoing effort to advocate for the “underbelly” of Canada’s workforce that COVID has made even more vulnerable.
“The crisis has shone a bright light on a dark system,” she said, adding because the TFWP is a government program, the government is responsible for what happens to workers, and so there should be more in-depth inspections for Canada to fulfill its side of ensuring compliance, rather than pushing it onto the employer.
“Standards are only as good as their enforcement and monitoring,” said Sen. Omidvar, who, like Ms. Kwan, is worried that most inspections are being conducted virtually, where there are limits to what inspectors can look into and whether or not they speak directly to migrant workers.
“This crisis has really sharpened our reliance on so-called essential workers who we treat in any way but essential. So, more inspections, more access to rights,” said Sen. Omidvar, especially in the wake of three deaths. “This [program] should be a win-win-win situation, and it’s turned out to be a lose-lose-lose situation and it has to be rectified.”
‘There needs to be a pathway’
Right now Canada has very limited pathways to permanent residency for migrant workers, said Sen. Omidvar, when they are just as important as those classified as skilled workers.
“Everyone needs the farm fruits to be picked and sorted and fertilized and packed and sold, and if we continue to look at the economy through the lens of skilled workers, we do our country a disservice.”