Every year, thousands of migrant workers arrive in Canada to grow, process and prepare our foods. Yet, in July 2024, a United Nations report referred to Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) as a “breeding ground for contemporary slavery.”
New research from Dalhousie University supports findings from this report. The Master’s research of Alyssa Weeks, one of the authors of this article, demonstrates that stakeholders in the Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have significant concerns about the TFWP. They call for comprehensive reforms to better protect migrant workers from abuse and exploitation.
Researchers have long criticized Canada’s TFWP, especially because migrants’ jobs are tied to employers through closed work permits.
