2008-10-08
Tom Godfrey and Tom Godfrey
Immigration officials are targeting a network of shady recruiters who are charging foreign construction workers huge fees for jobs that are available free in Canada.
Toronto Sun
Immigration officials are targeting a network of shady recruiters who are charging foreign construction workers huge fees for jobs that are available free in Canada.
The shysters are forcing workers to turn over their earnings and live like slaves after they arrive here.
Some of the unscrupulous recruiters, who bring workers for the booming Toronto, Alberta and B.C. construction trades, are like "loan sharks," who prey on the men. Some pay up to $30,000 each for a package trip here that includes a job and a few days accommodation, officials said in documents.
REPAY DEBT
"Some of these workers are forced to live similar to the old slavery days and maybe live a life of servitude," said Quebec immigration lawyer Richard Kurland, who obtained details of the scheme in an Access of Information request. "They have to work until they repay their debt."
He said it's hard to nab the recruiters since most conduct transactions outside Canada.
Among the hardest hit are workers from the Philippines and Central and South America. They include a large contingent from Mexico, who do not need visas to travel here. The so-called visitors can start work the next day.
"There have been numerous incidents of recruiters presenting themselves as the employer on the application," one visa officer told immigration minister Diane Finley in a July 2007 e-mail. There "were some cases of outright fraud."
LABOUR SHORTAGE
Immigration program advisor Logan McNamara said a labour shortage in Olympic-driven B.C. and Western Canada is creating a demand for hundreds of workers.
"The low wage, coupled with recruitment debt incurred by the applicant to family friends and or loan sharks create a situation of indentured labour," McNamara said. It "greatly reduces the likelihood the temporary worker will return home."
It's hard for them to keep up or send money home.
Trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations - general
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