We would like to believe that slavery in Canada is a thing of the past. An injustice that fits right in with the history books and memorial days on which we repeat “Never again.”
Published at 2:04 am. Updated at 5:00 am.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery recently came to shatter our beautiful illusions. Temporary foreign workers in Canada with closed work permits that bind them to a single employer risk being subjected to a form of modern slavery, noted Tomoya Obokata, a UN expert on international law and human rights, who published a damning report on the issue created1.
When he speaks of “modern slavery,” the UN special rapporteur is referring to the most serious form of exploitation and control of workers. This happens when people are treated as if they were the property of their employer.
The special rapporteur was deeply disturbed by the stories of exploitation and mistreatment of migrants he encountered in several provinces, including Quebec, and called on Canada to do more to protect the rights of temporary foreign workers.
While some are surprised that we are talking about slavery in a democratic country like Canada, for those who experienced it, it is not at all like that.
Speak to Benedicte Carole Ze, a Quebecer of Cameroonian origin who was among the workers who met the United Nations Special Rapporteur. Long before the UN got involved, Benedicte herself did not hesitate to speak of “modern slavery” to describe the situation of extreme vulnerability in which the Quebec agricultural entrepreneur who ran it kept her. She came here in 2016 with a closed license2.
What does that mean exactly, Benedicte?
This means that you do not have the same rights as other employees. You are at the mercy of an employer who, if not in good faith, can do whatever he wants with you.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
When Benedicte Carole Ze came to Canada as a temporary foreign worker with a closed residency permit, she felt like she was being treated like a modern-day slave.
For me, the fact that one person’s life belongs to another person who can decide whether one has the right to stay in the country, to work, to be paid or to live normally, is slavery.
Benedicte Carole Ze
For Benedicte this meant in everyday life: having to work seven days a week; be forced to increase unpaid working hours; have virtually no days off for two years; are kept ignorant of their rights; be isolated from the outside world; she was threatened with being sent back to her country if she disobeyed her boss; Live with fear in my stomach…
“And I express myself in French again. Imagine a person who doesn’t speak French…”
Benedicte, who made ends meet during the pandemic after fleeing her employer thanks to the Guardian Angel regularization program, is now fighting together with other migrant workers to ensure that no one has to experience what she experienced.
“In Canada we are not considered human! “, tells me Gabriel Allahdua, who, like Benedicte, is a member of the Association for the Rights of Domestic and Agricultural Workers and who filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Ottawa last September to abolish work permits. closed3.
Originally from St. Lucia, Gabriel came to the country in January 2012 to work on a farm in Ontario after Hurricane Tomas devastated his home island. Himself an heir to colonialism and slavery – his mother is a descendant of African slaves sent to the Caribbean – the man was quite shocked to find that history was somehow repeating itself for him, so he owned a farm in a country he owned was idealized.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY GABRIEL ALLAHDUA
Gabriel Allahdua is the first migrant agricultural worker in Canada to publish his autobiography.
The UN expert’s report does not surprise me. What is surprising, however, is that Canadians are so far removed from this reality.
Gabriel Allahdua
Migrant workers in agriculture and food processing are most at risk of modern slavery and forced labor. But citizens are unaware of the human cost they bring, he notes.
The fact that migrant workers are mostly invisible and condemned to silence fuels a certain indifference towards them. For this reason, Gabriel, encouraged by McGill University history professor Edward Dunsworth, broke this silence by becoming the first farmworker in Canada to publish his autobiography4.
“I am a slave like my mother’s ancestors, exploited for my work, far from home,” we read from the first lines of his book.
Edward Dunsworth, a specialist in the history of migration and labor in Canada, recalls that racism was originally one of the foundations of the seasonal farm worker program, which was created in 1966 as a pilot labor recruitment project. Jamaican Work in Ontario.
At the same time, while white farmers from Great Britain were readily recruited as permanent immigrants, the Canadian authorities feared that black farm workers from the Caribbean would settle permanently in the country. Therefore, a seasonal program was created that turns them into temporary workers – permanently.
Today, the historian notes, discrimination based on social class determines the fate of those deemed good enough to work but not good enough to stay. “Permanent immigration generally targets people from higher social classes in ‘higher-skilled’ jobs, while ‘low-skilled’ immigrants in agriculture or food industries are increasingly stuck in temporary programs. »
If abusive employers are to blame, even more so are successive governments who, under pressure from the employers’ lobby, have opened the door ever wider to available migrant workers while turning a blind eye to the human rights abuses they must endure.
Voices have been raised denouncing the situation for decades. Researchers have been documenting the problem for decades, and committees have made recommendations that end up on the shelf.
In turn, to avoid any form of modern slavery, the UN Special Rapporteur recommends that Ottawa simplify access to open work permits and create pathways to permanent residence for all migrant workers without discrimination.
“In a country that prides itself on its diversity and multiculturalism and prides itself on being a champion of human rights, is it right to deny basic rights to migrant workers in this way?” asks Gabriel.
The answer is obvious. Why does the Canadian government continue to tolerate the intolerable?
Abolish closed licenses?
Although the federal government says it “takes the safety and dignity of foreign workers seriously,” there is no sign that it intends to abolish closed residency permits and make it easier for them to gain access to permanent residence.
The office of Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller responded to this question by email, saying: “Every person deserves a safe work environment in which their rights are respected.”
It is said that changes have been made in this direction. “Since June 2019, a foreign worker with an employer-specific work permit can apply for an open work permit if they are being mistreated by their current employer. The open work permit allows them to quickly leave these situations and look for a new job with another employer. »
For Eugénie Depatie-Pelletier, general director of the Association for the Rights of Domestic and Agricultural Workers, these changes are not enough to ensure respect for the fundamental rights of all temporary workers.
“We are not impressed by the measures taken to minimize abuse. This continues to create a context of fear and silence, as the legal status of the employee continues to depend on the employer. »