[The following article appeared in the May edition of The Canadian Immigrant. I have slightly modified it for this blog post.] Back in 2013, Canada’s temporary foreign worker program was rocked by well–publicized stories of abuse. As a result, the Government of Canada introduced a comprehensive compliance regime for employers of foreign workers, and promised to ban companies from being able to hire temporary migrants for two years if they breached the new conditions. In 2015, Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations were further amended to introduce an administrative monetary penalty regime, which would also fine employers for non-compliance. The number of Canadian employers who have either been banned or fined for non-compliance is currently quite small, although both Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Department of Employment and Social Development (ESDC), the two main government agencies that manage Canada’s foreign worker programs, have indicated that the number is likely to grow in the near future, especially considering new funding announced with Budget 2017 to better protect vulnerable workers and to encourage employers to do more to hire Canadians first. On March 23, 2017, the Federal Court of Canada released its first publicized decision on an ESDC decision to … Read More