Canada’s temporary foreign worker programme: A discussion of human rights issues

Abstract

Canada, like many other developed countries, has implemented a temporary foreign workers’ programme, ostensibly to address temporary labour shortages within its domestic labour market. However, there is growing evidence of the programme being used to meet longer-term labour demands, with low-skilled migrant workers being marginalized into low paying service industry jobs and manual labour in the construction and manufacturing industries. Furthermore, there is evidence of these marginalized workers suffering human rights abuses and economic exploitation. This paper discusses some of these problems and presents a case for legislative reform.