The opportunity to learn more about foreign worker recruitment and protection in Estevan and southeast Saskatchewan drew only a handful of participants last Friday afternoon and evening. Those who did attend though, were able to leave the two-hour event armed with information regarding the Foreign Worker Recruitment and Immigration Services Act thanks to host presenter Dave Boczulak, an immigration policy adviser with the provincial Ministry of Advanced Education, Employment and Labour.
The act, he explained to about a half-dozen local employers who attended the afternoon session in the auditorium of the Saskatchewan Energy Training Institute, is set up to protect foreign nationals as well as recruiters and employers.
It provides interim protection for workers who arrive in Saskathewan who pick up temporary resident status leading to permanent residency.
The integrity unit, he said, has been operating for about five years, and it takes in complaints by workers who feel they have been mistreated by employers who aren't always following the regulations or who skirt around legislation.
He said since most newcomers find themselves in extremely vulnerable situations, the act has been strengthened to help address issues that weren't covered in previous regulations.
Boczulak told the small group that the Integrity Unit within the Ministry of the Economy received a total of 353 cases between August 2008 to September of this year. Many of the incidents related to issues of legal rights and responsibilities of foreign workers and their employers. About 30 per cent of those cases were not covered by existing federal or provincial legislation, thus the need to expand and tighten the rules, which was done in Saskatchewan with the passing of the provincial bill in mid-October.
The new legislation requires recruiters and immigration consultants to be licensed and sign only open, transparent contracts with workers and employers.
All employers need to be registered and it prohibits them from charging or recovering recruitment fees from the foreign nationals.
The new legislation also prevents the withholding of documents or property or threatening deportation and allows foreign workers and immigrants to seek compensation if they incur costs that are considered illegal under the act.
Fines of up to $50,000 for an individual or $100,000 for a corporation and up to one year of imprisonment may be the price to pay for those who are violating the act.
"The newly arrived workers have to put their trust in just a few people, and often what they think is going to happen in the work place and what actually happens is quite different," said Boczulak.
Fraudulent job offers become very problematic to newcomers who may have sold all their belongings in another country, just to get to Canada, only to find out that the job offer is gone.
Almost 48,000 immigrants have arrived in Saskatchewan since 2007 with more than 11,000 arriving in 2012 alone.
Consultations with employers and prospective employers began in 2011 and were conducted again in 2012 as well as this year, said Boczulak.
The newly tightened regulations affect recruiters, immigration consultants and employers of foreign workers the most.
"It's the employer, not the worker, who bears the cost of recruitment. Jobs are gained on merit, not ability to pay someone. And recruitment fees are now capped and enforced," said Boczulak.
There are six other provincial jurisdictions that now have some form of regulation of foreign worker recruiters, consultants and employers of foreign workers.
It was noted in a recent release, that all stakeholders benefit from the new legislation since it makes Saskatchewan an attractive destination for immigrants, and employers receive assurances that the recruiters they use to find the foreign workers are acting ethically and legally.
