{"id":127278,"date":"2023-09-21T12:58:39","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T16:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/canadian-government-faces-class-action-lawsuit-for-the-terms-of-its-closed-work-permit\/"},"modified":"2023-09-21T12:58:39","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T16:58:39","slug":"canadian-government-faces-class-action-lawsuit-for-the-terms-of-its-closed-work-permit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/canadian-government-faces-class-action-lawsuit-for-the-terms-of-its-closed-work-permit\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Government Faces Class-Action Lawsuit for the Terms of Its Closed Work Permit\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government of Canada has a class-action lawsuit initiated against it for violating migrant domestic workers\u2019 and farm workers\u2019 Charter Rights under the closed work permit<\/span><\/a>, reports the Toronto Star.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is challenge all the provisions of the immigration regulations that allow the federal government to bind these workers and to restrict their rights to change employers,\u201d said Eugenie Depatie-Pelletier, who is the executive director of the Association for the Rights of Household and Farm Workers (DTMF), which filed the case on behalf of holders of closed work permits.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to put an end to non-free work, a system that treats the workers as the quasi-property of her employer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man leading the lawsuit in question \u2013 identified in court documents only as A.B. \u2013 moved to Canada in 2014, after arranging for $3,000 to pay for a job offer in poultry catching from his employer.<\/p>\n

His next nine years in the country would be spent on six separate closed work permits, allowing him to work only for his sponsoring employers despite \u201cexploitative conditions and treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In other words, he was bound to his job to maintain his immigration status in Canada.<\/p>\n

Unlike an \u201copen\u201d work permit, a \u201cclosed\u201d work permit (also known as an \u201cemployer-specific work permit\u201d) can only operate based on the specific conditions applied to the work permit. For example, someone may be able to work for only a specific employer.<\/p>\n

Migrant workers in low-wage, low-skill jobs are generally provided with closed work permits, and resultantly have certain restrictions placed on their professional flexibility.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges that such \u201cemployer-tying measures\u201d are discriminatory towards people of certain racial, national, or ethnic origin and color.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe development of these schemes coincided with a shift in the demographics of the immigrants entering Canada to work in these occupations. They had previously included predominantly \u2018white\u2019 immigrants,\u201d said the court application filed on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were now increasing numbers of persons of colour. These schemes were justified on the basis that the immigrants of certain races, colours, or ethnic or national origins were considered unable to assimilate to Canada\u2019s climate and society and to be better-suited for \u2018unfree\u2019 and low-skilled work.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a migrant on a closed work permit loses their employment with their employer in Canada, they also lose legal status to work in Canada until they secure another employer with authorization by Employment and Social Development Canada to hire foreign workers.<\/p>\n

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Watch video:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n