Canada mostly warns employers before inspecting its foreign-worker program, which a UN slavery investigator called a breeding ground for modern slavery.
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The UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery's report on Canada (A/HRC/57/46/Add.1, dated July 22, 2024, after a 2023 visit) concluded the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, run by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency, 'serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery' because employer-specific closed work permits tie workers' status to their employer. It found inspections are largely complaint-driven, backlogged and sometimes virtual, that employers are sometimes assessed as compliant without evidence, and that by the government's own figures 69% of 2023-2024 inspections were virtual and only 9% unannounced, giving employers time to hide non-compliance. The report recommended ending closed work permits and making unannounced inspections the default; the employment minister's office said the government had recently reduced access to the program, was considering further restrictions, and remained committed to strengthening its integrity.
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