Change comes as continuation of Ottawa’s drive to improve program
The federal government has once again revised the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), changing how employers must classify foreign hires.
Under the updated rules, employers seeking to hire temporary foreign workers in Canada must determine whether to apply under the high-wage or low-wage stream of the TFWP based on revised provincial and territorial wage thresholds.
The wage offered dictates the appropriate stream for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), according to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).
The updated wage thresholds by province or territory are available here:
“If you're offering a wage to a temporary foreign worker (TFW) that's at or above the provincial or territorial wage threshold, you must apply under the stream for high-wage positions and meet the program requirements of this stream,” ESDC says to employers.
Meanwhile, those offering a wage below the provincial or territorial wage threshold must apply under the stream for low-wage positions, and meet the program requirements of the stream.
Previously, the federal government froze the approval of new temporary foreign workers in jobs paying below Quebec’s median hourly wage starting next month, reported CBC.
Issues around TFWP
In 2024, the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) called on the federal government to close the Recognized Employer Pilot (REP) under the TFW program as it is being exploited by low-wage employers.
Ottawa launched the REP in August 2023 to “essentially fast-track approval of LMIAs. This equates to the “loosening of the TFWP rules,” said AFL.
“The issue the [AFL] continues to have with the TFWP is that it allows employers to forgo wage increases in the face of so-called labour shortages. Median wages in many of the occupations listed in the Recognized Employer Program are below what would be a living wage in most Canadian communities,” said the group in its report titled End Low-Wage Employers’ Addiction to Guest Workers.
Temporary foreign workers in Canada have shifted to working in low-paying jobs in the country in the previous decade, according to a previous report from Statistics Canada (StatCan).
In the third quarter of 2021, there were 1,305,206 non-permanent residents in Canada, AFL noted in the report, citing data from StatCan. By the fourth quarter of 2023, the number went up to 2,511,437, it said.
The whole TFWP institution has also faced criticism. The program “serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery, as it institutionalizes asymmetries of power that favour employers and prevent workers from exercising their rights,” said Tomoya Obokata, United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery.
Here’s how employers using TFWP can stay compliant as government oversight increases, according to experts.
