Changes to immigration a step backwards for human rights in Canada
The federal government’s recent announcement to cut immigration will do nothing to improve the rights and wellbeing of migrant workers in Canada.
This announcement is based on fears that newcomers are exacerbating the housing and affordability crisis without a deeper analysis of the sources of these problems, which began before the government increased non-permanent residents from 1.3 million in 2021 to almost 2.8 million in the spring of 2024 to address acute labour shortages.
During this time, Employment and Social Development Canada relaxed oversight measures to fast-track approvals for temporary residents, which led to fraud and subsequently to more abuses experienced by vulnerable workers. While Canada announced plans to improve approval oversight, it also announced plans to cut back permanent residency approvals in the next three years. Its 2025 target has been reduced from 500,000 to 395,000, with a planned reduction of 365,000 in 2027.
Additionally, spouses of migrant workers will be restricted to those who are employed in management or professional occupations, typically classified under Training, Education, Experience, and Responsibilities (TEER) categories 0 and 1. Work permits will also be given to spouses in management or professional occupations or industries where there is a labour shortage.
These changes underscore a policy shift driven more by political considerations than by the reality of economic demands or ethical obligations.
It also flies in the face of insistent calls from civil society, including KAIROS, to give international essential workers permanent residency upon arrival and to ensure family unification. Permanent residency would afford them the rights granted to other workers in Canada, allowing them to leave abusive employers without reprisal and to have the right to live as a family.
In addition, KAIROS has called for the regularization of workers who have become undocumented.
The problem stems from Canada’s 51-year-old Temporary Foreign Workers Program, which ties employees to employers, creating a system rife with abuse. Workers who voice concern fear reprisals that include loss of work and deportation.
This indentured labour fosters conditions of exploitation and workplace abuses that have been well documented. Indeed, in September 2023, the UN’s special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, said that Canada’s TFWP is a “breeding ground” for modern slavery. The UN special rapporteur also highlights in his report systemic issues like low wages, abusive and dangerous working conditions and barriers to accessing legal supports.
Workers’ rights advocates argue that these restrictions create a tiered labor system, where only select, higher-skilled occupations are afforded stability and opportunity, while others remain trapped in cycles of temporary, insecure employment. For low-wage and seasonal workers, this policy means facing constant fear of losing work, limited options to seek better conditions, and an inability to build a secure future. Such inequalities deepen existing social divides and compromise the wellbeing of migrant communities that already contribute significantly to Canada’s economy but continue to be denied equal rights and opportunities.
While Canada has attempted to “improve” the program in the last few years, such as limited open work permits for those who claim abuse, these are temporary and inadequate solutions. For example, the open work permit application is difficult to navigate, government officials sometimes expose the claimant to the employer, government inspectors forewarn employers of inspections, and the open work permit could be a flag that a worker is a “troublemaker.”
Canada’s latest announcement disregards the invaluable labour contributions and fundamental rights of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers across Canada. By limiting work permits to certain professional roles and sectors and reducing opportunities to apply for permanent residency, the government has effectively further marginalized those in low-wage and seasonal jobs, pushing them into precarious positions where they have fewer protections and are more vulnerable to exploitation.
These new restrictions do little to address these fundamental human rights concerns and will worsen conditions for many workers by narrowing their legal protections and status opportunities. These limited legal protections will compel workers to stay in precarious situations to maintain their legal standing in Canada, rather than seek safer and fairer employment.
This new strategy has been defended as an effort to protect Canadian workers and stabilize public services, but the reduced support for migrant workers undermines the country’s commitments to fair labour practices.
KAIROS wants Canada to regularize undocumented workers and provide clear, accessible pathways to permanent residency for all workers, not just those in “preferred industries.”
By failing to address these needs, the government risks perpetuating cycles of labour exploitation and further harming its international reputation as a leader in human rights.
