From the Canadian Council for Refugees / Conseil canadien pour les réfugiés:

Federal government must act for migrant workers

The Canadian Council for Refugees published today its recommendations for next steps to protect the rights of migrant workers in Canada, in the wake of the parliamentary committee report on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

The Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA) recently concluded a review of the program and released its report on 19 September 2016.

“Now that the committee has tabled its recommendations, the government needs to act quickly to address the abuse of migrant workers in Canada by making fundamental changes, guided by the principle of protection of migrant workers’ rights,” said CCR president Loly Rico.

The CCR is calling for action on the following:

• Open work permits without restrictions
• Access to permanent residence for all migrant workers
• End to the cumulative duration (four-in-four-out) rule
• Access to settlement services
• Family reunification
• Increased and more effective monitoring and enforcement

For more information, please read their full news release here, or the CCR response to the HUMA report here.