From Quotas to Bondage

Amid a growing civil rights movement, the Canadian government ended racial quotas on immigration in 1962. Shortly thereafter, the farm lobby started complaining to the government about labor shortages. Rather than increasing wages or making work conditions safer, the Canadian government created the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) in 1966. This program allowed farms to hire people from the Caribbean (and later Mexico) on a temporary basis. The Canadian government argued that the program would benefit the citizens of these newly independent countries. In reality, these workers found themselves in a new form of bondage.

Rather than offering a pathway to permanent residence, the SAWP effectively trapped workers in profoundly exploitative conditions. Under the program, workers are tied to their employer and prohibited from seeking other forms of work. Workers live on the farms in cramped conditions and often cannot leave the farm. Pay is often withheld, abuse is rampant, and work is unsafe. Workers are denied the right to unionize. Those brave enough to speak up are fired and deported.

This exploitation is intentional. By keeping workers vulnerable, businesses can extract more labor from them. The use of racialized workers further diminishes public sympathy for their plight. Despite stricter border controls after 9/11, the number of immigrants arriving through SAWP increased to 60,000, accounting for roughly a quarter of all farmworkers in Canada. Each year, these workers return to their countries of origin, with little pay. But with high unemployment and insecurity in their countries of origin, they often have no choice but to return to Canada each year.

From the beginning, SAWP failed immigrants. To make matters worse, the Canadian government decided to bring in more immigrants on a temporary residence basis. In 1973, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) was introduced. Foreign workers could be hired if their employer underwent a Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), which showed that the employer could not find a suitable Canadian candidate.

The TFWP was perfect for corporations and politicians. Companies could hire workers who could be deported at any time, exploiting them even more than the Canadian working class. The LMIA process also helped assuage the fear that immigrants were coming to take jobs.

The program grew quickly. In 2002, just as the Canadian government was restricting asylum claims post-9/11, the TFWP was expanded to include low-wage workers. Despite anti-immigration rhetoric, corporate lobbying during Stephen Harper’s Conservative government led to further expansion. Nearly 240,000 temporary foreign workers were approved in 2023. Despite being ten times smaller in its total population, Canada has more temporary foreign workers than the United States. Roughly one in twenty workers in Canada is a temporary foreign worker.

Scapegoating Students

In the 1970s, the Canadian government’s funding cuts to universities marked a shift toward profit-driven education. As funding dwindled, students were saddled with debt, effectively excluding the poorest from higher education.

Around this time, universities began to rely more heavily on international students for revenue. In 1977, the government permitted universities to charge higher tuition fees to international students, who often pay four times what Canadian students do. Over the following decades, this model became increasingly entrenched. From 2009 to 2022, the number of study permits issued increased fourfold. In Ontario, which hosts most of Canada’s international students, international student tuition makes up three-quarters of all tuition.

For many young immigrants, a university education is merely a means toward permanent status. Until recently, the Canadian government’s own website encouraged people to come to “study, work and stay.” With a Canadian education and work experience, immigrants could get enough points to then apply for permanent residency.

Contrary to the notion of wealthy students seeking an elite education, many international students come from impoverished backgrounds, risking everything for the chance of a new life in Canada. For instance, farmers in India have mortgaged their land to provide their children with this opportunity. With all their money drained by tuition, these students often struggle to find adequate housing, leading to reports of dozens of international students crammed into single residences. Those facing the greatest hardships would soon find themselves scapegoated for the challenges they encountered.

On farms, in stores, and in classrooms, immigrants faced significant struggles. Reports of abuse and exploitation continued to surface, yet little action was taken as profits flowed and the Liberal government remained in power.

As the housing crisis worsened, prices rose, and the economy slowed, public opinion turned against the Liberals. Rather than pursue popular and much-needed policies like bolstering housing, health care, and education, the government chose to scapegoat immigrants, deflecting attention from its own policy failures.

The Liberals exploited stories of overcrowded housing to cast international students as culprits in the housing crisis. Instead of extending status to temporary foreign workers, the government decided to restrict the number of foreign workers. Foreign workers were blamed for unemployment, despite working jobs that Canadian-born workers did not want. Amid growing xenophobia, deportations reached their highest levels in a decade and parts of the border were shut down to make it harder for asylum seekers to enter.

Trudeau adopted a tough stance, telling businesses that if they were desperate for workers, they should hire Canadians — a cynical move to pit immigrants against Canadian workers. But much of this posturing was nothing but hot air. Labor unions were never consulted and SAWP is exempt from any immigration restrictions.

Going Forward

Amid the Liberals’ policy failures, immigrants — who grow Canada’s food and fund its universities — are now blamed for the housing crisis and cost of living. This serves to distract from the obscene profits being made while most working people are barely getting by.

The Liberals have tried to whitewash their volte-face policies, insisting that their new restrictions on temporary foreign workers and international students will help stop exploitation. But restricting avenues for coming to Canada will only lead immigrants to go underground, where they will face even greater exploitation. The Liberals have also exempted SAWP from their cuts to temporary foreign workers, despite the United Nations’ condemnation of the program.

The solution to both Canada’s economic woes and exploitation of immigrants is status for all. Granting permanent status to those who come to study and work ensures they can choose to work where they want and stand up to their bosses without the threat of deportation.

This policy would benefit all Canadians, regardless of status. When employers can hire immigrants without basic rights, it undermines labor protections, drives down wages, and perpetuates unsafe workplaces where immigrant workers are silenced by fear.

Restricting immigration is not the answer. As long as global inequality and conflicts persist, immigrants will keep arriving. The question is whether they will have status and rights. With permanent status, it will be easier for the working class — regardless of origin — to unite.

Immigration has long been framed as a battle between bigotry and compassion. While that framing is valid, immigration is fundamentally a labor issue. Reframing immigration as a labor issue is critical. The Canadian public has recently soured on immigration, but the real driver of this sentiment is economic insecurity. The Liberals claim that fewer immigrants will improve quality of life. To the contrary, only when immigrants have the same rights and status as Canadians will everyone’s lives improve.