Temporary workers' suit clears hurdle

Migrant employees contend program is unconstitutional

- NICHOLAS KEUNG

Byron Alfredo Acevedo Tobar, in white shirt, a Guatemalan worker who is the designated member of the class action, claims that he was required to work an average of 12 hours per night with only three 10-minute breaks.

Migrant workers are one step closer to getting their day in court to challenge part of Canada’s temporary foreign worker program as unconstitutional for restricting them to working only for their sponsoring employers.

On Friday, a Quebec court gave the green light to a class-action lawsuit initiated by a Guatemalan worker, who alleges that the closed work permit system, in place since 1966, was rooted in direct discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin and colour, violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“The Court finds that at this preliminary stage, while the threshold test is high, there is an arguable case that the employer-tying measures are ‘clearly unconstitutional’ giving rise to a claim for damages under the Charter,” wrote Superior Court of Quebec Justice Silvana Conte, in certifying the legal action.

The judgment comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has been facing criticism for the skyrocketing use of temporary foreign workers in Canada, a system that a recent United Nations report called a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.”

Byron Alfredo Acevedo Tobar, the designated member of the class action, came to Canada on a closed work permit in 2014 to work in a poultry-catching business based in Granby, Que.