Record number of migrant workers deemed ‘vulnerable’ in New Brunswick [video]

This year has seen a record-breaking number of temporary foreign workers in New Brunswick deemed “vulnerable” — and 2025 isn’t over yet.

Closed permits bind migrant workers to a specific workplace, meaning they cannot seek employment elsewhere, except by applying for an open work permit available only through a federal program for “vulnerable workers who are victims of abuse.”

Federal government data shows that the number of people in New Brunswick who hold a permit through the Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers program is climbing.

One advocate says those numbers probably reflect factors including greater awareness among migrant workers about labour rights amid widespread abuses in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

“They know their rights now,” said Cristian Sanabria, a community legal worker at the Fredericton-based Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre, which supports migrant workers in New Brunswick.

Video: Debunking Myths, Building Solidarity with Migrant Workers in New Brunswick

The number of workers deemed vulnerable has climbed consistently in New Brunswick since the program was launched in June 2019, a trend first identified by the Madhu Centre.

In 2019, 10 workers were deemed vulnerable, according to data released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

That figure reached 85 in 2023, compared to 120 in 2024. This year, the number of vulnerable workers reached 170 by the end of the third quarter.

The figures are rounded up to the nearest multiple of five and represent preliminary estimates that are subject to change, according to IRCC.

By the end of Q3, the number of vulnerable workers had also surpassed previous full-year records in New Brunswick and seven other provinces, including Alberta, B.C., Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan.

Four provinces have seen the number of vulnerable workers increase annually since the program was launched in 2019, namely New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and B.C.

Sanabria believes the continuously rising numbers in those provinces reflects the presence of migrant rights organizations.

“It’s because there are organizations willing to help,” he said.

In contrast, Newfoundland and Labrador has only seen 40 workers deemed vulnerable since the program was created, 20 last year and 20 in 2023.

The increased number of migrant workers deemed vulnerable comes as Ottawa attempts to reduce the overall number of temporary foreign workers allowed into Canada. New limits were announced last year by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, although they included exceptions for sectors including food and fish processing.

The offices of Minister of Immigration Lena Metlege Diab and Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu declined interview requests from the NB Media Co-op.

IRCC issued a statement that said, in part, that the federal government “is continuously taking steps to strengthen its temporary foreign worker programs,” citing various efforts including an anonymous tip line and online reporting tool. (Read the full statement here.)

Employment and Social Development Canada also provided a statement that said, in part, that it had implemented stricter administrative monetary penalties as part of efforts to “combat program misuse and increase worker protections.”

“The recent enhancements to the Program are delivering results,” the statement said. “In fiscal year 2024-2025, ESDC completed 1,435 employer compliance inspections, of which 10 per cent of employers were found non-compliant.”

During that time, penalties increased more than twofold from $2,067,750 to $4,882,500, and the number of employers banned from the program reached 36, “a tripling compared to last year.” (Read the full statement here.)

Earlier this year, Ottawa imposed a historic $1 million fine against a New Brunswick seafood company and banned it from hiring temporary foreign workers for the next 10 years, after finding that the company — Bolero Shellfish Processing Inc. of Saint-Simon — had violated multiple workplace standards.

The company allegedly kept workers in a cycle of debt, failing to provide them with work but advancing them wages and telling them they “owed” the difference, among other alleged abuses. The company has denied the allegations and challenged the record-breaking fine in federal court.

In a court filing, Bolero said advances were “not considered a debt, but rather losses that were absorbed by the company” and it chalked up other issues to “administrative error.”

In 2023, UN Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata met with migrant workers employed in seafood processing in New Brunswick.

He later issued a report calling the Temporary Foreign Worker Program a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery” and urged the federal government to provide a clear pathway to permanent residency upon arrival and to end the closed work permit regime.

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, via the Local Journalism Initiative. Note: Tracy Glynn, a co-founder and board member with the Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre, is also coordinating editor of the NB Media Co-op.