UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery

Last week, UN special rapporteur Tomoya Obokata released a report condemning  Canada’s temporary foreign worker program as “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.” Obokata’s report raises concerns about the conditions many workers face, including exploitation and abuse by their employers. The report also points out that workers are reluctant to complain due to the risks of deportation and ejection from the work programs that they rely on to provide for their families. The statements in Obokata’s report echo what RAMA Okanagan has heard from migrant workers about their living and working conditions, and what we have observed first-hand on farms in the Okanagan over the last decade. 

Obokata called on the federal government to provide open work permits to improve job mobility, and to open up more pathways to permanent residency for all temporary foreign workers in Canada. These are the same demands that RAMA Okanagan and other migrant justice advocates have been calling for for many years. We urge the federal government to act now and grant permanent status to all migrants currently in Canada, and to all future migrants upon their arrival. 

2023 Sep 6, United Nations. UN expert sounds alarm over ‘contemporary forms of slavery’ in Canada, UN News

https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/09/1140437

2023 Sep 14, Poisson, J. Modern ‘slavery’ faced by Canada’s migrant workers: UN report. Front Burner. CBC Podcasts

2023 Sept 6, End of Mission Statement: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences. Tomoya Obokata. UN Human Rights Special Procedures
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/slavery/sr/statements/eom-statement-canada-sr-slavery-2023-09-06.pdf