The campaign to end closed work permits has made two significant gains in recent months. In September, a constitutional class action lawsuit launched by the Association for Rights of Household and Farm Workers passed a critical legal test in Quebec’s Superior Court and has the greenlight to move onto the Supreme Court of Canada.
This lawsuit aims to end and obtain compensation for harms done by the closed work permit system.
In November, Canada’s Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration published a report recommending an end to the use of closed work permits for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. This report refers 10 times to a brief that was submitted jointly by our Ministry for Social Justice, Peace, and Creation Care with Legal Assistance of Windsor.
Collaborative Network to End Exploitation (CNEE), a project of the Ministry for Social Justice, Peace, and Creation Care, has been actively educating and lobbying against closed work permits for many years. We hope these developments will help bring an end to this practice.
Leah Watkiss, Ministry Director
Ministry for Social Justice, Peace, and Creation Care
