CALGARY – Fraud charges against a Calgary woman who headed a group for foreign workers have the Alberta Federation of Labour calling on the government to scrap the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
“There is a clear and obvious lack of oversight of the TFW program that can lead to appalling abuse of workers,” AFL president Gil McGowan said Tuesday.
“The TFW program isn’t working for foreign workers, it isn’t working for Alberta workers and it isn’t working for employers. It’s time to admit the program is a failure and replace it with real immigration.”
McGowan pointed out that Auditor-General Sheila Fraser panned the program in her 2009 report, saying there has been no systematic follow-up to ensure employers are complying with the terms under which the Labour Mobility Opinion application was approved, such as wages to be paid and accommodations to be provided.
McGowan said things will get worse with the Accelerated Labour Market Opinion process proposed by the Harper government.
“The federal government admits that fewer than 20 per cent of successful ALMOs will be subject to a compliance review,” he said. “We can only imagine the widespread abuse workers will endure when bad employers know they have little chance of getting caught.”
On Tuesday, police charged a Calgary woman with defrauding a newcomer to Canada of more than $2 million.
Police say the complainant was persuaded to turn over the deeds to two properties in her name last summer, and also handed over access to her bank account.
They say she was told it was unsafe for her to have local assets while in Canada on a visa.
The accused, who at the time was president of the Temporary Foreign Workers Association of Canada, is also alleged to have penned more than $400,000 in bank drafts payable to her.
Melissa Holman, 40, is to appear in court Aug. 21 on fraud and theft charges.
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