Hope Lompe for Canada’s National Observer writes, “nearly three-quarters of the time, the federal governing body responsible for keeping tabs on employers of migrant workers are giving them a heads up prior to arrival.
In an email to Canada’s National Observer, Employment and Social Development Canada says 70 per cent of housing inspections conducted by the ministry are announced to the employer prior to inspection, while 30 per cent are unannounced.”
Hugo Velázquez, interim director of family and settlement services at MOSAIC — whose team facilitated bringing the workers in Port Alberni to safety — says the tip line receives thousands of complaints, so the government only has the capacity to investigate the most serious cases.
“One of the main concerns of staff and nonprofits is that the worker is seldom made part of the investigation. So they put the tip line, but they don’t know how it’s going,” Velázquez says. “I think there’s a disconnect there that everybody’s still working on, but it hasn’t been solved.”
Read the full article at Canada’s National Observer, Delta Optimist, or Penticton Herald.