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They're extremely high fines, but they're meant to be a deterrent

The Service Canada email said inspections will be done “virtually/remotely.” Employers will have to provide pay stubs, photos of accommodations and proof of adequate supply of cleaning products.

“Some workers will be contacted for interviews conducted by phone or video conference,” the email said.

The inspection regime left Syed Hussan, executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, underwhelmed.

“How do you ensure on video that workers are sleeping two metres apart?” he asked. “Or that the kitchen is big enough for two metres?”

He also said interviewing workers will be a lot more difficult than it sounds, given many won’t yet have working cell phones in Canada. “There’s no way for the government to directly contact the workers, so the way they have to do it is they have to tell the employer to tell the employee to talk to them, usually with the employer hovering in the background behind them,” he said.

His organization is calling for further measures, with two short-term ones in particular: That arriving workers be immediately given information on their rights in their own language, and that federal anti-reprisal measures be enacted to protect workers who lodge complaints.

Photo by Hi-Berry Farm/File

The office of Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough said that in addition to proactive inspections, they’ve set up an online reporting tool and a confidential tips line in six languages beyond English and French.

“We have been communicating with employers of temporary foreign workers from the beginning on what was expected of them,” said a spokesperson for Qualtrough. Migrant workers are also screened before boarding planes in their home countries and again upon arrival in Canada, and are not allowed in the country if they show signs of COVID-19.