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One of B.C.’s wealthiest families has been ordered by a branch of the Ministry of Labour to pay more than $130,000 in unpaid wages owed to temporary foreign workers at a Pitt Meadows berry farm.

The office of the director of employment standards this week found the Aquilini family, which owns the Vancouver Canucks and Rogers Arena, to be in violation of labour market impact assessment contracts stipulating six months of full-time work for workers at the Golden Eagle Blueberry Farm.

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Instead, the 174 workers, who came to Canada from Guatemala expecting 40-hour work weeks for half a year, were given only about one month of full-time work before their hours were reduced.

In addition to ordering the paying of back wages, vacation pay and interest, employment standards fined the Aquilinis $500.

Photo by Robert F. Bukaty / CP

Julianne McCaffrey, a spokeswoman for the B.C. Ministry of Labour, confirmed that the branch investigated the case of 375 Golden Eagle farm workers in 2018 following a complaint of improper wages, and found that 174 of those employees were owed money. The largest amount owing to an individual complainant was $1,943.27, while the average amount was $768.61.