A year after Ottawa rolled out a new scheme to crack down on employers violating the rules of the temporary foreign worker program, only three businesses have been fined or banned for non-compliance.

Advocates and critics said the changes introduced by the former Conservative government were ineffective, and were put in place merely to convince the public something was being done to prevent employers from abusing the program.

As of the end of November, three employers had been found by the federal government to be non-compliant: Obeid Farms in Vanessa, Ont.; a Dairy Queen franchise in Prince Albert, Sask.; and the Regent Hotel in Revelstoke, B.C.

While Obeid was given a two-year ban on bringing in migrant workers, the Dairy Queen was fined $1,250 and the hotel was fined $750.

A lawyer for Obeid declined to comment, citing the farm’s ongoing litigation against the federal government in the matter. The Dairy Queen franchise did not respond to a request for comment about the allegations. The hotel declined to comment on the allegations.

On Dec. 1, 2015, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, in collaboration with Employment and Social Development Canada, introduced a points system for assessing employer compliance based on the type of violation, history, severity, company size and whether the business co-operates with investigators.

In addition to publicly naming employers alleged to have broken the law, the new regulations include a range of penalties, from a fine of between $500 and $100,000 per violation to a ban from the program from one to 10 years and the revocation of previously issued work permits.

The Immigration Department said it has received more than 120 tips regarding non-compliance since the new regulations came into effect.

To date, 926 investigations — generally document-based but in some cases involving workplace visits — were initiated, it said. Almost half have been completed, with 490 still in progress. The Employment Department also launched more than 2,300 investigations on its own.

Immigration spokesperson Lindsay Wemp said “there has been a significant jump in the number of inspections of employers” since an information-sharing agreement was completed between the two federal departments in the autumn.

“The employer compliance process is not intended to be punitive, but rather to encourage employers to remain compliant with their responsibilities and obligations in employing temporary workers,” Wemp said.

Syed Hussan of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change said he was not surprised there have been just three offenders identified, as Ottawa’s jurisdiction is limited to enforcing employment contracts and immigration rules.

“Everything involving the protection of the workers, like their treatment and pay, falls into the jurisdiction of the provincial ministries of labour,” he said. “The so-called enforcement is a distraction because the fed doesn’t have the power to enforce employment standards.”

“What the federal government has jurisdiction in and should focus on is to allow migrant workers to obtain permanent residency upon arrival,” he said.

Calling the new regulations “bravado” from the former Tory government, Naveen Mehta, human rights director of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Canada, said the ramped-up enforcement is a first step toward deterring employers from abusing the migrant workers program.

He said officials must scrutinize whether employers have a genuine need to bring in migrant workers while investing in training with Canadians.

“We need a robust foreign workers program that treats people with dignity and respect. Keeping these workers away from their families for years for our economic gain is just inhuman,” said Mehta, adding that Ottawa should tie a migrant worker not to one employer but to a regional industry.

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Last month, Ottawa eliminated the 4-in-4-out rule that banned migrant workers from returning to Canada within four years after they had worked here for four years.

Immigration Minister John McCallum said he will soon require low-wage employers to advertise openings first to under-represented groups in the workforce — youth, people with disabilities, indigenous people and newcomers — before they fill the positions with temporary migrant workers.

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