#Temporary Foreign Worker Program

[inc-immigrationnewscanada]

🇨🇦 Dreaming of working in Canada? You will need to apply for work permit to get authorization to work in Canada. 🇨🇦 Check out available work permits options in Canada; from permits needing LMIA to LMIA-exempt to Global Talent Stream👇

[sangsaracycling]

i do get the point of that post tho. “leftist” populists are very very easy to turn anti immigrant .

[collapsedsquid]

On an August afternoon, Pablo stared down at a foam plate sloshing with flavorless pinto beans and a particularly bad version of huevos a la Mexicana. The simple, usually delicious scramble of eggs, tomatoes, onions and jalapeños is difficult to mess up. But if anyone can find a way to make it unpalatable, it’s the cook at his labor camp. Soupy eggs are the last thing the 42-year-old from western Mexico wants to eat. But after a 12-hour day harvesting tobacco in the brutal and sometimes deadly summer heat, he must eat – and this was far from the worst meal he’s been given. A few weeks ago, fellow farm workers got sick due to raw and moldy food they were forced to purchase. On days like this, Pablo can’t decide which is worse: that he’s forced to pay $80 a week for this slop, or that everything about what he eats, when he eats and how much he eats is tightly controlled by his employer. Pablo, who is using a pseudonym due to fear of retaliation, is one of more than 35,000 migrant workers in North Carolina this year as part of the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker Program, a guest visa program overseen by the US Department of Labor (DoL). The program enables American employers to hire foreign workers to perform seasonal agricultural work. Employers in the program frequently exploit their migrant employees, and the structure of the program makes easy work of it. Visas are tied to a single employer who must also provide housing, transportation and access to food, creating a crushing power imbalance between American employers and migrant H-2A workers.

[myconsultantcanda]

Challenging a Positive Labour Market Impact Assessment?

Generally, a positive result is sought by Canadian employers when applying for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).

Here’s a case where a positive LMIA was challenged. Why? What’s to learn from it? Read on.

LMIA explained

Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is a mechanism to ensure Canadian jobs are extended to Canadians and permanent residents first. In other words, LMIA is to examine if a vacant position in Canada has to be offered to a foreign national because no Canadians nor permanent residents are available for the position. An LMIA is a prerequisite for applying for a work permit by foreign workers whose work permits are issued under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). When employers in Canada intend to hire a foreign national through the TFWP, which means that the intended foreign worker is not eligible for work permits prescribed in sections 204 to 208 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002–227 (IRPR), namely, International Mobility Program (IMP), the employers need to obtain a positive LMIA. Employers applying for an LMIA must pay a $1,000 processing fee for each foreign worker according to subsection 315. 2(1) of IRPR. Therefore, generally speaking, a positive LMIA is the outcome employers would expect when applying for an LMIA.

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is the federal department responsible for LMIA processing. ESDC officers assess LMIA following the six factors prescribed in subsection 203(1) of IRPR, including the hiring and retention of Canadian and permanent resident workers, the labour shortage, etc. Subsection 203(2.1) of IRPR requires ESDC officers to assess LMIAs based on information provided by the employer applicant and other relevant information. After a positive LMIA is issued by ESDC, the employer will provide it with the intended foreign worker for the worker to apply for a work permit, which will authorize its holder to work in Canada for the employer specified on it.

Click Here To Read Full Article

Canada ImmigrationStudy In Canada

[xtruss]

Canada Foreign Worker Program A ‘Breeding Ground’ For Slavery – UN Expert

The United Nations has called on Ottawa to guarantee the rights of tens of thousands of migrant workers who enter the country annually

Migrant Workers remove weeds surrounding Strawberries Plants at a farm in Markham, Ontario, Canada, on July 30, 2023 © Getty Images/Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images

Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program, under w hich up to 60,000 people arrive in the country each year, is leading to Modern Forms of Slavery, a United Nations expert has warned.

Following a two-week fact-finding visit to Canada, UN Special Rapporteur for contemporary forms of slavery, Tomoya Obokata, said on Wednesday that he was “deeply disturbed by the accounts of exploitation and abuse” he was informed of by migrant workers.

“Employee-specific work permit regimes, including certain Temporary Foreign Worker Programs (TFWPs), make migrant workers vulnerable to contemporary forms of slavery, as they cannot report abuses without fear of deportation,” Obokata said in a statement posted to the UN Human Rights office website.

The controversial program sees between 50,000 to 60,000 foreign laborers arrive in Canada each year, but has for several years Faced Accusations of Systemic Exploitation. Foreign workers across various sectors, including agriculture and meat processing, have complained of sub-par conditions, as well as having only limited recourse to address instances of abuse.

The UN investigation comes a little over a year after a group of Jamaican Farm-Workers Complained in a letter to their country’s labor minister that work they were being compelled to perform at two Ontario Farms was Akin to “Systemic Slavery.” The letter detailed accusations that they were “exposed to dangerous pesticides without proper protections, and our bosses are verbally abusive, swearing at us.”

Canada’s foreign worker scheme permits employers to Hire Laborers From Mexico and Eleven Caribbean Nations for up to eight months of the year.

In his statement, the special rapporteur also called on Canada to offer a “clear pathway to permanent residency for all migrants, to prevent the recurrence of abuses.” He added that foreign workers “have valuable skills that are critical to the Canadian economy” and called upon lawmakers to push forward legislation to protect the rights of overseas workers.

A 2014 study from the Canadian Medical Association Journal Open said that 787 Migrant Farm Workers in Ontario were repatriated to their home countries after suffering injuries in the course of their work – some of whom were transported with little prior notice, and without having been granted access to medical treatment.

— RT | September 07, 2023

[mariacallous]

Federal employees are seeking a temporary restraining order as part of a class action lawsuit accusing a group of Elon Musk’s associates of allegedly operating an illegally connected server from the fifth floor of the US Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) headquarters in Washington, DC.

An attorney representing two federal workers—Jane Does 1 and 2—filed a motion this morning arguing that the server’s continued operation not only violates federal law but is potentially exposing vast quantities of government staffers’ personal information to hostile foreign adversaries through unencrypted email.

A copy of the motion, filed in the DC District Court by National Security Counselors, a Washington-area public-interest law firm, was obtained by WIRED exclusively in advance. WIRED previously reported that Musk had installed several lackeys in OPM’s top offices, including individuals with ties to xAI, Neuralink, and other companies he owns.

The initial lawsuit, filed on January 27, cites reports that Musk’s associates illegally connected a server to a government network for the purposes of harvesting information, including the names and email accounts of federal employees. The server was installed on the agency’s premises, the complaint alleges, without OPM—the government’s human resources department—conducting a mandatory privacy impact assessment required under federal law.

Under the 2002 E-Government Act, agencies are required to perform privacy assessments prior to making “substantial changes to existing information technology” when handling information “in identifiable form.” Notably, prior to the installation of the server, OPM did not have the technical capability to email the entire federal workforce from a single email account.

“[A]t some point after 20 January 2025, OPM allowed unknown individuals to simply bypass its existing systems and security protocols,” Tuesday’s motion claims, “for the stated purpose of being able to communicate directly with those individuals without involving other agencies. In short, the sole purpose of these new systems was expediency.”

OPM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If the motion is granted, OPM would be forced to disconnect the server until the assessment is done. As a consequence, the Trump administration’s plans to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce would likely face delays. The email account linked to the server—HR@opm.gov—is currently being used to gather information from federal workers accepting buyouts under the admin’s “deferred resignation program,” which is set to expire on February 6.

“Under the law, a temporary restraining order is an extraordinary remedy,” notes National Security Counselors’ executive director, Kel McClanahan. “But this is an extraordinary situation.”

Before issuing a restraining order, courts apply what’s known as the “balance of equities” doctrine, weighing the burdens and costs on both parties. In this case, however, McClanahan argues that the injunction would inflict “no hardship” on the government whatsoever. February 6 is an “arbitrary deadline,” he says, and the administration could simply continue to implement the resignation program “through preexisting channels.”

“We can't wait for the normal course of litigation when all that information is just sitting there in some system nobody knows about with who knows what protections,” McClanahan says. “In a normal case, we might be able to at least count on the inspector general to do something, but Trump fired her, so all bets are off.”

The motion further questions whether OPM violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which prohibits federal agencies from taking actions “not in accordance with the law.” Under the APA, courts may “compel agency action”—such as a private assessment—when it is “unlawfully withheld.”

Employees at various agencies were reportedly notified last month to be on the lookout for messages originating from the HR@opm.gov account. McClanahan’s complaint points to a January 23 email from acting Homeland Security secretary Benjamine Huffman instructing DHS employees that the HR@opm.gov account “can be considered trusted.” In the following days, emails were blasted out twice across the executive branch instructing federal workers to reply “Yes” in both cases.

The same account was later used to transmit the “Fork in the Road” missive promoting the Trump administration’s legally dubious “deferred resignation program,” which claims to offer federal workers the opportunity to quit but continue receiving paychecks through September. Workers who wished to participate in the program were instructed to reply to the email with “Resign.”

As WIRED has reported, even the new HR chief of DOGE, Musk’s task force, was unable to answer basic questions about the offer.

The legal authority underlying the program is unclear, and federal employee union leaders are warning workers not to blindly assume they will actually get paid. In a floor speech last week, Senator Tim Kaine advised workers not to be fooled: “There’s no budget line item to pay people who are not showing up for work.” Patty Murray, ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, similarly warned Monday: “There is no funding allocated to agencies to pay staff for this offer.”

McClanahan’s lawsuit highlights the government’s response to the OPM hack of 2015, which compromised personnel records on more than 22 million people, including some who’d undergone background checks to obtain security clearances. A congressional report authored by House Republicans following the breach pinned the incident on a “breakdown in communications” between OPM’s chief information officer and its inspector general: “The future effectiveness of the agency’s information technology and security efforts,” it says, “will depend on a strong relationship between these two entities moving forward.”

OPM’s inspector general, Krista Boyd, was fired by President Donald Trump in the midst of the “Friday night purge” on January 24—one day after the first HR@opm.gov email was sent.

“We are witnessing an unprecedented exfiltration and seizure of the most sensitive kinds of information by unelected, unvetted people with no experience, responsibility, or right to it,” says Sean Vitka, policy director at the Demand Progress Education Fund, which is supporting the action. “Millions of Americans and the collective interests of the United States desperately need emergency intervention from the courts. The constitutional crisis is already here.”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Gideon Taaffe at MMFA:

Right-wing media are focused on culture war battles as the Trump administration suspends lifesaving work from the U.S. Agency for International Development, cherry-picking USAID programs to dismiss the agency as “woke,” “radical,” and “overwhelmingly hard left.” In reality, USAID is responsible for providing health care and nutritional aid to thousands of the world’s vulnerable people, many living in war-torn regions.

The Trump administration has sought to put a halt to USAID’s operations

On February 4, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that USAID was now under the direct authority of the State Department, and the administration froze U.S. foreign aid. Rubio placed Pete Marocco in charge of USAID; he served in the agency during Trump’s first term and has been accused of attempting to dismantle it during his tenure. [CNN, 2/3/25]

Following Rubio’s takeover, 10,000 USAID employees were placed on administrative leave, and a couple days later the Trump administration announced plans to leave fewer than 300 workers in place to carry out the organization’s work. A judge put a temporary pause on some of the Trump administration’s job cutting, resulting in 2,200 employees being reinstated but with uncertain futures at the agency. [USA Today, 2/4/25; The Associated Press, 2/6/25; NBC News, 2/7/25]

USAID workers in high-risk locations have reported being cut off from communication and were left unsure of how to access evacuation protocols. Employees of USAID are also facing interruptions to medical care and housing insecurity. [Kyle Cheney, Bluesky, 2/7/25]

Rubio claimed he had issued a blanket waiver for lifesaving programs, but workers on the ground have said that operations have come to a halt. While some programs have been granted a waiver to continue under Rubio, many have lost access to supplies, and payments to contractors that are covered by the waiver have not come through. That has affected emergency food aid in Ethiopia, a refugee camp in Syria, a resettlement program for victims of the Islamic State group, and more. One USAID worker told CNN, “That work is grounded to a halt because there’s no staff to manage it, and there’s no staff in DC to answer questions from partners.” [The Washington Post, 2/10/25; CNN, 2/8/25]

Right-wing media distort the USAID’s mission, falsely brand it as “woke.”

[meret118]

This week, we spoke with four federal-government IT professionals—all experienced contractors and civil servants who have built, modified, or maintained the kind of technological infrastructure that Musk’s inexperienced employees at his newly created Department of Government Efficiency are attempting to access. In our conversations, each expert was unequivocal: They are terrified and struggling to articulate the scale of the crisis.

. . .

“This is the largest data breach and the largest IT security breach in our country’s history—at least that’s publicly known,” one contractor who has worked on classified information-security systems at numerous government agencies told us this week. “You can’t un-ring this bell. Once these DOGE guys have access to these data systems, they can ostensibly do with it what they want.”

. . .

Given the scope of what these systems do, key government services might stop working properly, citizens could be harmed, and the damage might be difficult or impossible to undo. As one administrator for a federal agency with deep knowledge about the government’s IT operations told us, “I don’t think the public quite understands the level of danger.”

. . .

These systems are immense, they are complex, and they are critical. A single program run by the FAA to help air-traffic controllers, En Route Automation Modernization, contains nearly 2 million lines of code; an average iPhone app, for comparison, has about 50,000. The Treasury Department disburses trillions of dollars in payments per year.

Many systems and databases in a given agency feed into others, but access to them is restricted. Employees, contractors, civil-service government workers, and political appointees have strict controls on what they can access and limited visibility into the system as a whole. This is by design, as even the most mundane government databases can contain highly sensitive personal information. A security-clearance database such as those used by the Department of Justice or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, one contractor told us, could include information about a person’s mental-health or sexual history, as well as disclosures about any information that a foreign government could use to blackmail them.

Even if DOGE has not tapped into these particular databases, TheWashington Post reported on Wednesday that the group has accessed sensitive personnel data at OPM. Mother Jones also reported on Wednesday that an effort may be under way to effectively give Musk control over IT for the entire federal government, broadening his access to these agencies.

. . .

With relatively basic “read only” access, Musk’s people could easily find individuals in databases or clone entire servers and transfer that secure information somewhere else. Even if Musk eventually loses access to these systems—owing to a temporary court order such as the one approved yesterday, say—whatever data he siphons now could be his forever.

With a higher level of access—“write access”—a motivated person may be able to put their own code into the system, potentially without any oversight. The possibilities here are staggering. One could alter the data these systems process, or they could change the way the software operates—without any of the testing that would normally accompany changes to a critical system. Still another level of access, administrator privileges, could grant the broad ability to control a system, including hiding evidence of other alterations. “They could change or manipulate treasury data directly in the database with no way for people to audit or capture it,” one contractor told us. “We’d have very little way to know it even happened.”

. . .

Musk’s efforts represent a dramatic shift in the way the government’s business has traditionally been conducted. Previously, security protocols were so strict that a contractor plugging a non-government-issued computer into an ethernet port in a government agency office was considered a major security violation. Contrast that with DOGE’s incursion. CNN reported yesterday that a 23-year-old former SpaceX intern without a background check was given a basic, low tier of access to Department of Energy IT systems, despite objections from department lawyers and information experts. “That these guys, who may not even have clearances, are just pulling up and plugging in their own servers is madness,” one source told us, referring to an allegation that DOGE had connected its own server at OPM. “It’s really hard to find good analogies for how big of a deal this is.” The simple fact that Musk loyalists are in the building with their own computers is the heart of the problem—and helps explain why activities ostensibly authorized by the president are widely viewed as a catastrophic data breach.

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“‘Upgrading’ a system of which you know nothing about is a good way to break it, and breaking air travel is a worst-case scenario with consequences that will ripple out into all aspects of civilian life. It could easily get to a place where you can’t guarantee the safety of flights taking off and landing.” Nevertheless, on Wednesday Musk posted that “the DOGE team will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system.”

Even if DOGE members are looking to modernize these systems, they may find themselves flummoxed. The government is big and old and complicated. One former official with experience in government IT systems, including at the Treasury, told us that old could mean that the systems were installed in 1962, 1992, or 2012. They might use a combination of software written in different programming languages: a little COBOL in the 1970s, a bit of Java in the 1990s. Knowledge about one system doesn’t give anyone—including Musk’s DOGE workers, some of whom were not even alive for Y2K—the ability to make intricate changes to another.

. . .

Like the FAA employee, the payment-systems expert also fears that the most likely result of DOGE activity on federal systems will be breaking them, especially because of incompetence and lack of proper care. DOGE, he observed, may be prepared to view or hoover up data, but. . . it doesn’t appear to be prepared to carry out savvy and effective alterations to how the system operates.

. . .

But DOGE workers could try anyway. Mainframe computers have a keyboard and display, unlike the cloud-computing servers in data centers. According to the former Treasury IT expert, someone who could get into the room and had credentials for the system could access it and, via the same machine or a networked one, probably also deploy software changes to it. It’s far more likely that they would break, rather than improve, a Treasury disbursement system in so doing, one source told us. “The volume of information they deal with [at the Treasury] is absolutely enormous, well beyond what anyone would deal with at SpaceX,” the source said. Even a small alteration to a part of the system that has to do with the distribution of funds could wreak havoc, preventing those funds from being distributed or distributing them wrongly, for example. “It’s like walking into a nuclear reactor and deciding to handle some plutonium.”

. . .

DOGE is many things—a dismantling of the federal government, a political project to flex power and punish perceived enemies—but it is also the logical end point of a strain of thought that’s become popular in Silicon Valley during the boom times of Big Tech and easy money: that building software and writing code aren’t just dominant skills for the 21st century, but proof of competence in any realm. In a post on X this week, John Shedletsky, a developer and an early employee at the popular gaming platform Roblox, summed up the philosophy nicely: “Silicon Valley built the modern world. Why shouldn’t we run it?”

More at the link.

The coup has already happened, and we lost.

[theatre-gay-they]

As socialists, we need people to believe real, positive change is possible. Most people can’t see beyond the current system, but they can tell that it is broken. This leads to hopelessness and apathy. Complacency. I believe real change is possible, but change is not on the ballot this election, or indeed any election (except, perhaps, negative change: a cancelling of the meagre improvements to the social safety net added in the past few years under a potential conservative government, and international trade leading to the disempowerment of workers - whether that be in the form of a return to free trade or a continuation of these new tariff policies). The conservatives offer suffering, the liberals no relief, and the NDP the smallest of reforms. Socialists must be the ones who offer real change for working people. Let’s look into the failures of each of the 3 major parties.

Firstly, conservatives don’t only want to maintain the system, they want to make it worse - on an accelerated course. They’d cut from healthcare and possibly eliminate dentalcare, pharmacare, and childcare entirely. Conservatives believe cutting taxes is an affordability measure - rather than a give away to the rich. They have no plan for climate change whatsoever and are endorsed by billionaires - both Canadian and American. They hate unions, they hate the poor, the hate those who are addicted to substances or who cannot find shelter. They want to make life harder for the masses so the rich can exploit us harder. They’ve promised to repeal labour-friendly legislation, privatize more infrastructure, and weaken regulations around dangerous industries — all while offering up hollow culture war distractions to keep people divided and misinformed. Their base is kept loyal through fear and resentment, but their donors are loyal because the Conservatives deliver: lower corporate taxes, deregulation, and union-busting. Their political project is one of austerity and authoritarianism: dismantling public services, criminalizing dissent, and gutting environmental protections. While they talk about "freedom" and "choice," their policies concentrate power and wealth into the hands of corporations and the ultra-rich.

On the other hand, we’ve lived under the liberals for nearly 10 years, and things haven’t gotten better. Rent has gotten more expensive because liberals side with landlords and speculators over working people who need a place to live. Food has gotten more expensive because liberals side with big grocery chains ripping us off over the right of people to eat, and it’s not like farm workers are paid well in return. In fact, the UN recently called the temporary foreign workers program, which the agricultural sector gets the most permits for, a "breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery." Other essentials like telecommunications have also become more expensive, as the liberals side with monopolies over people, as demonstrated by allowing Rogers and Shaw to merge. All of this while they lie and flip flop on the issue of the day, whether it be climate action or Palestinian liberation. Let us not forget, the liberal government under labour minister Steven Mickenen (now reassigned to “jobs and families”) broke 3 strikes (or 4, depending how you count it) using section 107 of the labour code last year: the rail workers in august, dockworkers in November, and the postal workers in december. Carney hasn’t shown any sign of changing this - much the opposite. He worked for Goldman sachs in the 1990’s and early 2000s - right when jeffery sachs was “advising” the post-soviet economies, otherwise known as crushing the solidarity movement in poland and helping yeltsin and his cronies sell off the state in russia. He’s more recently worked at brookfield - a corporate landlord and tax dodger, among other things, which recently announced that “the future is debt” - meaning they make money off of the suffering of the working class by burying them in debt. As prime minister, his first moves have been lowering the capital gains tax and a cabinet shuffle which seems to get rid of important positions like disability minister and gender equality minister - now subsumed into steven guilbeau’s culture ministry, and rename a whole set of ministries (including labour) into the portfolio of “jobs and families” and give this important position, now with a less pro-labour framing (not that the liberals were ever pro-labour, as discussed before) to everyone’s least favourite minister and strikebreaker in chief: steven mickenin.

So what really makes a liberal government different from a conservative? The record shows… not much, with the two parties voting together to block progressive reform over 600 times between 2004 and 2021, according to the breach. Their policy consensus includes “huge tax breaks to corporations, a punitive criminal justice system, a less generous social welfare state, a restrictive immigration system, a hugely profitable private pharmaceutical regime, pro-corporate trade deals abroad, and opposition to expanding workers’ rights.” Under Paul Martin, this came in the form of blocking anti-scab legislation, which has now been forced through by the NDP, more restrictive immigration rules and less accessible EI, maintaining unsafe federal workplaces by refusing to ban “psychological harassment,” and siding with pharmicetical companies over people who require medicine to live. Under stephen harper, the party duopoly agreed to refuse to enforce safe practices by the rail companies, allow pollution, maintain the right of the defense minister to authorize offensive overseas missions without the approval of parliament, refuse to give lighter sentences to young people, refuse to compensate those who’s employer robbed them by not contributing to their pension, passing back to work legislation (which the Harper government used many times, including against workers at Air Canada, Canada Post, and CP Rail), advancing free trade, passing bill C-51 (the anti terrorism bill), lowering the capital gains tax (which the liberal government undid and then re-did), passing the “Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act” (bet you didn’t know the liberals voted for that one), and refusing to increase safety standards for pregnant or nursing employees. Under the trudeau government (up to 2021), they refused to coordinate a strategy to end poverty, refused to guarantee housing as a right, continued selling weapons abroad (tanks to the Saudis and bombs to Israel etc.), refused to expunge records for past crimes relating to (now legal) cannabis, refused to enforce international law, allowed for discrimination based on “social condition” (which I think means class?), failed to adequately regulate commercial fishing, refused to commit to paris climate goals, refused to establish national pharmacare (now partially pushed through by the NDP), allowed the Canada Pension Plan to invest in unethical businesses including ones which do not meet basic environmental or workers’ rights standards, refused to establish national dentalcare (now partially pushed through by the ndp), and refused to establish a wealth tax or provide affordable telecommunication services. This long record shows what we’ve always known to be true: liberal, tory, same old story.

If not liberals or tories, why not the NDP? The NDP claims to be the party of the working class. They do not fill this role effectively, and they are losing ground in the polls because they cannot offer a real alternative to capitalism, instead framing themselves as slightly nicer liberals who will expand pharmacare and EI: good ideas, but not nearly enough. The NDP plays a frustrating and contradictory role in Canadian politics. On the one hand, they have used their position to push through partial wins — the early stages of pharmacare and dental care being key examples, as well as anti-scab legislation. On the other, their refusal to break with liberalism in any meaningful way makes them appear weak and directionless. Instead of mobilizing the anger and desperation many working people feel, they seek to temper it — framing small reforms as radical change while avoiding confrontation with the wealthy. They speak the language of justice but fear the consequences of acting on it. Even within their own party, there’s a tendency to sideline grassroots voices in favour of PR consultants and central office messaging. This alienates not just the left, but ordinary people who are tired of being pandered to without being listened to. If the NDP cannot define itself against both the liberals and the conservatives — if it cannot imagine and fight for a world beyond capitalism — it risks irrelevance, even as conditions worsen.

So what of the election? I do recommend voting to avoid the worst (for example, i’ll be voting for Elizabeth May next week when advance polling opens even though I don’t particularly like her or the green party) - but that is a minimum “action”, and cannot be the extent for our politics. The liberals are winning because they’re the “rally around the flag” party. Carney can get away with offering less because people are scared of Trump and American dominance in international trade - which is a real problem. But the problem isn’t america, or americans, most of whom are working class people just like in Canada and every other nation, but the american bosses and corporations who seek to take over every industry everywhere they can with the cheapest labour available. And due to this newfound (especially among liberals) nationalism, people forget the enemy at home. People cheer for loblaws and SNC lavalin (or whatever they call themselves now) as brilliant examples of Canadian industry. Company groups appear on the news - sometimes next to union representatives - in a disgusting display of class collaborationism against the perceived enemy. Canada needs neither an election nor a trade war - it needs a socialist revolution to bring true democracy and true freedom to the Canadian worker, and eventually, the workers of the world.

[fatehbaz]

The SAWP is a temporary labour program that brings foreign workers to Canada for periods between six weeks and eight months annually [...], paving the way for the recruitment of Jamaican workers as well as workers from other Caribbean countries like Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados [beginning] in 1968. [...] The SAWP has been a resounding success for Canadian growers because offshore indentured workers enable agribusiness to expand and secure large profits. Being indentured means that migrant farm workers are bound to specific employers by contractual agreements [...]. First, they are legally prevented from unionizing. [...] Additionally, because they are bound to specific employers, they must ensure that the employer is happy with them [...]. For instance, migrant farm workers are forced to agree to growers’ requests for long working hours, labour through the weekend, suppress complaints and avoid conflicts, if they want to stay out of “trouble” [...]. In “Canada’s Creeping Economic Apartheid”, Grace Galabuzi shows that the Canadian Government’s immigration policy is, in reality, a labour market immigration policy [...].

[Text by: Julie Ann McCausland. "Racial Capitalism, Slavery, Labour Regimes and Exploitation in the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program". Caribbean Quilt Volume 5. 2020. Paragraph contractions added by me.]

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A big finding that came out of the oral history interviews was a much richer tapestry of worker protest than has previously been documented. Speaking with workers – including former workers back in their home countries of Jamaica and Barbados – allowed me to hear the types of stories that often don’t make it into archives or newspapers. Interviewees told me stories about wildcat strikes, about negotiating conditions with employers, and also about protesting their home governments’ role in organizing the migrant labour program. [...] [T]hings did not have to be this way; our current world was anything but inevitable. [...] [But] economic forces transformed tobacco farming (and agriculture writ large), [...] leaving mega-operations in their wake. [...] [L]arge operations could afford [...] bringing in foreign guestworkers. The attraction of foreign workers was not due to labour shortages, but instead in their much higher degree of exploitability, given the strict nature of their contracts and the economic compulsion under which they pursued overseas migrant labour. [...] Ontario’s tobacco belt (located in between Hamilton and London, on the north shore of Lake Erie), was from the 1920s to 1980s one the most profitable sectors in Canadian agriculture and the epicentre of migrant labour in the country [...]. In most years, upwards of 25,000 workers were needed to bring in the crop. [...]

[The words of Edward Dunsworth. Text is a transcript of Dunsworth's responses in an interview conducted and transcribed by Andria Caputo. 'Faculty Publication Spotlight: Ed Dunsworth's "Harvesting Labour"'. Published online at McGill Faculty of Arts. 15 December 2022. At: mcgill.ca/arts/article/faculty-publication-spotlight-ed-dunsworths-harvesting-labour. Some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

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Jamaican agricultural workers say they face conditions akin to “systematic slavery” on Canadian farms, as they call on Jamaica to address systemic problems in a decades-old, migrant labour programme in Canada. In a letter sent to Jamaica’s minister of labour and social security earlier this month [August 2022], workers [...] said they have been “treated like mules” on two farms in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province. [...] The workers [...] are employed under [...] (SAWP), which allows Canadian employers to hire temporary migrant workers from Mexico and 11 countries in the Caribbean [...]. “We work for eight months on minimum wage and can’t survive for the four months back home. The SAWP is exploitation at a seismic level. Employers treat us like we don’t have any feelings, like we’re not human beings. We are robots to them. They don’t care about us.” Between 50,000 and 60,000 foreign agricultural labourers come to Canada each year on temporary permits [...]. Canada exported more than $63.3bn ($82.2bn Canadian) in agriculture and food products in 2021 – making it the fifth-largest exporter of agri-food in the world. [...]

[Text by: Jillian Kestler-D'Amours. "Jamaican farmworkers decry ‘seismic-level exploitation’ in Canada". Al Jazeera (English). 24 August 2022.]

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In my home country, St. Lucia, we believe in a fair day’s pay [...]. In Canada, we give more than a fair day’s work, but we do not get a fair day’s pay. [...] I worked in a greenhouse in [...] Ontario, growing and harvesting tomatoes and organic sweet peppers for eight months of the year, from 2012 to 2015. [...] In the bunkhouse where I lived, there were typically eight workers per room. Newly constructed bunkhouses typically have up to fourteen people per room. [...] I also received calls from workers (especially Jamaicans) who were either forbidden – or strongly discouraged – from leaving the farm property. This outrageous overreach of employer control meant that workers had difficulty sending money home, or buying necessary items [...]. [O]n a lot of farms, [...] workers’ movement and activity is policed by their employers. The government knows about this yet fails to act.

[Text are the words of Gabriel Allahdua. Text from a transcript of an interview conducted by Edward Dunworth. '“Canada’s Dirty Secret”: An Interview with Gabriel Allahdua about migrant farm workers’ pandemic experience'. Published by Syndemic Magazine, Issue 2: Labour in a Treacherous Time. 8 March 2022. Some paragraph contractions added by me.]

---

The CSAWP is structured in such a way as to exclude racialized working class others from citizen-track entry into the country while demarcating them to a non-immigrant status as temporary, foreign and unfree labourers. The CSAWP is [...] a relic of Canada’s racist and colonial past, one that continues unimpeded in the present age [...]. [T]he Canadian state has offered a concession to the agricultural economic sector in the way of an ambiguous legal entity through which foreign agricultural workers are legally disenfranchised and legally denied citizenship rights.

[Text by: Adam Perry. "Barely legal: Racism and migrant farm labour in the context of Canadian multiculturalism". Citizenship Studies, 16:2, 189-201. 2012.]

---

Other publications:

Smith. 'Troubling “project Canada��: the Caribbean and the making of “unfree migrant labour”’. Canadian Journal of Latin American Studies Volume 40, number 2. 2015.

Choudry and Thomas. "Labour struggles for workplace justice: migrant and immigrant worker organizing in Canada". Journal of Industrial Relations Volume 55, number 2. 2013.

Harsha Walia. "Transient servitude: migrant labour in Canada and the apartheid of citizenship". Race & Class 52, number 1. 2010.

Beckford. "The experiences of Caribbean migrant farmworkers in Ontario, Canada". Social and Economic Studies Volume 65, number 1. 2016.

Edward Dunsworth. Harvesting Labour: Tobacco and the Global Making of Canada’s Agricultural Workforce (2022).

Edward Dunsworth. “‘Me a free man’: resistance and racialisation in the Canada-Caribbean Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program,” Oral History Volume 49, number 1. Spring 2021.

[yourreddancer]

WHAT MELANIA AND IVANKA SAID ABOUT USAID

Donald Trump — abetted by his unelected assistant president, Elon Musk — is trying to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

He has called USAID a “tremendous fraud.”

Interesting, then, that both his wife, Melania, and his daughter Ivanka have worked with and praised the agency.

In 2018, Melania Trump — who was First Lady at the time — visited Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi with USAID.

She said this:

“We care, and we want to show the world that we care, and I’ve partnered and am working with USAID. And that’s what I want to share — that we care.”

And this:

“I wanted to be here to see the successful programs that the United States is providing to the children.”

And this:

“We are having funding, so we are helping the countries, and we are working hard for helping them and we will continue to help.”

Ivanka Trump, for her part, took credit for leading a $50 million USAID program in 2019 to empower women in developing countries, saying:

“We know there’s a correlation between gender inequality and conflict, there’s tremendous amounts of research. ... It is in our domestic security interests to empower women.”

And on a trip to Africa of her own, Ivanka visited Ivory Coast and Ethiopia to announce millions in USAID assistance for women entrepreneurs.

Ivanka even used some $11,000 in USAID funds to buy video equipment for an event at the White House in 2019, during her father’s first term.

For those not caught up in “DOGE”-driven ideological extremism, supporting the humanitarian work of USAID is common sense.

Public Citizen is suing Trump over his attempt to dissolve USAID. Our earlier note about this new lawsuit is copied below in case you missed it.

On Friday night, a federal judge granted our request for emergency action to stop the Trump regime from putting 2,200 USAID workers on leave and to bring back the hundreds put on leave earlier in the week.

But this is only a temporary interruption to Trump’s (Musk’s?) plans. We will be back in court next week. This lawsuit is far from over.

******

This past Thursday night, Public Citizen sued Donald Trump for shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

By dissolving USAID — in clear disregard for the law and the Constitution — Trump has touched off a global humanitarian catastrophe.

Originally established by Congress in 1961 — when John F. Kennedy was president — USAID is a vital humanitarian organization that provides life-saving food, medicine, and support to much of the rest of the world.

But Trump has illegally ordered USAID workers to stop doing their jobs, frozen the agency’s funding, and prepared to lay off or fire nearly all employees.

With USAID in disarray, medical clinics, soup kitchens, refugee assistance programs, and countless other critical projects across the globe cannot operate.

This is a humanitarian nightmare of Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s making in service of ideologically bizarre interests.

Last Monday, Elon Musk bragged that he had spent the weekend “feeding USAID into the wood chipper.” The Constitution is clear — Congress created USAID and only Congress can dismantle it. Not MAGA sycophant and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Not President Donald Trump. And definitely not the unelected Elon Musk.

Public Citizen is representing the American Foreign Service Association and American Federation of Government Employees in this case, with co-counsel at Democracy Forward.

Our lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction barring Trump, and State Department or Treasury Department officials, from taking any action to dissolve USAID absent congressional authorization. We are also seeking a temporary restraining order — mandating a reversal of the Trump regime’s unlawful actions and a halt to any further steps to dissolve USAID — until the court has resolved our suit.

By the way, we have now filed five lawsuits against the Trump regime (and there are more to come). Here are the other four:

1. We’ve told you about the suit we filed, within moments of Trump being sworn in, challenging the secrecy and structure of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency that is being run by Elon Musk.

2. We also sued over the removal from publicly accessible government websites of a broad range of health-related data and other information used by health professionals to diagnose and treat patients.

3. We’ve been emailing you about the suit we filed earlier this week to block the illegal invasion of privacy being carried out by “DOGE” at the U.S. Treasury Department.

4. And, on Friday morning, we filed a lawsuit to block “DOGE” from improperly accessing private information at the Department of Education.

[gehiimagrigation]

Trusted US Immigration Visa Services | Professional Visa Assistance

Every year, millions of individuals apply for U.S. visas, whether for a short visit, to study, work, or live permanently. The US Immigration Visa Services / Process can be complicated. With strict requirements, lots of paperwork, changing regulations, and long wait times, even the smallest mistake can lead to delays or denial.

That is why professional US Immigration Visa Service legal help is more than just helpful—it’s crucial. Having expert assistance means your visa application is prepared correctly to meet current immigration laws. Whether you are an employer bringing in international talent, a student pursuing your dreams, or a family seeking to reunite, working with an experienced immigration attorney can save you time, stress, and potentially costly errors.

At Gehis Immigration and International Legal Services, we are here to make the process easier for you. With our deep knowledge of U.S. immigration law and our presence in both the U.S. and India, we are ready to handle all kinds of visa cases, from the simplest to the most complex.

Types of U.S. Immigration Visas:

U.S. immigration visas fall into two main categories: immigrant visas for individuals seeking permanent residency (a green card) and non-immigrant visas for those who intend to stay temporarily. Immigrant visas include family-based green cards, which allow U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to sponsor close relatives like spouses, children, parents, and siblings. Employment-based green cards (EB1 through EB5) are designed for professionals with job offers, individuals with extraordinary abilities or advanced degrees, and foreign investors contributing to the U.S. economy. The Diversity Visa Lottery Program offers a limited number of green cards each year to applicants from countries with historically low immigration rates to the U.S. Special Immigrant Visas (such as for Special Immigrant Juveniles or religious workers) serve individuals with unique circumstances or humanitarian needs.

On the other hand, non-immigrant visas are issued for temporary purposes, including travel, study, or short-term work. The B1/B2 visa allows for business visits or tourism. Students pursuing academic or vocational programs may apply for F1 or M1 visas. At the same time, professionals may be eligible for temporary work visas such as H1B, L1A/L1B, O1 for individuals with extraordinary ability, or TN visas for Canadian and Mexican professionals under NAFTA. The J1 exchange visitor visa supports cultural exchange programs, internships, teaching, and training. The K-1 visa permits foreign fiancé(e)s of U.S. citizens to enter the country for marriage, expecting the couple to wed within 90 days and begin the green card process.

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Visa Services Offered By Gehis Immigration and International Legal Services:

Beyond routine immigration filings, Gehis Immigration and International Legal Services handles high-stakes visa matters that require deep legal insight and experience. We assist with waiver applications such as I-601, I-212, and 212(d)(3) for clients who may be inadmissible due to past immigration violations or other legal barriers. These cases demand careful legal strategy and persuasive documentation, and our team is equipped to help you build the strongest case possible.

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Our team is multilingual, culturally sensitive, and deeply compassionate—we understand the emotional weight that immigration carries, and we walk with you every step of the way. We also believe in making professional legal help accessible. That’s why we offer transparent pricing and affordable solutions without compromising on quality. And with a strong track record of success, especially in tough visa cases, we’re confident we can help you achieve your immigration goals.

Ready to Apply for a U.S. Visa? Let Us Help You:

Starting your U.S. visa process doesn’t have to be confusing or stressful. At Gehis, we make it simple. Begin with a free consultation or initial case review to learn about your options and get personalized advice from our legal team. We’ll guide you step-by-step—from evaluating your eligibility to preparing your documents and representing you through interviews or appeals if needed.

To schedule your consultation, reach out to us through our website or call our office in India. Whether you’re just exploring your options or ready to apply, we’re here to provide trusted support and legal insight.

Final Word

Immigrating to the United States is a major step, and it deserves thoughtful, experienced legal support. At Gehis Immigration and International Legal Services, we understand your dreams, your concerns, and your determination. No matter how complex your case may seem, we’re here to guide you with honesty, care, and the highest level of professional service.

[voyager-au-canada]

Les Différents Types de Visa Travail Canada pour les Africains

L'immigration au Canada est un rêve pour de nombreux Africains désireux de construire un avenir meilleur pour eux-mêmes et leur famille. Le Canada offre des opportunités de travail exceptionnelles grâce à ses programmes d'immigration flexibles et à son marché du travail dynamique. Cependant, obtenir un visa travail Canada nécessite de comprendre les différents types de permis de travail disponibles et de choisir celui qui correspond à votre situation.

1. Permis de Travail Temporaire (Work Permit)

Le permis de travail temporaire est l'un des visa les plus populaires pour ceux qui souhaitent travailler au Canada pour une période déterminée. Ce permis est délivré aux travailleurs étrangers qui possèdent une offre d'emploi valide d'un employeur canadien.

Critères d’éligibilité :

Vous devez disposer d'une offre d'emploi valide d'un employeur canadien.

Certains secteurs nécessitent une validation du Marché du Travail (LMIA).

Avantages :

Opportunités dans divers secteurs : Vous pouvez travailler dans divers domaines au Canada, de l'agriculture à l'informatique.

Renouvelable : Certains permis peuvent être prolongés en fonction de l'offre d'emploi.

2. Permis de Travail Ouvert (Open Work Permit)

Le permis de travail ouvert offre une flexibilité supplémentaire, car il vous permet de travailler pour n'importe quel employeur canadien, sans être lié à un employeur spécifique.

Critères d’éligibilité :

Conjoint(e) de citoyen canadien ou résident permanent.

Étudiants internationaux ayant terminé un programme d’études au Canada.

Avantages :

Grande flexibilité : Vous n'êtes pas lié à un employeur, ce qui vous permet de changer de travail facilement.

Opportunités dans diverses industries : Vous pouvez explorer diverses carrières en fonction des opportunités disponibles.

3. Permis de Travail Postdiplôme (Post-Graduation Work Permit)

Le permis de travail postdiplôme est destiné aux étudiants étrangers ayant terminé un programme d’études au Canada. Ce visa vous permet de travailler au Canada et d'acquérir de l'expérience professionnelle après l’obtention de votre diplôme.

Critères d’éligibilité :

Vous devez avoir terminé un programme d'études d'au moins huit mois dans une institution d'enseignement agréée.

Avantages :

Expérience professionnelle canadienne : Ce permis est une excellente opportunité pour les diplômés étrangers d'acquérir une expérience de travail canadienne.

Durée flexible : La durée de votre permis dépend de la durée de votre programme d'études.

4. Programme Express Entry

Le programme Express Entry est destiné aux travailleurs qualifiés qui souhaitent immigrer au Canada de manière permanente. Bien que ce ne soit pas un permis de travail, il permet d'obtenir un statut de résident permanent, avec la possibilité de travailler immédiatement.

Critères d’éligibilité :

Vous devez avoir une expérience de travail qualifié dans un domaine spécifique.

Le système de classement CRS détermine si vous êtes éligible.

Avantages :

Résidence permanente : Ce programme vous permet d’obtenir la résidence permanente et de travailler au Canada de manière illimitée.

Opportunités à long terme : Il ouvre la voie à de nombreuses possibilités professionnelles à long terme au Canada.

5. Programme des Travailleurs Temporaires (Temporary Foreign Worker Program - TFWP)

Le TFWP permet aux employeurs canadiens de recruter des travailleurs étrangers pour des emplois temporaires dans certains secteurs.

Critères d’éligibilité :

Vous devez avoir une offre d'emploi valide d’un employeur qui participe au programme.

L'employeur doit obtenir un LMIA pour valider l'offre d'emploi.

Avantages :

Secteurs spécifiques : Ce programme permet de combler les pénuries de main-d'œuvre dans des secteurs clés, tels que l’agriculture et la construction.

Conclusion

Le Canada offre de nombreuses possibilités pour les travailleurs étrangers, en particulier pour les Africains désireux d’immigrer. Que vous soyez un professionnel qualifié, un étudiant ou un conjoint de citoyen canadien, il existe un visa travail adapté à vos besoins. En comprenant les critères d’éligibilité et en choisissant le bon programme, vous pouvez maximiser vos chances de réussir votre immigration au Canada.

Prêt à commencer votre parcours d'immigration au Canada ? Découvrez comment le Fonds d'Autonomie pour l'Afrique peut vous accompagner dans le préfinancement de votre visa travail. Contactez-nous maintenant pour plus d'informations et pour démarrer votre démarche.

[mariacallous]

Operatives from Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the Department of Labor (DOL) have access to systems that house sensitive data pertaining to immigrants, sources tell WIRED. This access comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has continued its crackdown on immigrants around the US, and DOGE has played a key role in collecting personal data on them.

WIRED previously reported that Miles Collins, Aram Moghaddassi, and Marko Elez are all DOGE operatives embedded at the Labor Department.

Collins has access to the DOL’s National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) system, according to sources with direct knowledge. This program offers funding to organizations that work with migrant and seasonal farmworkers, as well as organizations working on the state level to support job training for low-income farm workers. Last year, the program disbursed $90 million in grants. Anyone legally allowed to work in the United States and who meets the program’s criteria is eligible for support.

“When I say ‘migrant and seasonal farm workers,’ that does not mean somebody who just arrived from Venezuela or something. It means essentially people who are authorized to work in the United States,” says a DOL employee familiar with the program. “Maybe there's some misunderstanding even among the DOGE guys.”

According to the source, access to the NFJP’s system could provide the Social Security numbers of every person who is a beneficiary of the program, as well as what kind of services a beneficiary received. (Social Security numbers are assigned to US citizens as well as immigrants legally residing and working in the country.)

This kind of data, says the source, is normally “very, very controlled.”

Instructions to grant Moghaddassi access to data from the DOL’s Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) reporting system were also viewed by WIRED. FLAG is responsible for a number of initiatives, including wage protections for foreign workers and visa programs for foreign and temporary workers. Data on visa applicants maintained in FLAG systems, sources say, could include names, work addresses, work history, phone numbers, email addresses, and an “alien registration number,” which is an identifier assigned to foreign nationals by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). These numbers can be found on green cards, or permanent resident cards, and employment authorization cards. Permanent Labor Certifications (PERM) are also available in the FLAG system. The certification, according to the Labor Department’s website, “allows an employer to hire a foreign worker to work permanently” in the US.

The instructions to grant Moghaddassi data access to FLAG appeared under a heading that reads “OIG access level,” which likely refers to the DOL’s Office of Inspector General. The OIG at the DOL, according to its website, “investigates fraud, waste, and abuse related to the department's programs, including the foreign labor certification programs.” FLAG is the application portal for these certification programs. Larry Turner, the former Inspector General at the Department of Labor, was fired by Trump in January as part of a broader purge of the position across more than a dozen agencies. Trump has since nominated Anthony D’Esposito, a former US congressman from New York, for the job.

DOGE’s access at the DOL also encompasses data that, while not directly immigration-related, could be used in conjunction with data that is. Collins, Moghaddassi, and Elez all have access to the DOL’s Reentry Employment Opportunities (REO) program, WIRED has confirmed. This program at the DOL provides funding for people who were incarcerated and supports job training and other employment services.

While the REO database isn’t immigration-specific, the data from REO could be cross-referenced with other datasets to figure out the immigration status of formerly incarcerated people benefiting from the program. If DOGE were to find crossover, a source at the agency tells WIRED, this “would fit so neatly with their messaging about immigrants being criminals and abusing government services.” (Despite claims from Trump’s administration, there is no evidence that immigrants present threats to “national security” and “public safety” or that they abuse government services—in fact, research shows that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the US.)

Moghaddassi, Elez, and Collins did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did the Department of Labor.

Moghaddassi and Elez have also appeared as DOGE operatives at other federal agencies and have connections to Musk.

Moghaddassi has worked at a number of Musk’s companies, including X, Tesla, and Neuralink; according to previous WIRED reporting tracking DOGE operatives, he has also been linked to the Treasury Department and DHS.

Elez, a 25-year-old engineer who has worked at Musk’s X and SpaceX, has also appeared at the Treasury and Social Security Administration. While at the Treasury, WIRED reported, Elez had both read and write access to sensitive Treasury systems. Elez briefly resigned from DOGE after racist comments posted by an account he was linked to were discovered by The Wall Street Journal. Elez returned to DOGE after Musk and Vice President JD Vance posted in defense of him on X.

Elez is also staffed at DHS, according to Politico, as part of the administration’s effort to bring together data from a number of government agencies to streamline and systematize DHS enforcement and deportation. Elez, despite his initial resignation from DOGE, has seemingly been tasked with a number of unusually sensitive assignments: He is also part of the DOGE team working on a system to sell the $5 million visas that Trump calls “gold cards.”

Elez is on this team with Edward Coristine, the young DOGE operative known as “Big Balls.” Coristine also has his hands in many agencies and recently appeared at the Labor Department, sources tell WIRED.

Coristine is another key DOGE staffer planted at DHS. He has also appeared at the Office of Personnel Management, the United States Agency for International Development, the Department of Education, the General Services Administration, and the Small Business Administration.

Coristine did not reply to requests for comment.

“This is an administration that is happy to go after people with legal status if it dislikes something else about them,” says Victoria Noble, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “It's just one more source of information that allows this administration to target people who are here legally, but target them for deportation or other more advanced investigations.”

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Advocates are welcoming a rare decision to permanently ban an Okanagan winemaker from the Temporary Foreign Worker Program because of abuses. But they warn much more needs to be done to protect vulnerable workers from exploitation. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s website shows Toor Vineyards was fined $118,000 and was permanently banned from hiring through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program or International Mobility Program. It said the vineyard had not provided an inspector requested documents, gave employees different pay or working conditions than listed on offers of employment and failed to protect workers from physical, psychological, financial or sexual abuse.

Continue reading

Tagging:

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Amanda Becker at The 19th:

The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved Project 2025 architect Russell Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on a party-line vote after Democrats held the floor overnight in an attempt to delay the confirmation since they did not have the numbers to block it.  Vought was confirmed by a vote of 53-47. For 30 hours, starting on Wednesday afternoon and into Thursday evening, Democrats took turns on the Senate floor to protest Republican President Donald Trump’s nomination of Vought, who also led OMB at the tail end of Trump’s first administration. “This is really important, that we raise the alarm as to what is happening,” said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who spoke from 2-5 a.m., longer than most of his colleagues.  During his first stint at OMB, an under-the-radar entity that wields immense influence over the federal government by crafting the president’s budget, Vought helped Trump come up with a plan to jettison job protections for thousands of federal workers and assisted with a legally ambiguous effort to redirect congressionally appropriated foreign aid for Ukraine. In the years since, Vought founded two pro-Trump groups whose work has focused on discrediting structural racism and curtailing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. The chapter that Vought wrote for Project 2025 detailed how the budget agency could be used to withhold money appropriated by Congress and eliminate dissent within agencies by purging them of employees. Trump said repeatedly during his campaign that he had not read Project 2025 and did not know its authors, though at least 60 percent of its more than 350 contributors were linked to the president. These include appointees and nominees from his first administration, members of his prior transition team and unofficial advisers. Project 2025 is a 920-page roadmap from the conservative Heritage Foundation about how Trump’s second administration could use the federal government to enact a far-right Christian agenda. If implemented — and some of the Trump administration’s earliest moves track the blueprint’s objectives — it has the potential to redefine rights long held by all Americans, with disproportionate impacts for women, LGBTQ+ people, people of color and vulnerable populations like the elderly and disabled.

[...] Last week an OMB letter sent by acting director Matthew Vaeth instructing federal agencies to pause “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance” sent shock waves across Washington. The White House moved to quell the backlash. A federal judge earlier this week issued a temporary restraining order, extending a pause on implementing the directive. 

US Senate confirms 53-47 along straight party lines to confirm Project 2025 architect Russ Vought to head up the OMB, reprising his role that he had in Trump’s 1st term.