The recommendations in a recent international report calling Canada's temporary foreign worker program a "breeding ground" for modern slavery should spur governments to improve the treatment of foreign workers, advocates for migrant workers in the Maritimes said Wednesday.

The report from Tomoya Obokata, the United Nations (opens in a new tab) special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, "really provides a lot of excellent recommendations and a blueprint for how governments at multiple levels can make changes to ensure migrant workers are treated fairly and with dignity," said Stacey Gomez, executive director of the Centre for Migrant Worker Rights Nova Scotia.

She, along with Dalhousie University(opens in a new tab) social work professor Raluca Bejan and Tracy Glynn, founder of the New Brunswick-based Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre(opens in a new tab), said they weren't surprised that Obokata concluded after visiting Canada last year that a power imbalance favours employers and prevents workers from exercising their rights.

Bejan, who has researched the experiences of temporary foreign workers, said some of the biggest concerns for Nova Scotia's migrant workers include living in overcrowded housing units...

Bejan said that while the seasonal agriculture program is more regulated than the low-wage worker stream for temporary foreign workers, the rules aren't implemented very well. While the program itself is laid out by federal policies, Bejan said varying opinions within the Nova Scotia government regarding which department should enforce rules can hamper enforcement...

Bejan, Gomez and Glynn agreed with Obokata's criticism of Canadian regulations that tie a worker's migration status to a closed, employer-specific work permit, limiting their employment mobility. They all said the closed, employer-specific permits should end...