The lawsuit argues that the terms of employment amount to slavery and cites the government of 1952 saying exactly that about limiting the worker’s permit to a single employer.
That changed in 1966 when the Temporary Seasonal Workers Program became law. What changed, argues the lawsuit, is that the workers were no longer white Europeans, but black and brown men brought from the Caribbean. They say the permits, which are still in use, are racist.
The lawsuit also seeks compensation for Employment Insurance premiums which the workers had to pay, but were not eligible to collect compensation.
The law said applicants need to be actively seeking employment and those who were terminated could not seek employment because their contracts tied them to the employer who terminated them.
They paid $472 million in premiums since 2008, the lawsuit said.
Many Canadians, including the National Farmers Union and the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, have said the contracts limiting the temporary foreign workers to a single employer should change.
The Toronto Star reports that the federal government is pondering a change to permits for a class of employer such as farming or meat-packing
The government has already made a change for temporary foreign workers who have come for several years to be eligible to apply for a temporary residence permit. That is the first step towards Canadian citizenship and would also enable the holder to seek work for any employer.
