Temporary foreign worker program in Canada

The Temporary foreign worker program or TFWP is a program of the Government of Canada to allow employers in Canada to hire foreign nationals. When the program started in 1973, most of the workers brought in were high-skill workers such as specialist doctors. In 2002 a "low-skilled workers" category was added; this category now makes up most of the temporary foreign workforce. In 2006, the program was expanded and fast-tracking introduced for some locations. It was revised again in 2013, raising wages, charging employer fees, and removing the accelerated applications.

The total number of TFW more than doubled between 1993 and 2013, to 338,189 workers. Between 2006 and 2014, more than 500,000 workers (referred to under the program as Temporary Foreign Workers or TFWs) were brought into Canada under the program. In 2013 there were 338,000 foreign workers in Canada.

Some temporary foreign workers have said they can be treated worse than Canadian co-workers, because of the way in which the Canadian residence of a temporary foreign worker is tied to an employer. Apart from their temporary status, temporary foreign workers have the same employment rights as Canadian workers, and can phone a free 1-800 number for help. It is against Canadian federal rules to bring in temporary foreign workers if Canadian workers are available.

In April 2013 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) started reporting on issues surrounding the hiring of temporary foreign workers.

On April 6, 2013, CBC News reported that Canadian RBC Information technology (IT) workers were losing their jobs to replacement foreign workers. The foreign workers were brought from India by outsourcing firm iGATE, and the Royal Bank of Canada employees trained their replacements before they themselves were laid off, causing their appeal to the media.

The CBC also reported that a Chinese company which owns a mine in British Columbia was attempting to import workers from China. According to the Huffington Post one of the requirements of the job was the ability to speak Mandarin Chinese.

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