– Voix de solidarité pour les victimes d’une agence de recrutement et de placement IRIS Inc. –
Agence Iris, based in Châteauguay and then Ville LaSalle, obtained closed work permits for positions within the agency that did not actually exist. Agence Iris then assigned these workers to various client companies, including the Reine Antier residence in Rivière-du-Loup. Assigning workers to locations other than those listed on their work permits obviously contravenes the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. However, Dieudonné Nidufasha, Director of Agence Iris, told the workers that he was authorized to do so by the government.
In addition, Mr. Nidufasha owes tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid wages. Several complaints on this subject were lodged with the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) over a year ago. The agency remains in operation, however, and holds two valid CNESST permits, as a temporary foreign worker recruitment agency and as a personnel placement agency.
Several complaints were also sent to Service Canada, in charge of enforcing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, over a year ago. No follow-up has been made on their part, and no investigation seems to have been launched against Agence Iris by Service Canada.
“This situation is totally unacceptable,” says Florian Freuchet of the Centre des travailleurs et travailleuses immigrants (CTTI) du Bas-Saint-Laurent. “And this is unfortunately not an isolated case. This situation is a perfect illustration of the problems associated with placement and recruitment agencies that circumvent labor standards, and this is commonplace! The CNESST must acquire additional levers to penalize fraudulent placement and recruitment agencies. After all, it is the CNESST that issues operating permits to recruitment agencies,” he continues.
“Once again, we see that provincial and federal institutions are proving ineffective in protecting migrant workers from the abuses of these private intermediaries who take advantage of their vulnerability. I know of NO ONE who is comfortable with this kind of modern-day slavery. There is an urgent need to take action against these heinous crimes. I’m ashamed of Canada,” says Sylvain Lirette, President of the Conseil Régional de la Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ) Bas-Saint-Laurent-Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine.
In light of this scandal, CTTI and its allies reiterate their demands once again that the federal government abolish the closed work permit that continually exposes migrant workers to these exploitative situations. In addition, we note that more and more migrants are losing their immigration status as a result of such abusive situations, which reaffirms the urgent need to regularize non-status people who are simply victims of the immigration system itself.
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