The number of temporary foreign workers applying for open work permits to escape abusive employers has jumped more than 800 per cent year-over-year, according to a Toronto Star article published this week.
Based onrecords published by Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the Star found that open work permits for vulnerable workers in Ontario soared to 435 in the first quarter of 2025, up from just 45 during the same period last year – an 867 per cent increase.
Ontario was not alone. In British Columbia, 650 permits were issued in the first quarter of 2025, a sharp rise from just 40 during the same period in 2024. Quebec and Alberta each saw 465 permits issued in early 2025, up from 65 and 30, respectively, during the same period last year.
The government data shows dozens of trucking companies being issued penalties for various program violations.
The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) has been sounding the alarm for nearly a decade concerning gross labour abuses in the trucking sector. In 2020, the Star published a feature article highlighting abuse and harassment of truck drivers by unscrupulous carriers who withhold wages, benefits, vacation pay etc., while misclassifying employee drivers as contractors.
“As the most recent article shows, the number of companies abusing workers and manipulating labour programs has risen exponentially over the last few years. It will continue to get worse without any meaningful intervention or enforcement actions taken to help these victims,” said OTA president Stephen Laskowski. “The trucking industry needs and welcomes qualified foreign labour. The OTA has been calling on the federal government to introduce a Known Employer Program, which would help end abuses like human trafficking, and help new people to Canada realize the life that they dreamed of when arriving to our country – not the exploitation and political neglect many experience under this poorly designed program.”
The Ontario Trucking Association has been calling on Queen’s Park and Ottawa to expand a crackdown on the trucking industry, which the association believes should begin in earnest, starting with the companies identified in the government data.
The OTA will be hiring a third-party consultant to identify these trucking companies and assess their commercial vehicle operators (CVOR) and workplace safety and insurance board (WSIB) status provincially; as well as their Trusted Trader status pertaining to federal border security programs This analysis will be made available to all agencies and any users of freight transportation that requests this information.
“OTA has been demanding enforcement action against these fleets for many years. We need real, strong government action – beyond a basic tip line – that will truly send a message that these abuses are totally unacceptable,” said Laskowski. “The OTA stands for a trucking industry that is entrepreneurial and creative, not one that relies on slave labour, Ontarians and Canadians are joining the responsible, law-abiding trucking companies and drivers who are absolutely fed up with the lack of enforcement which allows this criminal activity to thrive.”
More on this developing story will be posted by OTA and the Canadian Trucking Alliance in the coming weeks.