New BrunswickA Saint-Simon shellfish plant was fined $1 million and banned from Canada’s temporary foreign worker program for 10 years due to mistreatment of foreign workers, including improper wages and working conditions.Bolero Shellfish Processing Inc. is being penalized for mistreatment of foreign workersCBC News · Posted: Oct 08, 2025 12:03 PM EDT | Last Updated: October 8Bolero Shellfish Processing Inc. of Saint-Simon has been ordered to pay a historic $1-million fine for mistreatment of its foreign workers and has been banned from the temporary foreign worker program for 10 years. (René Landry/Radio-Canada)A shellfish processing plant on New Brunswick’s Acadian Peninsula has been ordered to pay a historic $1-million fine for mistreatment of its foreign workers, and it’s been banned from using Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program for 10 years.“We’re catching those bad actors,” said Patty Hajdu, the federal minister of jobs and families, while briefly answering a few questions from reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday.“Employers are required to provide safe, healthy and dignified working conditions,” said a release from Employment and Social Development Canada.Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu says the large fine shows enforcement is working. (Parliamentary Press Gallery)“Any mistreatment of workers or misuse of the program will not be tolerated,” it said.Neither Hajdu nor the news release named the company, but the violations and penalties described match a listing for Bolero Shellfish Processing Inc. of Saint-Simon, on a government registry of employers that have been found non-compliant with TFW program conditions.According to the registry, the company was found to have:Broken federal or provincial laws for hiring and recruiting employees. Not met the pay or working conditions in the job offer.Not done enough to prevent abuse or reprisals in the workplace.A spokesperson for Bolero’s parent company, Sogelco International, said in an emailed statement that the Canadian government’s conclusions do not reflect its practices or its commitment to the well-being of employees.It plans to challenge the decision in court, said Gabriel Elbaz, general manager of Sogelco’s operations, based in Montreal.Tracy Glynn is with the Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre, which has been supporting 11 affected Bolero employees.WATCH | Advocate describes what conditions can be like for temporary foreign workers:Ending foreign-worker abuse will take more than fines and hiring bans, advocate saysThe federal government has ordered Bolero Shellfish Processing Inc. of Saint-Simon on the Acadian Peninsula to pay a fine of $1 million for how it treated temporary foreign workers. The company is also barred from hiring such workers for 10 years. Glynn said she didn’t want to say much about what the workers went through because they are still vulnerable, but one problem was not getting the minimum 30 hours per week they had been promised.That’s a problem at other fish plants too, she said, when the industry experiences shutdowns.In these cases, it’s up to the wronged workers to seek compensation, possibly with the help of a local migrant support network, Hajdu suggested.“It’s on individual employees to take action to sue the employer — to take action to try to recover those wages,” she told reporters.Glynn believes foreign employees deserve better protections.“Workers invest so much to come to Canada.… They process our seafood. They grow our vegetables. They take care of our loved ones. Meanwhile, they’re experiencing food insecurity.“There’s so much more that we all need to be doing to ensure that their rights and their lives are protected,” she said.Glynn’s group would like all permits for foreign workers to be open, so they can move to another job or another sector if working conditions at the original employer are bad. If you look at the registry of non-compliant employers, you will see that employers make that list year after year.- Tracy Glynn, Madhu Verma Migrant Justice CentreThe migrant advocacy organization would also like greater access to social services and proactive, unannounced inspections of workplaces and housing.The government says its compliance regime is strong. According to the release from Employment and Social Development Canada, in the last fiscal year, 1,435 inspections were done and 10 per cent of employers were found to be non-compliant.For example, an employer in the agriculture sector failed to provide proper working conditions and documentation and was fined $212,000 and banned from the program for two years, said the release.In another example, a construction company failed to provide proper wages and working conditions and broke labour laws. It was fined $161,000 and banned for five years.Total penalties from April 2024 to March 2025 more than doubled from what they were the previous fiscal year, to almost $4.9 million, and suspensions from the program increased threefold to 36, the release said.The growing imposition of fines indicates that enforcement is working, said Hajdu.Largest fine to dateThe fine issued to Bolero is the largest so far. That’s significant, said Glynn, but she’s not sure it will make a difference.“For many of these companies, it is just the cost of doing business,” she said.“If you look at the registry of non-compliant employers, you will see that employers make that list year after year.”“It is clear that improvements to the TFW Program are needed,” said the release.The government indicated it plans to do this by targeting specific sectors.Confidential tips related to mistreatment of foreign workers can be reported by phone at 1-866-602-9448, and online.The government is also trying to reduce Canadian companies’ reliance on foreign workers. They currently represent about one per cent of the Canadian workforce.Measures introduced a year ago have cut the number of applications to the TFW program in half, said the release.“The TFW Program is a last resort measure for businesses. It is no substitute for Canadian talent,” Hajdu was quoted as saying in the news release.With files from Information Morning Moncton
N.B. shellfish plant fined $1M, banned from foreign worker program for 10 years
