The Seafarers’ International Union of Canada (SIU) has launched a lawsuit challenging repeated decisions by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) to grant temporary work permits to foreign maritime workers crewing foreign ships operating in Canadian waters.
Canadian law requires that ships carrying passengers or goods between Canadian ports (“cabotage”) may only use foreign workers if no qualified Canadian workers are available. According to SIU President Jim Given: 'The Federal Government continues to misuse its authority to grant temporary work permits to foreign workers, while passing over Canadian sailors who are ready to work.'
Temporary Work Permits
The SIU lawsuit challenges the temporary work permits recently granted to foreign workers aboard the Sparto, an oil tanker sailing under the flag of convenience of Cyprus. Since the beginning of 2015, the Sparto has been granted permission ten separate times to ship crude oil on the St. Lawrence Seaway and Gulf of St. Lawrence, between the Maritime Provinces and Montreal.
The Government of Canada recently issued work permits to sixteen foreign workers on the Sparto despite the law stipulating that temporary work permits can only be issued if qualified Canadian workers are not available. The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the work permits should not have been issued and the termination of those work permits. Employment and Social Development Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada are named as respondents in the lawsuit.
'2100 Jobs Lost'
SIU states that, so far, 2100 Canadian jobs have been lost because of the government not properly enforcing Canadian immigration law requirements. Since 2013, approximately 4000 temporary foreign work permits have been issued by the Government of Canada for domestic shipping. Approximately 25 per cent of Canadian maritime workers are currently unemployed, SIU adds.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of reports of another foreign vessel, the Amalthea, operating between Canadian ports with foreign workers paid as little as $2.00 an hour.
The SIU has made numerous attempts to contact Federal Government officials around Ottawa’s failure to enforce immigration law in connection with issuing work permits to foreign crew. To date, no acknowledgement has been made and no action has been taken.
