http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-isl...gn-workers.html
A P.E.I. mussel producer is struggling to run his business after 11 workers he brought from Sri Lanka disappeared.
Stewart paid $21,000 in air fare, renovated a house for them, and bought a van for them to get around. In all, it cost him about $50,000, and in return they signed an eight-month contract.
The workers arrived on May 6 and a month later, Stewart believes they hired two taxi vans to take them to Ottawa.
Paul Snow, an immigration official in Charlottetown, told CBC News Tuesday he can't comment specifically about the case, but he said it is a very rare for temporary foreign workers to leave before they have fulfilled their contracts. He said immigration officials do background searches on foreign workers before they get a visa to come to Canada.
"It's certainly not a perfect process; we never pretended it was," said Snow.
"I suspect that like any organization we'll make mistakes on both sides of the issue. We will refuse to let people come forward who potentially would have fulfilled all their obligations. And we will occasionally let people come forward who had no intention of fulfilling their obligations."
Lobster processor Ocean Choice has complained this year about the small number of foreign workers allowed by the Immigration Department into the country.
Changes needed: Easter
The Sri Lankan workers are still in the country legally, although they cannot take other work because they are under contract to Stewart. If they are caught working elsewhere, they can be charged, fined or removed from Canada and never allowed to return.
Malpeque MP Wayne Easter believes the system needs to do more to protect the employers of foreign workers. Easter said as long as employers are fulfilling their end of the bargain and not abusing employees, the workers shouldn't be allowed to walk away.
"What you have right now is 11 Sri Lankans, wandering around this country somewhere without their passports, that both the RCMP and CSIS claim they can do nothing about because they are here on a work visa," he said.
"How are they going to live? Are they going to work in the underground economy? Or are they going to get into other endeavours and cause problems?"
Stephen Stewart is hoping someone will compensate him for the money he spent to bring migrant workers to P.E.I. He has sent letters to a number of federal politicians, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in hopes he can recoup some of his money.
Full Version: Woops :)
I feel for the poor guy... but he is writing letters to the PM and politicians to get some of his money back?? HAHA they are politicians... they only take money...not give back.
QUOTE(Emancipation @ Jun 20 2007, 04:22 PM) 
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-isl...gn-workers.html
A P.E.I. mussel producer is struggling to run his business after 11 workers he brought from Sri Lanka disappeared.
Stewart paid $21,000 in air fare, renovated a house for them, and bought a van for them to get around. In all, it cost him about $50,000, and in return they signed an eight-month contract.
The workers arrived on May 6 and a month later, Stewart believes they hired two taxi vans to take them to Ottawa.
Paul Snow, an immigration official in Charlottetown, told CBC News Tuesday he can't comment specifically about the case, but he said it is a very rare for temporary foreign workers to leave before they have fulfilled their contracts. He said immigration officials do background searches on foreign workers before they get a visa to come to Canada.
"It's certainly not a perfect process; we never pretended it was," said Snow.
"I suspect that like any organization we'll make mistakes on both sides of the issue. We will refuse to let people come forward who potentially would have fulfilled all their obligations. And we will occasionally let people come forward who had no intention of fulfilling their obligations."
Lobster processor Ocean Choice has complained this year about the small number of foreign workers allowed by the Immigration Department into the country.
Changes needed: Easter
The Sri Lankan workers are still in the country legally, although they cannot take other work because they are under contract to Stewart. If they are caught working elsewhere, they can be charged, fined or removed from Canada and never allowed to return.
Malpeque MP Wayne Easter believes the system needs to do more to protect the employers of foreign workers. Easter said as long as employers are fulfilling their end of the bargain and not abusing employees, the workers shouldn't be allowed to walk away.
"What you have right now is 11 Sri Lankans, wandering around this country somewhere without their passports, that both the RCMP and CSIS claim they can do nothing about because they are here on a work visa," he said.
"How are they going to live? Are they going to work in the underground economy? Or are they going to get into other endeavours and cause problems?"
Stephen Stewart is hoping someone will compensate him for the money he spent to bring migrant workers to P.E.I. He has sent letters to a number of federal politicians, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in hopes he can recoup some of his money.
A P.E.I. mussel producer is struggling to run his business after 11 workers he brought from Sri Lanka disappeared.
Stewart paid $21,000 in air fare, renovated a house for them, and bought a van for them to get around. In all, it cost him about $50,000, and in return they signed an eight-month contract.
The workers arrived on May 6 and a month later, Stewart believes they hired two taxi vans to take them to Ottawa.
Paul Snow, an immigration official in Charlottetown, told CBC News Tuesday he can't comment specifically about the case, but he said it is a very rare for temporary foreign workers to leave before they have fulfilled their contracts. He said immigration officials do background searches on foreign workers before they get a visa to come to Canada.
"It's certainly not a perfect process; we never pretended it was," said Snow.
"I suspect that like any organization we'll make mistakes on both sides of the issue. We will refuse to let people come forward who potentially would have fulfilled all their obligations. And we will occasionally let people come forward who had no intention of fulfilling their obligations."
Lobster processor Ocean Choice has complained this year about the small number of foreign workers allowed by the Immigration Department into the country.
Changes needed: Easter
The Sri Lankan workers are still in the country legally, although they cannot take other work because they are under contract to Stewart. If they are caught working elsewhere, they can be charged, fined or removed from Canada and never allowed to return.
Malpeque MP Wayne Easter believes the system needs to do more to protect the employers of foreign workers. Easter said as long as employers are fulfilling their end of the bargain and not abusing employees, the workers shouldn't be allowed to walk away.
"What you have right now is 11 Sri Lankans, wandering around this country somewhere without their passports, that both the RCMP and CSIS claim they can do nothing about because they are here on a work visa," he said.
"How are they going to live? Are they going to work in the underground economy? Or are they going to get into other endeavours and cause problems?"
Stephen Stewart is hoping someone will compensate him for the money he spent to bring migrant workers to P.E.I. He has sent letters to a number of federal politicians, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in hopes he can recoup some of his money.
QUOTE(Lance27 @ Jun 20 2007, 08:49 PM)
I feel for the poor guy... but he is writing letters to the PM and politicians to get some of his money back?? HAHA they are politicians... they only take money...not give back.
Yeah that was my thought.. where in the US the gut reaction is to sue.. the gut reaction in Canada is to run to the Gov.
I do feel for him!! But also is no one worried about what these guys are up to? Remember when the students dissapeared here in the US ? It was a man hunt.. Canada doesn't seem to be concerned.. uh.. not sure what to say about that.. 
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.