By Isaac Phan Nay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Advocates are welcoming a rare decision to permanently ban an Okanagan winemaker from the Temporary Foreign Worker Program because of abuses.
But they warn much more needs to be done to protect vulnerable workers from exploitation.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s website shows Toor Vineyards was fined $118,000 and was permanently banned from hiring through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program or International Mobility Program.
It said the vineyard had not provided an inspector requested documents, gave employees different pay or working conditions than listed on offers of employment and failed to protect workers from physical, psychological, financial or sexual abuse.
Only one of the 957 other employers listed as non-compliant on the department’s website has been permanently banned from the program.
Advocates say the penalty is a significant blow for one employer with a pattern of worker exploitation, and it highlights the need for more protections for foreign workers.
“It is very late, and very little,” Raul Gatica with Dignidad Migrante Society said. “It is just punishing the employers. But what we need is worker protection.”
According to BC Registry Services documents, Toor Vineyards in Oliver, B.C., is co-owned by Randhir (Randy) Toor. Last year Toor was accused of sexually assaulting a Mexican farmworker.
The criminal allegations against Toor have not been tested in court.
Oliver RCMP Sgt. Don Wrigglesworth said that due to privacy concerns he cannot comment on whether police are investigating a criminal sexual assault case.
Toor, a former Oliver town councillor and former RCMP auxiliary officer, did not respond to requests for comment sent to his email address. His attorney, Vincent Michaels, also did not respond to a request for comment.
But Gatica said Dignidad Migrante Society has heard at least two complaints from migrant workers against the owners of the vineyard.
He added this isn’t the first time one of Toor’s businesses has been ruled ineligible for foreign worker programs.
At the Oliver, B.C., address listed as Toor Vineyards now sits Desert Hills Estate — which Toor co-owns, according to BC Registry Services documents.
According to the federal immigration department, in January 2023, Employment and Social Development Canada fined Desert Hills $16,000 for violations including having working conditions and pay not match employment offers and not being able to prove that a job description provided to the government was true.
The estate was found ineligible for foreign worker programs after failing to pay the fine.
Gatica predicted Toor won’t pay the new fine.
“They just won’t pay,” he said. “They got previous fines and they didn’t pay. I am sure that they won’t pay this time again.”
He’s calling on the federal government to offer open work permits, so migrant workers can leave their jobs and find other work without having to leave the country.
Permits under the program now require workers to stay with their original employer or face deportation.
Gatica is also calling for surprise inspections of workplaces that hire foreign workers and protections for workers who submit complaints against employers.
“Workers feel afraid to submit a complaint or to follow up with cases, because they will lose their job, or they will never be back to work in Canada, or they will be expelled or deported from the country,” he said.
Maja Stefanovska, a spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Canada, said in an email the department cannot disclose further information about what happened at Toor Vineyards due to privacy concerns.
She added administrative penalties can range up to $100,000 per violation, for a maximum of $1 million per year.
“Toor Vineyards was inspected under TFW Program regulatory authority, found to be non-compliant,” she said. “Consequently, this employer is no longer authorized to hire temporary foreign workers.”
Hugo Velazquez, director of family and settlement programs for MOSAIC settlement and employment services agency, said while he did not have details about this specific case, he expects the rare punishment to resonate through the industry.
“Wineries and wine growers are a very tight-knit group. They speak to each other and they have associations and they meet regularly,” he said. “This impacts humongously, because it is a message from the federal government saying there’s oversight.”
Still, he said the federal government can do more to protect the workers. Velazquez added B.C.’s wine industry was reliant on thousands of foreign workers who come primarily from Mexico, Jamaica and Guatemala.
Statistics Canada data shows that in 2023 about 1,570 temporary foreign workers were employed in beverage manufacturing and about 4,150 were employed in fruit growing in B.C.
“Without temporary foreign workers, wineries and fruit growers would not be able to operate in British Columbia,” Velazquez said.
