Number of temporary foreign workers at food counters increased 4,109% between 2016 and 2023

In 2023, Canadian employers were authorized to hire 8,333 foreign workers to fill positions as food counter attendants and kitchen helpers — nearly double the 4,478 positions approved in 2022 and a huge increase from the 198 positions approved in 2016.

Originally designed to fill jobs Canadians could not or would not take — including agricultural workers, domestic workers and some highly skilled jobs — Canada’s temporary foreign worker (TFW) program is increasingly being used to provide staff for restaurants and fast food chains, including some Tim Hortons, McDonald’s, A&W, Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza franchises.

The number of foreign workers in Canada’s $100-billion food service sector has surged, shooting up by more than 4,000 per cent between 2016 and 2023, along with huge increases in the number of TFWs working in the health care sector and construction. 

As the program ballooned, so have the number allegations of abuse and fraud — to the point where earlier this week Canadian Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault declared that the “abuse and misuse of the TFW program must end,” and promised more stringent oversight to keep “bad actors” in check.

‘A new kind of slavery’: Skyrocketing use of temporary foreign workers in restaurants and fast food chains has advocates concerned – Toronto Star