'It's like a cage': Foreign workers who quit Canadian Tire speak out about feeling trapped by work permits

Rowell Pailan spends his days applying for jobs in factories, in restaurants, in shops. He's ready to take any kind of work.

Last September, Pailan quit his job with the company he came to Canada to work for over what he says are disputes about his treatment, including hours and wages. Now, he can't find an employer willing to do the paperwork to change his closed work permit a standard part of Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program that ties workers to specific companies.

He knows the end date on that work permit means time is ticking on his Canadian dream.

"I'm still asking myself, what I am doing here, what I'm doing here in Canada," he said in a recent interview in his Wolfville, N.S., apartment.

"I'm just always thinking for my family, not for myself, actually."

Pailan, a citizen of the Philippines, is one of a group of at least 13 temporary foreign workers who came to Canada in 2023 to work at a large Canadian Tire store in Etobicoke, an area on the west side of Toronto.

But before their work permits expired, many of the workers quit their jobs at the store. Pailan and another worker are speaking out, saying the owner paid them less than the agreed-upon wage in their contracts, and threatened to demote them or fire them.

Some workers were able to convert to an open work permit, meaning they were no longer bound to the Canadian Tire. Others, like Pailan, were denied open permits and remain on closed onesthat restrict their work opportunities.

This comes at a moment when the Canadian government is making major adjustments to the TFW program, and the number of workers seeking to break free of closed permits because of abuse claims has "doubled or tripled" in the last few years, according to Immigration Minister Marc Miller.

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Closed permits tie workers to employers

Pailan's former employer was Ezhil Natarajan, the owner of the Canadian Tire in Etobicoke.

Natarajan has owned and managed various Canadian Tire stores through his company named GeethaEzhil Inc. since 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Canadian Tire stores are all independently owned and operated, and the corporation notes on its website that each store has the "sole and exclusive right to interview, select, hire and train their staff."

The job offer was appealing to Pailan, who says he has 16 years of experience managing clothing stores overseas.

"All the things that he told me about the contract: that I'll be working minimum 35 and40 hours a week, and there will be overtime pay and there's a lot of benefits that I will get," he said.

Natarajan made a similar job offer to Jhan Cresencio, another worker who arrived at the Canadian Tire in early June 2023.

Both Pailan and Cresencio say they paid $7,900 US (approximately $10,000 Cdn) to a recruitment agency to get the job at Canadian Tire.

Cresencio, also a citizen of the Philippines, says he was initially "happy and grateful" for the job offer. He says he's worked in retail for 12 years, the last five at clothing stores and as an executive assistant in Saudi Arabia.

He expected to have a good experience working in Canada, but says those expectations vanished when he actually started.

Both Pailan and Cresencio were hired on closed work permits that tied them to Natarajan's Canadian Tire branch. Their contracts described store supervisor positions, at a rate of $20 per hour for full-time positions between 35 to 40 hours a week.

Their work titles and hourly wages were laid out in their labour market impact assessments (LMIAs), evaluations done by the federal government to determine if there's a genuine need for temporary foreign workers to fill positions before granting employers approval to hire them. However, both men say they were not given any supervisory duties.

Problems with work schedules, pay

Cresencio says on Boxing Day 2023 Natarajan shouted at him in front of customers and other employees in a derogatory manner, after he lent his key to another employee to retrieve something from a break room.

"He was shouting at me that if I don't want to work with him and if I act like that, he will terminate me. He will demote me," Crescencio said.

He says he felt humiliated and that this kind of treatment was unimaginable.

"I've been working for about 13 years," he said. "This is the worst kind of employer that I work with."

Both Pailan and Cresencio showed their pay stubs and work schedules to CBC.

Between late January and late July, Pailan was scheduled for fewer than 35 hours of work a week for 14 out of 26 weeks.

In early July, his hourly pay rate was reduced from $20 per hour to $16.50 per hour. Pailan said Natarajan informed him of the change in a private conversation and threatened to terminate him if he told anyone about it.

"I [felt] depressed," said Pailan, who noted he was using his income to pay his own rent, as well as his children's post-secondary tuition and living expenses in the Philippines.

"I thought to myself, how can I give allowances for my kids? Because I have to pay the rent, I have to buy my food," he said. "Sometimes we're just eating noodles and egg just to budget ourselves because of the salary."

Meanwhile, Cresencio says he was working far more hours than his contract stated, yet not being paid for all of them.

Between October 2023 and January 2024, Cresencio's schedule showed he was expected to work between 42.5 and 53 hours each week. However, paystubs he provided to CBC indicate he was paid a flat rate of $1,600 biweekly, an amount that would equal 40 hours a week at his pay rate of $20 per hour.

"Each day you're going to work, but you don't know what will happen to you. Your work is not secure," Cresencio said. "It is always, you know, in the hand of your employer."

He says he believed his work environment was unhealthy, but due to the closed work permit he felt unable to leave. He recalls becoming so emotionally stressed that he used to break down in tears during his walk to work, and again when he got home. Even now, he says, "it still haunts me."

Eventually, Cresencio says he was no longer able to send money home to support his partner and two daughters, and he depleted the savings he'd built up while working in Saudi Arabia.

He describes working under the closed permit as feeling "like a cage."

"This work permit, they use this to exploit you, to do what they want to you," he says.

Though he says he believes most employers don't exploit workers on closed permits, he suggests they do present the potential for abuse.

"People like me, like the others, temporary foreign workers, they got no choice but to follow."

Cresencio quit his job with Natarajan in February 2024, five months after Pailan left.

Ontario Labour Ministry investigating

CBC reached out to Natarajan to ask him to respond to the allegations the workers made against him. He responded by email that he "vehemently denies" all the allegations, but provided no other details.

In a move first reported by the Globe and Mail, the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development confirmed it has an open investigation into the Canadian Tire owned by Natarajan. The ministry would not release any further details.

Employment and Social Development Canada, which regulates the temporary foreign worker program, would not confirm whether an investigation is ongoing into the store.

In an email, a spokesperson for Canadian Tire Corporation wrote the organization is "deeply concerned by the allegations that have been raised."

"We had no knowledge of this situation, and we are investigating the details and validity of the allegations," read the corporation's statement.

Between late 2022 and early 2024, Natarajan's store received eight positive LMIA approvals, giving the company the ability to hire up to 34 positions including shelf stockers, supervisors, clerks and car mechanics.

McMaster University professor Catherine Connelly says she was "shocked, but also not that surprised" by what the workers allege they experienced at the Etobicoke store.

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She says that in her view, closed work permits are one of the "worst aspects" of the TFW program because they can facilitate abuse.

"It literally does trap the worker. It ties them to the workplace," said Connelly, who specializes in human resources and management and has spent the past 10 years studying and interviewing temporary foreign workers and their employers.

"And so people endure considerable mistreatment."

Growing number of workers claiming abuse

Cresencio was able to convert his closed work permit into an open one, using a program meant specifically for TFWs undergoing abuse or at risk of abuse.

"You are one of the luckiest persons on earth having that paper," he said. "You have the freedom to choose and you have the freedom to move."

The open work permit for vulnerable workers (OWP-V) was instituted in mid-2019, and has seen a dramatic increase in approvals.

However, not every worker who applies gets approved: Pailan and eight of his colleagues who left the Etobicoke Canadian Tire had unsuccessful applications.

Pailan wasn't given an exact explanation for why his application was denied, but according to the decision he received, the government officer looking into his case did not find that Pailan had supplied the necessary evidence to prove he was at risk of abuse by Natarajan.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, which is responsible for the vulnerable open work permit program, declined to make Minister Marc Miller available for an interview.

In a statement, the department said when it approves an OWP-V, it triggers an inspection of the employer to make sure foreign workers are being treated according to their job offers. Non-compliant employers are listed on a website. As of publishing, Natarajan's company was not listed on the website.

In August, Miller told reporters he acknowledged a responsibility to ensure TFWs do not face abuse.

"Any person in Canada, regardless of who they employ, needs to treat people with dignity and respect according to the law," he said. "That isn't happening in some sectors that employ temporary foreign workers, and that needs to end."

Miller also said the OWP-V is not a "be all and end all" solution, and some reforms are needed.

For now, the TFWs who left the Etobicoke store have spread out across the country to find work.

Cresencio is working two jobs in Labrador City, N.L. one in retail, the other in a restaurant. He gets up at 5 a.m. to be at work by 8 a.m. each weekday morning. In the evening, he serves food and drinks until 10 p.m., then goes home to sleep.

He calls his current employers "amazing," and says they're doing all they can to ensure employee retention, including helping him apply for permanent residence.

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He considers the long work hours worth it because he can visualize a future for himself and his family there. His 12 and 13 year old daughters have visas to join him, and he hopes his partner will receive one soon as well.

"Labrador will offer me the opportunity to stay here and provide better education for my kids," he said.

Pailan still hopes to stay in Canada

After leaving Canadian Tire, Pailan got a job at a factory in Wolfville, N.S., which was willing to do the paperwork with the federal government to take on his closed permit.However, he was laid off during the summer of 2024 due to lack of work, and is again on the hunt for a job.

If Pailan can't accumulate enough work experience before his permit expires next September, he feels his chances of achieving permanent residency will likely be lower.

He hopes to stay in Canada and be reunited with his children, who are currently in the Philippines. His 22-year-old daughter is graduating from nursing school this month and his 18-year-old son is studying aviation technology.

"I still love Canada," he said."But as of now my status I'm still struggling."