OTTAWA, ON – August 10th, 2023 – CFA welcomes today’s announcement of the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Recognized Employer Program, a three-year pilot that will first be made available to agricultural workers this September before its wider rollout in January 2024. This program, which CFA has advocated for over many years, looks to reduce the administrative burden required to obtain TFW’s for agricultural operations facing clear, chronic labour shortages and a proven track-record of abiding by all rules set forth for the treatment of agricultural employees.
“Canadian agriculture has had chronic labour issues for decades, which have only been exacerbated as labour and skills shortages have become more widespread throughout the Canadian economy. Many farmers across Canada have been unable to recruit Canadian workers for years. As a result, they are reliant on Temporary Foreign Workers to address these chronic shortages for in-demand occupations, many of them working with the same people for years, if not decades, on end. While we look forward to getting further details on the program, this program looks like it will reduce the administrative burden on those farmers who can demonstrate a history of compliance and years of reliability as employers,” said Keith Currie, CFA President.
“We applaud the federal government for launching this long-awaited program and are looking forward to working with them to ensure that this has the intended effect of streamlining administrative processes for those farmers and giving a public-facing designation on the Canada Job Bank that will add in their ongoing recruitment of Canadians by demonstrating their track-record as reliable employers and their commitment to safe working conditions.”