The Canadian government has issued a reminder for the local employers: ‘When it comes to jobs, Canadians are always first in line’. An official statement by the government reminded local employers that the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program should be used as a last resort option for employers who cannot find qualified Canadians and permanent residents to fill job vacancies.
It has been instructed that all Canadian employers follow the strict process of first trying to find a local employee for the job, and hire a non-Canadian only if they fail to do so.
“There’s a stringent process in place to ensure that Canadian workers are always prioritized first. All employers seeking to use the Temporary Foreign Worker Program must demonstrate that genuine attempts to recruit workers from within Canada were unsuccessful. They must also continue recruiting for the position while the application is pending. Workers under the TFW Program represent approximately 1% of the Canadian workforce and play important roles in key sectors such as agriculture, food processing, construction and health care,” the official notification stated.
Decrease in temporary foreign workers
IRCC also stated that in context of the tightening labour market in September 2024, several measures were implemented to reduce reliance on the Temporary Foreign Worker programme. This has resulted in a 50 per cent reduction overall in applications to the programme and 70 per cent in the low-wage stream.
As a part of the reforms, Canada put a 10 per cent limit on low-wage hiring (20 per cent in certain in-demand sectors) and stopped processing low-wage applications in urban areas with at least 6 per cent unemployment. These rules applied to more jobs once IRCC increased the minimum wage needed for high-wage roles.
Due to this, IRCC recorded that 137,000 fewer new workers arrived between January and July 2025, when compared to January to July 2024. As of July 31, 2025, there were a total of 1,494,905 people who only hold a work permit.
‘Hire if you can afford’
IRCC has also reminded Canadian employers that if they do hire foreign workers, then it is essential to provide safe, healthy and dignified working conditions to these temporary employers. “Employers who hire temporary foreign workers are also required to provide safe, healthy and dignified working conditions. The Government has a strong compliance regime to help ensure that the health and safety of temporary foreign workers are protected,” the notification stated.
“The employer compliance regime aims to verify employers’ adherence to program requirements and conditions through inspections. Employers who do not respect these could be issued administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) of up to $1 million per year and be temporarily or permanently banned from the Program,” it added.
Inspections and bans happening
IRCC also revealed that ESDC conducted 1,435 employer compliance inspections in fiscal year 2024–2025. In this inspection, 10 per cent employers were found flouting rules. During the same period, penalties more than doubled from $2,067,750 to $4,882,500 and resulted in 36 employers being banned from the Temporary Foreign Workers programme, a threefold increase from last year.
Between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025, several cases of non-compliance were recorded under the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) programme. One employer in the agriculture sector was fined $212,000 and was banned from hiring foreign workers for two years as they failed to provide proper documents to inspectors, and their foreign employees were also not provided proper working conditions.
Another employer in the residential building construction industry was fined $161,000 and banned from the TFW Program for 5 years for failing to provide proper wages and working conditions and lack of compliance with federal and provincial labour laws.
Similarly, an employer in the long-haul trucking industry was fined $150,000 for failing to genuinely operate a business, and for not providing the required documentation to inspectors.
In addition, this September, an employer in the fish and seafood sector was issued a penalty of $1 million and a 10-year ban from the Program for failing to provide proper wages and working conditions, failing to comply with federal and provincial labour laws, and failing to provide a workplace that was free of abuse. This is the biggest penalty that any employer has faced from this department.
“Building a stronger Canada means protecting those who work tirelessly, day in and day out. Workers in Canada deserve safe workplaces where their rights are protected from bad actors. The TFW Program is a last resort measure for businesses – it is no substitute for Canadian talent, and its misuse will never be permitted. Strengthening our inspection practices to weed out employers who misuse the program puts workers at the forefront and safeguards their well-being while we build, together, one Canadian economy that will benefit all generations,” said Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario.