Dhyan Jeny Enterprises Ltd. pleaded guilty in Moose Jaw Provincial Court on Aug. 11 to charging a foreign worker for employment making the first conviction under the Saskatchewan Foreign Worker Recruitment and Immigration Services Act (FWRISA).

While this is the first conviction under the legislation, some experts say it is one example of a larger pattern of employers abusing foreign workers programs.

“There is a meaningful number right now of you know, where people are inappropriately using our immigration program or committing fraud anywhere where there’s money available people bad actors get involved,” says Saskatchewan Immigration and Career Training Deputy Minister Greg Tuer.

In a related development, tuer says not every employer is a bad actor, and the ministry is taking steps to address issues.

“People come here from all over the world and the law and the customs here in Canada and Saskatchewan are different from where they came from,” stated Tuer.

“When they’re working for a bad actor who’s either not fully paying them for the job they’re doing or withholding their documents or making them pay for the job, I think that’s a tough position for someone to be in.”

Furthermore, the ministry’s investigation in Moose Jaw found a worker was required to pay $12,000 for employment.

The company was ordered to pay $12,000 in restitution to the victim and a $5,000 fine, alongside a $2,000 victim fine surcharge.

In Swift Current, another employer, Husky Travel Centre / Husky Energy, is facing multiple charges of  imposing an employment fee to two foreign nationals and a charge of exploiting ones lack of knowledge of FWRISA.

Additionally, tuer says a change in legislation from the Saskatchewan Foreign Worker Recruitment to the Immigration Services Act in 2024 has allowed more charges to be laid.

“With the change to that act, our enforcement capabilities were broadened. We actually built a larger compliance team here. And with that, more capacity to do investigations,” says Tuer.

Tuer noted this year the ministry has canceled more than 10 business’ certificates of registration to employ foreign workers.

It is worth noting that saskatoon immigration lawyer Oluwadamilola Asuni says bad actors can make an already competitive process more difficult for workers trying to build a life in Canada.

“It is seriously eroding the confidence people have in the Canadian immigration system when they now have to pay to get a job. It confers undue advantage on those people who have paid in the competitive immigration process,” expressed Asuni.

“The rate at which these things happen is more often than the one or two convictions here and there that we have seen.”

In the broader context, asuni says employment exploitation goes beyond the relationships between foreign nationals and companies.

Earlier this month, Saskatoon Provincial Court heard another case of two employers, Sohel Hadiar and Muhammad Masum, who were allegedly exploiting a foreign national’s attempt to find employment and were found guilty of human trafficking.

This year, Saskatoon resident Balvir Singh pleaded guilty to advising foreign nationals to misrepresent employment information on immigration applications while charging up to $40,000 for immigration sponsorship.

Notably, saskatchewan Association of Immigrant Settlement and Integration Agencies executive director Innocent Minega says there are things prospective immigrants can do to protect themselves.

“Just like any other profession, you will find malpractices everywhere,” says Minega.

“I will call on newcomers to do their own due diligence to make sure that they’re dealing with the proper immigration consultants who are licensed to provide that kind of services.”

With roughly 6,000 businesses in the province certified to employ foreign workers, Tuer expects more charges to come as investigations ramp up.