Press release: Landmark victory for Mexican migrant workers who worked for NS seafood processor

Halifax, Nova Scotia (June 24, 2024) – On June 14, 2024, the Nova Scotia Labour Board ordered the company Ocean Pride Fisheries Limited to compensate eight Mexican migrant workers (also known as Temporary Foreign Workers) with a total of $23,739.23 for pay in lieu of notice, deductions from their wages for costs such as immigration fees, travel costs, and missing hours.  

The workers had filed Labour Standards Complaints on September 13, 2021. In October 2023, the Director of Labour Standards ruled in favor of the workers. However, on November 6, 2023, Ocean Pride filed appeals in the case. In its recent decision, the Nova Scotia Labour Board once again ruled in favor of the workers.  

The order states: “The Respondent Employees described many hardships that they experienced while working for Ocean Pride including workplace injuries and unfavourable working and living conditions. These allegations are distressing, and they underscore the need to ensure the regulation of employment standards for vulnerable foreign workers who are in Canada temporarily.”

All the workers had been employed with Ocean Pride for multiple seasons. Their employment came to an end on September 10, 2021. While Ocean Pride alleged that they had quit, the workers maintained that their employment had been terminated without notice.

“There is no evidence that any of the Respondent Employees said anything to Ocean Pride about seeking to change their employment status. The Board accepts that they were gathered to attempt to express concern about Ocean Pride’s termination of another temporary foreign worker and to mobilize to talk to Surette about improved working conditions. It backfired, and they were homeless by nightfall,” reads an excerpt from the order.

“I feel that the matter was investigated in depth. I feel heard by this decision and like they realized everything we lived through. We come here not knowing our rights, because we think we don’t have rights in a country that isn’t ours. But, yes, we do have rights,” said one of the eight workers.

“While these migrant workers faced an uphill and years long battle, they ultimately won a landmark victory for migrant worker rights in NS and beyond. Their case highlights the need for greater action from the province and feds to ensure migrant rights are respected, given their vulnerabilities. For example, for many migrant workers, their bosses are also their landlords,” said Stacey Gomez, Executive Director of the Centre for Migrant Worker Rights Nova Scotia (CMWR NS).

She added: “More must be done by the province and feds to ensure migrant workers are treated fairly, including targeted and unannounced labour and safety inspections, open work permits on arrival, and permanent residence status on arrival.”

CMWR NS (formerly No one is illegal Nova Scotia), which is named in the decision, supported four of the workers to successfully apply for Vulnerable Worker Open Work Permits (VWOWP) in 2023. According to the Government of Canada, one of the key objectives of the VWOWP is to “provide migrant workers who are experiencing abuse, or who are at risk of abuse, with a distinct means to leave their employer.”