Canadian Tire stiffen recruiting rules for temporary foreign workers
Canadian Tire Corp. has barred its franchisees from using recruiters and immigration consultants who charge fees to temporary foreign workers and place them in jobs at the retailer’s stores.
The retail giant’s new policy, which took effect at the start of December, comes after a Globe and Mail investigation exposed how dozens of Canadian Tire franchise owners were using an Alberta-based recruiter, Allison Jones Consulting Services, to staff their stores with temporary foreign workers.
The owner of the recruiting agency, Allison Jones, is being investigated by Ontario’s Ministry of Labour. The ministry declined to provide details about the nature of the probe.
Canadian Tire made the internal policy change alongside its franchise owners, also known as dealers.
Eight foreign workers who worked at a Canadian Tire store in west Toronto say that they paid AJ Immigration Group – an immigration consultancy owned by Ms. Jones – roughly $10,000 to come to Canada. This figure was confirmed by The Globe through e-mails, invoices and text messages between the workers and staff at AJ Immigration.
Ms. Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. She has previously denied charging foreign workers for recruiting services, which is illegal. She also denied that there was a continuing investigation into her and her companies, although she acknowledged that there were complaints filed by individuals to the Ontario Ministry of Labour against Allison Jones Consulting.
In a statement to The Globe sent this week, Canadian Tire said that its policy prohibits its franchise owners from using middlemen such as recruiters and immigration consultants who charge fees to foreign workers for any services, including immigration advice.
The Globe investigation found that at least 45 Canadian Tire stores across Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta have used Allison Jones Consulting to hire temporary foreign workers.
Ezhil Natarajan, the owner of one of those Canadian Tire stores located in the Toronto neighbourhood of Etobicoke, is also being investigated by Ontario’s Ministry of Labour for the alleged mistreatment of workers he hired through Allison Jones. He has denied any wrongdoing.
“Allegations of mistreatment are taken very seriously, and we are committed to thoroughly investigating the facts so we can take appropriate action consistent with our values,” Canadian Tire said in the statement. “This policy exceeds legal requirements and underscores our dedication to our values.”
It is not uncommon for employers to use recruiters to find foreign workers, especially because employers need to submit a Labour Market Impact Assessment application to the government to justify the hiring of someone through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. These application packages are long and detailed and recruiters commonly charge employers thousands of dollars for LMIA services. An agreement between one Canadian Tire dealer in Collingwood, Ont., and Allison Jones Consulting, showed that Allison Jones collected between $1,500 and $2,000 from the dealer to process an LMIA application.
What is critical is the legality of charging fees to the workers themselves.
It is illegal for foreign workers to be charged fees by recruiters and for employers to knowingly use recruiters who charge fees. But licensed immigration consultants – like those employed by AJ Immigration – are allowed to collect fees from foreign workers for giving them immigration advice and helping them with work permit applications.
Ms. Jones owns and operates both a recruiting agency, Allison Jones Consulting, and an immigration consultancy, AJ Immigration. She collected fees from clients like Canadian Tire dealers in exchange for finding them foreign workers. She also collected fees from the foreign workers themselves through AJ Immigration. Both AJ Immigration and Allison Jones Consulting were located at the same office in St. Albert, a suburb outside Edmonton.
Two former employees of Ms. Jones told The Globe that staff at the two companies routinely worked together to bring foreigners into Canada to work at large retailers and restaurants, charging the workers US$7,900 for the entire process. The former employees also said that Canadian Tire was a popular client of Ms. Jones and she generated a lot of business from recruiting foreign workers for the retailer’s stores. Ms. Jones also recruited foreign workers for Tim Hortons and A&W restaurants.
Canadian Tire has more than 500 stores across the country, employing approximately 40,000 workers. The company uses the TFW program sparingly – just 15 per cent of its stores use the TFW program, and 2 per cent of its work force comes from the program. In the statement, Canadian Tire said that the TFW program was essential in “helping stores maintain operations and avoid reduced services for customers.”
Federal government data show that at least 51 Canadian Tire stores, including many of the stores linked to Ms. Jones, were approved to hire 635 temporary foreign workers between 2017 and the first quarter of 2024 – the vast majority through the low-wage stream of the TFW program.
Canadian Tire’s corporate office does not have any authority over the hiring practices of its dealers. But the company said it conducts a thorough vetting process of prospective dealers – including background and reference checks – before entrusting them with ownership of a Canadian Tire store.
This article was first reported by The Globe and Mail
