Wilf Borgstede wrote an excellent letter regarding the flawed Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) program, and I especially applaud his comment, "Our history of exploitation in the name of so-called progress is not one to be proud of." If people from third-world countries are brought to Canada to work, they deserve more than to be used in the interest of increasing profit for companies that do not want to pay a fair wage.
The TFW program is similar to the discrimination the Asian people faced when they came to work in Canada, during various phases of development, from the gold rush to the building of the railway. Once again, the bottom line was profit.
I am a third-generation Canadian. My grandparents were among others exploited by the government of the day. They needed to open the west, and so, encouraged Europeans to come work the land. These "dirty Galicians" as one politician called them, gave their best efforts and got no rewards from the government or businesses which prospered by their labour, yet scorned their company. However, at least they knew that if they worked hard, they would have a better life than they had left.
The temporary foreign workers have no such hope if we recruit them, exploit their labour, then send them packing. Surely we can do better than this, finding answers that meet the needs of all stakeholders!
Joyce Dirk, St. Albert
