A Winnipeg man convicted of hiring unauthorized foreign nationals to work on a Maples-area housing project says he was backed into a corner after the contractor couldn’t find enough people to do the work.
“I had no intention to do it, but I had no option left,” building project manager Gurwinder Singh Ahluwalia told a judge at his sentencing hearing April 2. “My wife’s brother invested in this project, my father invested in this project. Otherwise, 50 families would have gone bankrupt.”
The workers “got paid, they got money for their lodgings and here we are,” he said.
Ahluwalia, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized employment of foreign nationals, an offence under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. He was sentenced to 20 months of house arrest and fined $50,000.
The Canada Border Services Agency launched an investigation in August 2023 after receiving a tip about the “treatment and use” of unauthorized workers at the Templeton Heights construction site, Crown attorney Matthew Sinclair told provincial court Judge Rachel Rusen at Ahluwalia’s sentencing hearing.
During the investigation, a Brazilian foreign national told investigators he had been given Ahluwalia’s phone number to call about “work opportunities” in Canada, Sinclair said.
“Ultimately, he was advised to come to Canada as a visitor and worked without authorization, performing construction tasks at the Templeton Heights site,” Sinclair said.
Further investigation revealed Ahluwalia employed 14 foreign nationals without the appropriate work permits.
Investigators executed search warrants for Ahluwalia’s home, office and truck as well as an immigration company. They seized thousands of pages of documents that revealed a pattern of “dangling” the promise of a legitimate work permit.
“Without the protections of legitimate Canada-sanctioned work, many of these workers endured poor conditions, missing pay, and lacked workplace health and safety protection,” Sinclair said.
Workers, fearing reprisals, often ignored safety concerns at the construction site and delayed medical treatment for work injuries because they didn’t have sick benefits, Sinclair said.
“While it can be said that Canadian society has come a long way from 100 years ago in terms of work conditions, it’s clear that there are those in our society who still seek to take advantage of workers,” he said.
Defence lawyer Marty Minuk said the Saskatchewan-based construction company retained for the project ran out of workers and couldn’t find any more, putting Ahluwalia at risk of defaulting on a bank loan.
“Somehow, he was contacted by an individual who was familiar with individuals in Brazil who were looking for work and they came to Canada for this particular project,” Minuk said.
“Mr. Ahluwalia understood they weren’t properly here… he couldn’t even find Canadians to do the work.”
Ahluwalia’s financial woes were no excuse for exploiting vulnerable workers, Rusen said.
“I appreciate you felt pressured and that you didn’t have any choices, but laws are there to protect people,” Rusen said.
“While you may think that all of these foreign nationals working for you received all the benefit, they didn’t,” she said. “These are vulnerable people… they came here without the protections, they have no recourse, they have fear of reprisals for things that can go wrong.”
Ahluwalia’s actions undermine the integrity of the construction industry and compromise worker safety, Winnipeg Construction Association president Ron Hambley said in a news release issued Thursday.
“It was more than disappointing to read that news and hear what those workers were subjected to,” Hambley said. “Compliance with labour laws is not only a legal obligation, but also essential for maintaining a fair and competitive industry.”
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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