Some workers could be part of class action against the Canadian government
Certain workers in Canada could be part of a class-action lawsuit launched against the federal government.
On Feb. 23, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice certified a class action on behalf of migrant agricultural workers that alleges the Canadian government violated their Charter rights.
The claim alleges that under the current design of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP), migrant agricultural workers are subjected to “tied employment,” which restricts the mobility of workers in Canada. It suggests this condition was “originally imposed to prevent the integration of racialized farmworkers into Canadian society, among other discriminatory purposes.”
Pierre Desrosiers/Shutterstock
Goldblatt Partners, the law firm representing the migrant workers, cited two House of Commons Standing Committees’ recommendations in 2009 and 2016 to eliminate tied employment because “it leads to a power imbalance conducive to abuse.”
The class action also alleges the “systemic exclusion” of SAWP workers from Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, despite being required to pay EI premiums. The representative plaintiffs are accusing Ottawa of “unjust enrichment” by collecting EI premiums while excluding migrant workers from EI benefits.
“The claim estimates that Canada has collected hundreds of millions of dollars in EI premiums from migrant agricultural workers and their employers over the past 15 years alone, while denying these workers the ability to access regular EI benefits because of tied employment,” stated Goldblatt Partners.
Who could be eligible for the class action?
The plaintiffs of the class-action lawsuit represent 75,000 Caribbean and Mexican farmworkers in the SAWP.
According to the law firm, the proposed class members consist of all current and former migrant agricultural workers who are or were employed in Canada on a contract basis under the SAWP on or after Jan. 1, 2008.
This isn’t the only class-action lawsuit that has been launched against the Canadian government over workers’ rights.
In June 2025, the Superior Court of Quebec authorized a class action against the Attorney General of Canada for “employer-tying measures” imposed on temporary foreign workers.
Daily Hive has reached out to Employment and Social Development Canada for a statement. We will update the story once they respond.