Montreal migrant workers allege abuse by recruitment agency, call to abolish closed work permits

Migrant workers who were employed through a private recruitment agency are speaking out against what they describe as systemic abuse, unpaid wages and immigration policies that have left them without legal status.

Former employees of Quebec-based recruitment firm IRIS held a press conference Friday to denounce both the firm’s alleged practices and what they say are failures by the federal and provincial governments to protect migrant workers.

“The problem is with the government,” said Manuel Salamanca Cardona, a community organizer with the Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC). “They really don’t realize (how) people (are) suffering. I mean, they’re very far from these situations.”

The workers say they are still navigating lengthy legal proceedings with Quebec’s labour standards board (CNESST) in an effort to recover more than $100,000 in unpaid wages and illegal recruitment fees. According to advocates, IRIS leased workers with closed work permits to other companies, a practice that is illegal.

All of the workers who spoke Friday used pseudonyms, citing fear of reprisal.

One former worker, Rose, described repeated delays in receiving her wages.

“The fact that your employer would tell you, for example, ‘I’m moving from one place to another, I can’t pay you now,'” she said. “How can moving affect the payment of wages?”

According to the group, the abuses went beyond withheld pay. Workers allege the agency engaged in administrative control, fraud, confiscation of documents, misinformation about immigration status and sent them to unauthorized workplaces.

“Many of the mentioned practices are present in labour trafficking cases,” the IWC said in a statement penned Friday morning. “This situation strongly questions the lack of control of the federal and provincial government for the private intermediaries of the labour market such as temp agencies, recruitment agencies and immigration consultants.”

The firm’s recruitment agency permit was suspended in April 2025 and revoked in July 2025, according to CNESST information obtained by CityNews.

Additionally, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada told CityNews that IRIS was found non-complaint with labour standards and was fined $53,750 last year.

Several workers also spoke about the toll the situation took on their mental health.

“It was terrible, psychologically speaking, because you’re at the mercy of someone who you’re beginning to understand, who is very suspicious,” said Lucie, another former worker.

“I had lots of tests done. The doctor just gave me a referral and I was even ready to go under the knife,” said Christian, an ex-IRIS worker.

Immigration status lost amid long legal delays

The IWC says many of the workers entered Canada as visitors before being placed under closed work permits through IRIS.

A closed work permit allows temporary foreign workers to stay in Canada on the condition that they remain tied a single employer.

Although many were later transferred from closed permits to open work permits for vulnerable workers, advocates say lengthy CNESST proceedings have left some fearing their permits will expire before their cases are resolved.

The IWC says 11 former IRIS workers have now applied for Temporary Resident Permits (TRP), which would allow them to remain in Canada for the duration of their proceedings with the labour board.

However, since TRPs are given at the discretion of the federal immigration minister, advocates are worried that workers won’t be able to stay in the country for long enough to see the fruits of their hearings.

“While the federal and provincial governments are tightening immigration restrictions and adopting complex and inhumane policies, we can all see here this morning that these migrant workers are facing increasingly serious abuses and unsustainable realities,” said Ramatoulaye Diallo, treasurer of the Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain–CSN

‘Doubly victimized’: Calls to abolish closed work permits

Labour advocates are calling for stronger oversight of recruitment agencies, temporary staffing firms and immigration consultants.

They also demand the abolition of closed work permits, arguing they create conditions that allow abuse to occur.

“It’s an structural problem,” Salamanca Cardona said. “We’re trying to show the government that (what’s) necessary (is) the abolition of the root of this problem, which is the closed work permit.”

The IWC says it is seeing a growing number of migrants losing legal status after fleeing abusive situations.

It is urging the federal government to introduce a broad regularization program for non-status migrants.

CityNews contacted Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, who declined to comment.

“We are doubly victimized: firstly by the IRIS agency, and secondly by the immigration system, which keeps us in a precarious situation,” Christian said.