OTTAWA – A website that’s documenting abuses of the temporary foreign worker program says it has found immigration lawyers and consultants willing to help employers dodge rules that require them to hire Canadians first.

Operators of the website NTFW.ca, which maps and identifies businesses using temporary foreign workers, posed as a company called Big Jimmy’s Construction and sent an email to a number of immigration lawyers.

The email says the company wants to hire a Thai family member, but has been flooded with interested Canadians after posting the job on the federal government’s job bank — a necessary step for those seeking to hire temporary foreign workers.

One reply from a big Toronto-area law firm that specializes in immigration cases offered to help, saying the firm was very “creative” in dealing with such roadblocks.

Another Vancouver immigration lawyer politely replied that he’d try to help, but says his response was a standard, pro-forma reply.

The Conservative government, which is embroiled in controversy over the temporary foreign worker program, has promised to crack down on unscrupulous immigration lawyers and consultants.

Follow Lee-Anne Goodman on Twitter at @leeanne25