Sun Peaks newspaper hit with $10,000 foreign worker program fine

A Kamloops-area newspaper was fined $10,000 amid a federal crackdown on employers hiring foreign workers.

Sun Peaks Independent News was handed the fine on Sept. 12 when the federal government found its parent company “didn’t give the inspector documents they asked for,” according to a listing among non-compliant businesses.

No further details are available from the federal government’s enforcement page.

Parent company Discourse Community Publishing remains eligible to hire temporary foreign workers under the program, which is a restriction often imposed on repeat offenders.

It comes as the federal government limits the number of foreign workers allowed in the country and tightens enforcement on employers who hire them.

In an Oct. 6 Employment and Social Development Canada news release, the federal government announced its measures have resulted in a 50% reduction in applications to hire foreign workers. The low-wage stream of the program has seen a 70% reduction.

Meanwhile, a tenth of employers inspected in the past year have been found “non-compliant.” In total, businesses have been fined a total $4.8 million across the country, which is double the fines from a year earlier.

“The TFW Program is a last resort measure for businesses – it is no substitute for Canadian talent, and its misuse will never be permitted. Strengthening our inspection practices to weed out employers who misuse the program puts workers at the forefront and safeguards their well-being while we build, together, one Canadian economy that will benefit all generations,” Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu said in the news release.

Sun Peaks Independent News publisher Brandi Schier was not available to comment.