A winery in B.C.’s Okanagan has been permanently banned from hiring temporary foreign workers and fined $118,000, according to the federal government.
According to a notification on the government’s website, Toor Vineyards did not provide a federal inspector with the documents they asked for and did not “put in enough effort” to ensure the workplace was free of physical, sexual, psychological or financial abuse.
The notification also says the pay or working conditions did not match what was listed on an employment offer or a job was not the same as what was offered.
The details of these infractions have not been made public.
Employers found to be non-compliant with regulations under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) can receive a monetary penalty, a ban on hiring temporary workers, or, as in the case of this B.C. winery, both.
According to the government website, a permanent ban is issued only for the most serious violations under the TFWP.
While Toor Vineyards doesn’t appear to exist, the address listed for Toor Vineyards matches the address for Oliver, B.C.’s Desert Hills Estate Winery.
According to the government’s list of businesses that have been found non-compliant with the TFWP, Desert Hills Estate Winery was fined $16,000 in 2023. That list suggests the fine has not yet been paid, as of Jan. 6, 2025.
CBC News has contacted the winery for comment but has not received a response.
Navid Bayat, staff lawyer at the Migrant Workers Centre, said a fine of this amount is “significant” adding that he hopes it sends a message to other employers about the treatment of temporary foreign workers.
“This is quite a rare situation that they get a ban,” he said.
“To me, it reads that they are coming out hard on a likely pattern of systemic violations of the temporary foreign worker program and of the rights of migrant workers who have come here under the pretence of being promised a job in Canada.”
Randhir (Randy) Toor was owner and president, at least at one time, but an Instagram post dated Dec. 22, 2023, said Toor has retired from the winery. In 2022, Toor pleaded guilty to seven counts of counsel or attempt to counsel misrepresentation under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
Out of 957 infractions listed on the government website since 2016, only one other company has been permanently banned from the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.