Workplace accident claims involving temporary foreign workers skyrocket in Quebec

(Mario Beauregard/Adobe Stock)

The number of workplace accident claims in Quebec involving temporary foreign workers has skyrocketed 141 per cent, according to CNESST.

Jean Boulet, Quebec’s labour minister, said CNESST — the province’s workplace health and safety board — is expanding a squad that helps educate new and foreign worker about their rights on the job, adding that it will increase its oversight of recruitment agencies.

The number of temporary foreign workers has also increased exponentially in Quebec, rising from 23,300 in 2019 to 38,500 in 2022, Boulet said at a press conference. That’s an increase of 65.3 per cent over that three-year stretch.

This “significant” increase is due to increased demand for business, he told reporters, that are contending with an again population and labour shortages. He expects the trend of more temporary foreign workers to continue.

With files from the Canadian Press