Ontario's Ministry of Labour found Allison Jones and her businesses were charging foreign workers between US$7,900 and US$12,000 to secure work permits and jobs at a Canadian Tire location in Toronto.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
Ontario has fined a recruiter for charging temporary foreign workers thousands of dollars in fees in exchange for placements at a Canadian Tire CTC-A-T store in Toronto and has ordered two companies she owns to reimburse them for a total of as much as $150,000.
The province’s Ministry of Labour found Allison Jones and her businesses Allison Jones Consulting Services Inc. and AJ Immigration Group Inc. had violated a provision of the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act that prohibits recruiters and employers from charging foreign workers fees when assisting them in finding jobs.
Ms. Jones, who is based in Alberta, was fined $2,000 and ordered to repay the workers’ fees, according to a May decision obtained by The Globe and Mail.
Over 2023 and 2024, eight workers filed complaints with the ministry about how they were hired to work at the Canadian Tire store.
They had each paid Ms. Jones between US$7,900 and US$12,000 to secure work permits and jobs in a variety of roles at the store, according to the decision and copies of contracts between the workers and Ms. Jones’s companies obtained by The Globe. None of the workers were aware at the time that charging recruitment fees is unlawful.
In a statement, Ms. Jones denied charging illegal fees and said she intends to appeal the decision, which she believes was made “in error.” The appeal must be filed within 30 days of the issuance of the May 15 decision.
Ms. Jones’s companies have helped supply low-wage foreign workers to retail chains across the country. A Globe investigation last year found the two companies had worked with at least 45 Canadian Tire stores in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta to hire foreign workers.
At the heart of the province’s investigation was the structure of Ms. Jones’s companies. While it is illegal for recruiters or employers to charge workers fees under both provincial and federal laws, immigration consultants are allowed to bill foreign workers for their services.
Ms. Jones has maintained that she operated lawfully because of the separate entities, with fees charged by the immigration consultancy, AJ Immigration Group.
But the ministry found that Allison Jones Consulting and AJ Immigration Group were associated with each other because they were commonly owned and managed by Ms. Jones and shared employees who worked out of the same office in St. Albert, Alta.
“Although the information provided by the employer alludes to the fact that two businesses operated under different entities, it does not change the fact that both functioned as one comprehensive and unified business, and must be treated as one,” the decision states.
It goes on to say that Ms. Jones attempted to circumvent the law by “having fees fall under AJ Immigration Group Inc.” after each stage of the recruitment process.
Ms. Jones was issued 16 orders to repay fees and eight notices of contravention of the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act as a result of the eight complaints, a Ministry of Labour spokesperson said in an e-mail. The fine for violating the act is $250 per contravention, resulting in a total fine of $2,000 for Ms. Jones.
Canadian employers have relied on temporary foreign workers for decades now, mainly to work in the agricultural sector, as caregivers and in a variety of low-wage retail and food service jobs.
During the pandemic, the demand for foreign workers soared in Canada. At the end of 2020, there were 84,095 people with temporary foreign worker permits in Canada; by the end of 2024, that number had jumped to 191,630, according to federal data.
Alongside this surge was a corresponding increase in the number of middlemen – immigration consultants and recruiters – who benefit from helping foreigners find work and navigate Canada’s complex immigration system.
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Ms. Jones placed hundreds of foreign workers in low-wage jobs over the years at various retailers and restaurant chains. The workers paid most of their fees before they obtained jobs or work permits.
Rowell Pailan used Ms. Jones’s services and ultimately filed a complaint against her with the ministry. In an interview, he said he was happy with the ministry’s decision but worried that he would never be reimbursed if Ms. Jones appealed the decision.
The ministry ordered Allison Jones Consulting and AJ Immigration Group to each repay Mr. Pailan $11,721. Mr. Pailan had paid the two companies US$7,900 in 2023 in exchange for a job at the Canadian Tire store in Toronto.
He worked there between January and September of that year but described his experience as “horrible and stressful” because of frequent admonishments by the owner of the store.
The ministry’s decision against Ms. Jones is a rare one.
Documents obtained through freedom of information requests show that, in the past 10 years, prior to the decision against Ms. Jones, only five penalties were issued to employers or recruiters for violating sections of the Employment Protection act.
Labour lawyers and immigration experts say the law hardly acts as a deterrent against exploiting foreign workers because enforcement is weak and the penalties are small.
“Ultimately, $250 is a small business cost for an unscrupulous recruiter or employer, or a licence fee for breaking the law,” said John No, staff lawyer and interim director of the Parkdale Legal Clinic.
Chris Ramsaroop, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto and an organizer with Justice for Migrant Workers, said it’s particularly problematic that the law puts the onus on foreign workers to file complaints against bad employers or recruiters.
“This case against Allison Jones began because the workers filed complaints with the ministry. What the ministry should do now is attempt to get compensation for all foreign workers who ever paid fees to this recruiter – but that’s unfortunately not how the system works.”
With reports from Sara Mojtehedzadeh