Bolero Shellfish Processing Inc. was fined and banned for 10 years from using the temporary foreign worker program. Bolero is owned by Montreal-based exporter Sogelco International Inc., whose plants in Atlantic Canada produce lobster, sea cucumber and crabs.JOSEPH PREZIOSO/Getty Images
A New Brunswick seafood processing company has been fined $1-million for violating rules of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program – the largest ever fine levied by the federal government against companies that use the program for migrant labour.
Bolero Shellfish Processing Inc., based in Saint-Simon, N.B., was also banned for 10 years from using the program, making it one of just a handful of companies to be hit with a decade-long ban. The processing company is owned by Sogelco International Inc., a Montreal-based seafood exporter that operates multiple plants in Atlantic Canada, producing lobster, sea cucumber and crabs.
Employment and Social Development Canada, the ministry in charge of administering the TFW program, does not offer specific details of companies’ transgressions. However, it noted that Bolero was penalized for three reasons: It failed to make sure its workplace was free of abuse; pay or working conditions did not match what was stated in an offer of employment; and it broke federal or provincial rules related to hiring and recruiting.
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Gabriel Elbaz, the general manager of operations at Sogelco, said in a statement to The Globe and Mail that the company “categorically rejects the conclusions of the federal government” and that the findings of the government do not reflect Bolero’s commitment to the well-being of employees hired under the TFW program. Mr. Elbaz added that Bolero intends to challenge the federal government’s decision in court.
Ottawa’s TFW program has been plagued with controversy for more than a decade, often because of the exploitation of migrant workers. The government vastly expanded access to the program in 2022, resulting in substantially higher usage. Critics say the “closed work permit” design of the program, which ties a participant’s ability to work in Canada to a single employer, increases a worker’s dependence on that employer and the chance of abuse.
Labour experts and migrant rights groups have also criticized ESDC’s enforcement regime toward employers, saying the ministry does not conduct on-site inspections frequently enough and fails to issue monetary penalties large enough to act as a deterrent for violating rules of the program.
The Globe’s analysis of ESDC data shows that the $1-million fine against Bolero was exceptionally large.
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For example, fewer than 3 per cent of companies that have ever received a penalty from the government were fined more than $100,000. Pêcheries LeBreton & Fils Ltée, another seafood processor in New Brunswick, has received the second-highest fines: a total of $395,750 in two separate penalties in 2023 and 2024.
The ministry did not respond to The Globe’s questions about why Bolero’s fine was much higher than other companies that have violated the same rules of the program.
ESDC data also showed that of the 1,172 companies fined by the government between June, 2016, and September, 2025, approximately 40 per cent, or 476 companies, have not paid their fine. The uncollected amount totals $7.5-million. Companies that do not pay government-issued fines are banned from using the program.
The ministry has repeatedly defended its enforcement regime, noting that penalties and bans against employers have increased over the years. On Monday, ESDC issued a news release that said it conducted 1,435 inspections of employers in the 2024-2025 fiscal year and found 10 per cent of those employers to be non-compliant with TFW rules. In that same period, total penalties more than doubled from the previous year to almost $5-million.
The Globe’s analysis shows that in 2016, the average monetary penalty was $1,000. By 2025, that had increased to $31,554.
Syed Hussan, executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, said the penalties are still too small, on average, and workers do not receive any monetary compensation when their employers are found to have broken TFW program rules.
“A compliance regime cannot fix a system designed to give employers total control over vulnerable workers. Because of their temporary immigration status, workers are threatened with deportation if they speak out and cannot easily leave abusive jobs without losing their legal status in Canada,” he said.
MWAC is calling on Ottawa to compensate temporary foreign workers with fines collected.
The organization helped dozens of migrant workers who faced alleged abuse at Bolero in 2024.
According to a news release from MWAC, 40 workers from Mexico and the Philippines began working at the processing plant in May, 2023, under employment contracts between six and 12 months in duration. But workers had their hours cut substantially from what was stated on their contract, according to MWAC. For example, they were initially scheduled to work 12- to 16-hour days, but had their hours reduced to 20 hours a week. They were still paid for 30 hours of weekly work, as per their employment contracts, but were told that the company was “owed” the difference and they would have to find some way of repaying the company, MWAC alleges.
Syed Hussan of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change said workers should be compensated when their employers are fined.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
Government records show that Bolero was approved to hire 50 temporary foreign workers in early 2023.
Estefania Montes, a migrant worker from Mexico, told The Globe she struggled to cover her basic living expenses because Bolero only scheduled her to work for 16 of the 25 weeks in her employment contract. She entered Canada in May, 2023, on a one-year work permit under the TFW program and immediately began employment at Bolero. She said she could not afford to pay rent to her employer (Bolero provided migrant workers with accommodation) because her weekly wages were much lower than what was stated she would receive in her contract with Bolero.
According to Mr. Hussan, nine former Bolero employees applied for an open work permit through a federal program for migrant workers who have faced abuse from employers. Seven of those workers had their permits approved.
Bolero did not respond to The Globe’s questions on the wages of migrant workers they hired.
With a report from Chen Wang