Hire a temporary foreign worker through the Agricultural Stream - Wages, working conditions and occupations

3. Wages, working conditions and occupations

You must provide temporary foreign workers with the same wages and benefits as those provided to Canadian and permanent resident employees working in the same occupation. In addition, temporary foreign workers working in a unionized environment must be paid the wage rate as established under the collective bargaining agreement.

If you plan to hire temporary foreign workers in non-livestock National Occupational Classification (NOC) Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) 0/1/2/3 positions, you must consult the Streams for High-wage or Low-wage  positions to determine the wage.

You must agree to review and adjust the wage of the temporary foreign worker to ensure it meets or exceeds, at all times, the wage rates outlined in the wage tables, or applicable federal/provincial/territorial minimum wage rates, whichever is higher.

• Apiary products
• Fruits, vegetables (including canning/processing of these products if grown on the farm)
• Mushrooms
• Flowers
• Nursery-grown trees including Christmas trees, greenhouses/nurseries
• Pedigreed canola seed
• Seed corn
• Grains
• Oil seeds
• Maple syrup
• Sod
• Tobacco
• Bovine
• Dairy
• Duck
• Horse
• Mink
• Poultry
• Sheep
• Swine

Working conditions

Canadian law protects all workers in Canada, including TFWs. The exploitation of a TFW is considered a violation of Canadian laws and human rights.

Employers must:

• pay workers for all work (including overtime, where required by law)
• provide workplace safety insurance
• offer TFWs the same benefits as other workers, and
• not take the TFWs identification

Employment in most occupations is covered under provincial/territorial legislation that deals with labour and employment standards such as: hours of work, working conditions and termination of employment. In fact, every province/territory has a Ministry of Labour that can provide information to assist employers and TFWs with questions or issues related to work.