A group of tree planters who say they were treated like "animals" have yet to be paid the more than $230,000 in wages they're owed by a B.C. company, and their lawyer says the government should pay（豬狗不如的苦難日子，公司拖薪，要問政府討）
Khaira Enterprises Ltd. owes back pay to 58 workers, many of whom are impoverished new arrivals from African countries, but the company has yet to pony up a cent of the money, according to lawyer Ros Salvador of the B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
"A lot of these people are living in absolute poverty -- many are homeless. It's quite a dire situation," she told ctvbc.ca.
Last month, the B.C. Employment Standards Tribunal upheld a February decision ordering Khaira to pay its former employees $236,800 in lost wages plus an administrative penalty of $3,500.
Some of the 25 workers Salvador represents are owed as much as $12,000 and have not received any employment insurance since the province shut down their work site near Golden last July.
"It's really huge amounts of money for people who are living in poverty," Salvador said.
Moka Balikama, a 35-year-old immigrant from the Congo, told ctvbc.ca that he is owed $4,000 and has subsisted on food provided by the BC Federation of Labour and other donors since the camp shut down.
"I'm living with a friend, but he told me that he'd help me only for a couple days," Balikama told ctvbc.ca.
He doesn't know where he'll go next, but says he's spent the last year searching for a job while he surfs couches.
"What I would ask is for justice to be done -- that is it," he said.
"There is a proverb in my country: Your property is your property. I know that was my money and I know it's going to come back to me."
The telephone number for Khaira Enterprises is out of service, and the company's lawyer Pir Indar Sahota is currently out of the country, according to his receptionist.
But Salvador says that the company's bank account is empty, and it's up to the government to pick up the slack.
She believes that the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations failed to properly investigate working conditions on past Khaira job sites before accepting the company's low-ball bid for the Golden job.
"Our view is that the Ministry of Forests should pay the full amount of money owing," Salvador said.
"The money they saved should be in the workers' pockets, not with the ministry."
The Employment Standards Branch is holding $105,000 in trust for the workers, but the Ministry of Labour told ctvbc.ca in an email that the money won't be released until the appeal process is complete, which could take several months.
"At that time, the ESB will also take all possible steps to ensure any remaining wages owing will be collected, which could include placing property liens, filing a determination in court or seizing assets," the ministry email reads.
Concerns about Khaira raised months before camp shut down
More than 30 workers were removed from the Golden site in July 2010 in response to what the labour ministry described as "substandard conditions," after authorities discovered they had no toilets and only creek water to drink.
The workers said they were fed rotten food and forced to sleep seven people to a single shipping container.
Khaira was operating a number of camps in B.C. based on two contracts in the summer of 2010, but the company was banned from government work for a year after conditions in the Golden camp were discovered.
Documents that Salvador obtained through an access to information request show that the government was aware of problems at another company's sites by the start of the tree-planting season in March 2010.
By the end of the month, inspections of the company's camp on Texada Island had revealed as many as 15 people were sleeping in a single trailer, with no heat and not enough washrooms.
An official with Vancouver Coastal Health said that the company was only providing workers with one meal per day, and employees were cleaning themselves with cups of water.
Documents provided to ctvbc.ca also reveal that the Western Silviculture Contractor's Association, a rival bidder, raised serious concerns with the ministry about Khaira's safety practices even earlier, in February 2010.
"I honestly can't imagine what the low bid [Khaira] was thinking," one email from the WSCA reads.
"You can't price the work or develop a safe plan if you don't have a sufficient experience with this type of work. In this case, it is pretty clear that the low bid missed something, or probably many things."
In an email to ctvbc.ca, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations said that it took "immediate steps" to address workers' health and safety after conditions at the Golden camp were discovered.
Racism continues to sting
A year after his ordeal in Golden, Balikama says the worst part of the experience was how the workers were treated by their bosses.
"I have never been treated like an animal back home," he said. "What hurt most was when everybody -- Canadians -- said there's no racism in Canada, but that's just not true."
In January, the workers filed a human rights complaint against Khaira, but it has yet to be heard by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.
Despite the racial taunts and unfair treatment he experienced, Balikama says he wants to stay in Canada.
"I would like to stay in B.C., because I would not like to go through more trouble," he said.
Khaira Enterprises isn't the only B.C. company accused of not paying tree planters, and some in the industry are blaming lowball bids for government contracts and lax enforcement of laws.
John Betts, executive director of the Western Silvicultural Contractors' Association, said he's heard numerous stories about tree-planting contractors shortchanging employees at sites across the province so far this season.
"We are hearing through the grapevine that there are workers who are not getting their pay every two weeks," he told ctvbc.ca.
"They have not seen any pay cheques and they've worked for months."
In fact, the Employment Standards Branch has already received eight formal complaints about working conditions in the silviculture industry this year -- two from groups and six from individuals.
Those complaints are a disturbing echo of worker allegations against Surrey-based Khaira Enterprises, which has been ordered to pay former employees $236,800 in unpaid wages.
Khaira has been banned from bidding on government contract work until September 2012, in response to slave-like conditions discovered at its work camps last year.
Betts says he wasn't surprised to learn that Khaira workers were living in crowded trailers and being fed rotten food; the WSCA warned BC Timber Sales months before the season began that Khaira's bids were too low to complete their contracts according to industry standards.
"Khaira's bid was substantially lower than experienced contractors," Betts said. "The bids were so outrageous."
A bid for a contract in the coastal region, for example, undercut competitors by close to 50 per cent, he says.
That contract included a Khaira work site on Texada Island, where as many as 15 people were sleeping in a single trailer, washing themselves with cups of water and eating just one meal per day.
Betts applauded the bravery of Khaira's former employees for taking on the company and refusing to suffer the treatment they were receiving.
"That these people actually had the grit to stand up to the abuse, considering how vulnerable they were, is commendable," he said.
But Khaira isn't the only company that dodges employment standards.
"There have been contractors that have operated on similar modus operandi," Betts said.
"They borrow money from workers and pay them back at the end of the season if everything works out."
He says similar companies also don't report where they are working to regulators and take advantage of vulnerable new immigrants who don't know how to get help in isolated areas.
Betts was apoplectic as he talked about the lack of oversight for lowballing contractors. He says that government officials and contractors in B.C. have worked hard to bring in tough regulations and camp standards for the industry.
"With all those efforts, if the agencies, the owners, the government authorities who put these contracts out don't enforce the laws, it's all for nothing," he said.
Betts says government agencies need to take special care to inspect and monitor contractors' work sites for employment and safety violations.
"If you're going to go with a low-bid contract ... you have an even greater responsibility to make sure that the contractor is not shirking."
Allegations against companies like Khaira are particularly troubling for Betts, who says honest contractors are struggling to recruit new employees. While surging demand for lumber in China promises to create a boom across B.C.'s forestry sector, the number of job applications to silviculture companies has been steadily dropping.
"This has been just horrible for our industry," Betts said. "We're not slave-drivers.... You can make a good living in tree-planting if you're willing to work hard."
Government implements new requirements for contractors
For his part, Khaira owner Khalid Bajwa denies that his company drastically underbids competitors for jobs.
"These bids are only a couple thousands dollars less. If these bids are too low, why are they awarding me contracts?" he told ctvbc.ca.
He says lowball bids are the only way he can compete.
"To run the business, we have to take some extra steps," he said.
Bajwa also denies mistreating his workers, and says he doesn't plan to change anything about his company's operations when the ban on Khaira is lifted. He plans to appeal the decision ordering him to pay his former employees in court.
The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations says that bidders on government contracts must meet safety guidelines and generally provide evidence of successful completion of similar jobs before winning a contract.
"Whether it is a silviculture contract or other type, contracts are awarded to the lowest qualified and compliant bidder, not just the bidder with the lowest price," the ministry said in an email.
In response to conditions at the Khaira camps, an inter-agency government group developed new guidelines requiring inspections of sites within 48 hours of being set up and stricter requirements for contractors to report to health authorities, the Employment Standards Branch and WorkSafe BC.
"The increased sharing of information among ministries and other key agencies provide a clearer picture of a contract's progress and when to inspect contract operations, as well as allowing the necessary ministries and agencies to work together to address any problem contracts," the ministry said.
A Tamil refugee claimant who arrived off Canada's West Coast aboard the MV Sun Sea last year has been ordered deported over allegations he committed a war crime in his home country of Sri Lanka.
The migrant, who can't be identified, appeared before the Immigration and Refugee Board in April, and a written decision was issued this week.
The man admitted he was a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or Tamil Tigers, which is considered a banned terrorist organization in Canada.
The written decision was heavily redacted and did not outline the specific allegations against the migrant, but he was accused of counselling others to commit a war crime.
It also wasn't clear whether the migrant offered any type of defence. Geoff Rempel, the refugee board adjudicator in the case, wrote that his decision was based in large part on the migrant's own account of what happened in interviews with border officials and in testimony at his immigration hearings
Rempel wrote that statements the migrant made during the alleged incident "amounted to him deliberately urging or inciting" others to commit a war crime.
"His statements, viewed objectively in context, actively prompted, advocated or encouraged the commission of the offence," wrote Rempel.
The migrant was among nearly 500 men, women and children arrived aboard the MV Sun Sea last year. All were ethnic Tamils from war-torn Sri Lanka, and all made refugee claims.
Most have been released, but eight men, including the migrant in this case, remain in detention.
The government has requested admissibility hearings for about 50 migrants to determine whether they are ineligible to remain in Canada, primarily because of alleged links to the Tamil Tigers or human smuggling.
So far, six have been deported, while the refugee board refused to deport nine of them. Several of those cases are now the subject of appeals in Federal Court.
Refugee claimants who've been ordered deported have several options.
They can file an appeal in Federal Court or ask for a pre-removal risk assessment, which determines whether they'll be at risk in their home country. They can also appeal directly to public safety minister if they can demonstrate "their presence in Canada would not be detrimental to the national interest."
Similar allegations links to the Tigers were levelled against a number of passengers who arrived a year earlier on a separate ship, the MV Ocean Lady.
The Ocean Lady arrived off Vancouver Island in October 2009 carrying 76 Tamil men, although none of the allegations against them were substantiated at the Immigration and Refugee Board.
Four men have been charged in connection with the Ocean Lady's arrival.
Vignarajah Thevarajah, 33, Francis Anthonimuthu Appulonappa, 33, Hamalraj Handasamy, 39, and Jeyachandran Kanagarajah, 32, were arrested in Toronto last month and charged with human smuggling.
They appeared at a bail hearing in Vancouver last week, and a decision on whether they'll be released until their trial is expected on Friday.
Earlier this month, news surfaced that another ship carrying almost 90 Sri Lankan Tamils was stopped by authorities in Indonesia,
It's unclear where that vessel was heading. Numerous news reports said the ship's final destination was New Zealand, while the Sydney Morning Herald reported there were charts on board indicating it was prepared to travel to Canada.
The federal Conservatives were quick to jump on the possibility of another migrant ship, with Immigration Minister Jason Kenney holding it up as proof that Canada needs tougher laws to combat human smuggling.
Four men charged with human smuggling in connection to a freighter that ferried dozens of Tamil migrants to Canada's West Coast will return to the Toronto area to await trial, after they were granted bail Friday.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled that the men, all in their 30s, can be released under conditions with cash deposits.
Hamalraj Handasamy, 39, and Vignarajah Thevarajah, 33, must each supply a $5,000 cash bond, while Francis Anthonimuthu Appulonappa, 33, must provide $2,000. Jeyachandran Kanagarajah, 32, must put up $100.
RCMP arrested the group in Toronto last month, almost two years after the Ocean Lady arrived near Port Renfrew, off Vancouver Island. The foursome, along with 72 other migrants, were held in detention for up to three months before being freed.
After that most moved to the Toronto area, where the four accused currently live and work.
Sporting red jail-issue clothing, the men listened to the decision Friday delivered by a translator over headphones. Their case is proceeding through direct indictment and their next court appearance scheduled for Sept. 14.
Evidence presented at a bail hearing last Thursday and the judge's reasons for granting bail are under a routine publication ban.
Conditions set by the judge include a requirement the men continue to live at their current addresses in Toronto, they abide by conditions set by the Immigration and Refugee Board and they not possess or apply for a passport, visa or other travel documents.
They are prohibited from possessing any weapons, except in the case of one migrant who may use items like box cutters in his job at a warehouse.
The men must not have contact with each other or any of the other migrants who sailed aboard the Ocean Lady, but another exception was made for one man whose co-worker made the same journey.
Since their arrival, the federal government has touted the case of the Ocean Lady and a second ship of nearly 500 ethnic Tamils that sailed into B.C. waters last summer to push for more aggressive laws on human smuggling. The MV Sun Sea, which also carried women and children, arrived in August last year.
Ottawa alleges many of the migrants are linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a banned terrorist organization known as the Tamil Tigers.
A protracted civil war that divided Sri Lanka for decades ended two years ago with the Tigers' defeat. Since then, ships such as the Ocean Lady and the Sun Sea have made the arduous journey across the oceans to places like Canada, laden with Tamils who say they are fleeing persecution in their homeland.(逃離自己故國以免被迫害)
While everyone aboard the first ship was released, eight men from last summer's arrivals remain in detention. Six passengers have been deported because the Immigration and Refugee Board found they did have links to the terrorist group.
No such allegation have been substantiated for the first group, including for the four accused.
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