Tim Hortons is facing sharp backlash from migrant worker advocates after announcing Monday it will hire 10,000 “new local team members” and that lobbying for expanded access to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) is “no longer necessary.” 

With plans to open 80 new locations across Canada this year, the chain said it would launch a national hiring campaign to address youth unemployment, calling it “an ongoing responsibility to hire locally.”

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This comes as the youth unemployment rate rose to more than 14 per cent in April, according to Statistics Canada, with some analysts describing these figures as unusually high outside of a recession. Others have linked this new shift to increased competition in the coffee sector, with the return of Dunkin‘. 

However, the co-executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, Syed Hussan, said the campaign’s framing risks pitting workers against one another.

“Pitting so-called local workers against temporary foreign workers is a red herring. Every worker deserves real rights........

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