Introduction
The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) represents over 700,000 workers who belong to 1,500 affiliated local unions in Ontario. Our members work in hundreds of occupations—from government employees to construction workers; from nurses to industrial mechanics.
The OFL is the collective voice of union members on issues relevant to working people – from labour relations to health care to economic policy. 
The Canadian Labour Congress represents the interests of more than three million affiliated workers in every imaginable occupation from coast to coast to coast. The CLC is the umbrella organization for dozens of affiliated Canadian and international unions, as well as provincial federations of labour and regional labour councils.
The CLC has been active on the migrant worker file intensely since 2006, when federal measures allowed for the rapid expansion of the program without adequate consideration for the well-being and protection of these workers. We work with senior levels of the federal government who are mandated to manage the TFW program as well as with our affiliates, migrant rights advocates, immigration/settlement agencies, faith groups, researchers and agencies working in a development capacity with sending countries and importantly with migrant workers themselves. As a result the CLC has acquired an in depth, critical analysis of the TFW program. 
Federal Regulation
Because the entry point for migrant workers begins with Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Act, a number of policy reforms that are sorely needed fall within the federal sphere and within the operational duties of federal departments (HRSDC-Labour Branch/TFW Unit; Citizenship and Immigration and Services Canada) who are each tasked with specific administrative responsibilities for the overall program.
Terminology
Regarding terminology, the labour movement uses the term international migrant workers (or migrant workers) rather than Temporary Foreign Worker for the following reasons.
I.  The term ‘temporary’ is a misnomer. Many international migrant workers are in fact transitory, either returning to Canada regularly as many agriculture workers do . Other migrant workers who are interested in seeking permanent residency but don’t qualify under Immigration Canada’s points system (see