The Government of Canada has admitted that it illegally issued work permits to 11 foreign crew members of the New England, a Marshall Islands flag of convenience oil tanker, that engaged in shipping in Canada in July 2015, Seafarers’ International Union of Canada (SIU) said.
As a result, the government consented to an order of the Federal Court of Canada granting judicial review in all 11 applications made by the Seafarers’ International Union of Canada (SIU) and further agreed to an order of the court setting aside the work permits.
In September 2015, the SIU filed 42 lawsuits alleging that the Government of Canada was systematically issuing work permits to the foreign crews of hundreds of foreign ships engaging in shipping in Canadian waters, despite the availability of qualified Canadian seafarers to serve on these vessels in contravention of immigration laws. In July 2016, the SIU filed an additional 13 lawsuits with similar allegations.
“It is outrageous that temporary foreign workers are being granted work permits to crew these oil tankers, while qualified Canadian seafarers are unemployed. This is a big win for our members, who are trained and available to crew these oil tankers. The SIU will keep fighting until these flag of convenience vessels shipping in Canadian waters are crewed by Canadian seafarers,” SIU President, James Given, said.
The SIU still has 44 outstanding lawsuits challenging the federal government’s issuance of work permits to the foreign crews of two other vessels, the Cyprus-flagged Sparto and the Greek-flagged Amalthea.
