Slave labor growing problem in Canada

TORONTO, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Eleven Filipino workers say they were brought to Canada under false pretenses and worked under slave-like conditions while living in an abandoned farmhouse.

Stories such as this have become so common the Canadian government has begun a global advertising campaign to warn would-be immigrants, the Toronto Star reports. Posters, headlined "People for Sale in Canada," have been printed in 17 languages.

Edwin Canilang, a skilled welder, was offered work building an icebreaker. He sold his house in the Philippines to pay fees and other expenses.

What Canilang did not know was that a company that had been doing the recruiting had lost the icebreaker contract and the Labor Market Opinions, the documents needed to bring in foreign workers, had passed into other hands.

Canilang instead found himself in Canada working for Bob DeRosa, whose family owns a bottling plant and other interests.

"Don't you know that I spent $4,000 to get you?" DeRosa snapped when Canilang asked him about pay.

Authorities say at least 800 foreign workers are brought to Canada illegally every year and another 1,000 sent to the United States through Canada. The problem has grown since Canada liberalized its foreign labor law in 2006.