Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program: A Closer Look

A Tim Hortons employee hands out coffee from a drive-through window to a customer in Mississauga, Ont., on March 17, 2020. The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette

Explainer

Canada’s temporary foreign worker program (TFWP) has brought in hundreds of thousands of workers since starting in the early 1970s to fill short-term vacancies in agriculture, service, construction, health care, and other core industries.