Read Genesis 37:12-36, 39:1-20, (Later 41:9-14)
These things and things similar still happen today. They happen here. Jun 26, 2024, 10:18pm, I had a text from David Wiwchar of the Peak Radio Station: "Are you aware of the Vietnamese men who are about to be made homeless by san group?"
"No. Not at all...but we can help" I replied.
I immediately set to work to try to find out what was going on. David’s common law wife works for Kuu-us Crisis Line, so I texted her boss, Colin, who used to work for us, and asked him what he knew about all this. He told me that the RCMP and the City were aware of the workers and that it was one of our employees at the Army who brought this all to light: It appears that they came to the Army for help but the information was not kept internal. It was shared with Kuu-us and not with myself and The Salvation Army. I followed up with the employee and let them know that this really is something that I need to know and it would be way better if this was confidential. I then contacted Sharon, my Area Commander, and the Modern Slavery and Anti-Human Trafficking departments of The Salvation Army seeking help and passing on the information that I had. At 3:35pm I received this reply:
Hello Michael, my name is XXXXX and I'm the Manager of Propel Anti-Human Trafficking Services. I'm trying to get a hold of you and your case worker XXXXX because I was asked to help support the 16 [alleged] human trafficking survivors that I heard presented to your staff yesterday. … With the information I have received so far I have secured a Vietnamese translator/counsellor who is on standby, a shelter on the island that can house all 16 survivors (at least temporarily), and I have an HT specific budget to help with whatever their needs are including transit to the shelter and clothing. I would love to speak with you further to get more information and support your team in whatever ways needed! My number is xxx-xxx-xxxx, hope to speak soon!
And then after he had contacted me earlier in the day, at 8:30pm that same night, our Member of Parliament, Gord Johns, reached out to me. He was on his was out to see the workers. He asked me to join him. I hopped in his car. We met a translator, Kimmy, who knew the people, just over the orange bridge. We then followed her out to the San Group property on Hector Road. The conditions the workers from Vietnam were living in were deplorable. There was sewage backed-up. It soaked the carpet. The men slept on mattresses side by side on this sewage-soaked carpet. The smell was terrible. There was no heat in the building. There was apparently no running water. The people bathed and washed their dishes in a ditch with water running out of a pipe outside. Gord, who has been in derelict buildings in town – maybe even more times than I have – said that these living conditions were even worse that the Port Pub that the city had just recently closed down because it is dangerously unsafe.
We spoke to the people through a translator. They said they paid between $20 000.00 and $30 000.00 to come here to work for a wage in excess of $30/hr. They said they never received that wage. They said they were subject to unsafe working conditions: working with toxic chemicals without proper protective gear, working long hours, many days in a row. They were afraid for themselves, and they were afraid for the safe transportation of their family. They showed us where they lived. They explained to us how they lived. They asked us to help them flee. I told them we could get them out tomorrow.
On Saturday, June 29th, 15 of the 16 workers were taken out of town to a secure Salvation Army facility in Victoria where they could have their physical, emotional and spiritual care needs met and where they could get the legal and other counsel that they needed. I checked up on them on Sunday. They were happy. They were free.
The following day I followed up with David Wiwchar, who was kindly waiting on releasing his story about the migrant workers until we could get them to safety. He brought all of this to light and hopefully many people were and can be helped because of it. When David Wiwchar broke the story other media followed up as well. CHEK 6 News toured the site with the San Group[1]:
It is where approximately 15 migrant workers who were under contract to the San Group were living until the Salvation Army’s anti-human trafficking unit moved them out on June 29.
The building reportedly did not have running water, and the men were allegedly forced to wash dishes in a small trickle of a stream out back and drink from it.
When CHEK News visited the Hector Road site Thursday, a small stream was still full of pots and plates in it. “This is where they were washing their dishes?” asked CHEK 6 News
“This is where they chose to wash their dishes,” said San Group’s general manager of terminals, Joe Spears.
“If someone chooses to use water, maybe in Vietnam that’s an acceptable practice, that’s normal housekeeping,” said Spears.
Inside the trailer was a very different scene from the video shot there one week earlier. San Group insists it was untouched.
“I didn’t touch it,” said Spears.
There were also previous accusations relating to San Group and where and how they housed foreign workers. Recently the fire department investigated their offices as San Group had a fire order issued by the Port Alberni Fire Department in September 2022 after there were accusations of them keeping foreign workers housed in their offices. The letter orders that no structures at the property “be utilized as sleeping quarters for any person effective immediately.” The PAFD checked to make sure that that was not happening there now. I believe they found beds there – even after the other workers had been rescued.
I don’t know that any of the people were trafficked – nothing has been proven in court – or who may have been behind it if they were. I do know that the conditions these people were living in were terrible.
“The Salvation Army is currently assisting several migrant workers who required urgent support,” said Gavin Randhawa, manager of marketing and communications with the Salvation Army. We ask the public and the media to respect their privacy”
The future of the 15 or so men that were being cared for in Victoria remains uncertain.
These sorts of things still happen today. The stories of Joseph and human trafficking and slavery are not just tales from a far a way place and a far away time. Canada’s laws are seemingly favourable to human trafficking. I was concerned about this even last century when I worked in international education. It seems just as bad now,
Shelly D’Mello, with the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria, told CHEK 6 that when it comes to the care of temporary foreign workers, the onus is on the company…Food, health, nutrition, housing in some cases, safety. When it’s a closed work permit, that employer becomes responsible for those pieces,” said D’Mello.
A closed work permit creates a dangerous state of dependency; as a closed work permit, versus an open permit, means the temporary worker’s visa is tied to a specific company. Closed permits make a worker much more vulnerable. For instance, the workers don’t qualify for MSP, so any injuries on the job are the employer’s responsibility to deal with. “And we’ve got to be careful that we don’t slide or slip in that obligation, that duty of care for those who are helping us,” said D’Mello.[2]
Canada’s reliance upon temporary foreign workers is growing. This is scary. This creates an environment where this sort of thing can happen all the time. I have heard of domestic servants and human trafficking in Vancouver. I have spoken to my Member of Parliament with another TSA Officer about human trafficking of farm workers when I lived in Saskatchewan. We have worked with trafficked, prostituted people in various cities across this country.
This is real life. This is happening. Here in Canada. Here in Port Alberni. This is scary stuff. So, what do we do? Well, if you know anyone who needs help let The Salvation Army know! We can get them out of there and get them the supports they need! Also, write to your Member of Parliament: tell them to stop enabling human trafficking; tell them to end unsupervised, closed work permits where an employer has that much control over a person’s life. Make the government check in on foreigners under their care (in their own language), make them protect those they are duty bound to protect.
Pray for people who are trafficked. Pray for people who are trafficked in this country, around the world, and here in this community. Pray for the underprivileged: the poor, the family-less, the immigrant. And help us help them.
And trust God. God was with Joseph when he was a trafficked domestic servant in Potiphar's
household. God was with Joseph when he was sent to a prison in a foreign land. God was with Joseph in his hour of need and the scriptures say that in that he prospered. And then God used a cupbearer to the king to deliver him and God used Joseph to deliver many other people in turn. We remember in when Joseph was in the depths of prison, Pharaoh's cupbearer, encountered him, there and though for a long time he did nothing, eventually he did something – two full years later – Genesis 41, reading from verse 9:
Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. 10 Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. 11 Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. 12 Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. 13 And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was impaled.”
14 So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.
Thanks to God using the cupbearer, Joseph was delivered from captivity as Joseph was earlier delivered from slavery. May we each be like that cupbearer. Even if we have been slow to help those in need thus far, even if we have forgotten, even if it has been years. Even if we have delayed in helping out those in need for both now and eternity, may we now be encouraged, may we now be faithful. May we now be spurred to action; so that like those workers we can be saved in the here and now. And may we also be faithful in sharing the Good News of Salvation so that we and all those we love may be saved for eternity as well.
Let us pray.
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