The court found 'false pretenses’ that left workers in shelters and detention
A convenience store chain signed employment contracts with temporary foreign workers for jobs it knew it would probably never be able to provide, then faulted the workers when they arrived in Canada to nothing, the British Columbia Supreme Court has found.
In reasons released on May 28, 2026, Justice Matthews ruled that Mac's Convenience Stores Inc. breached its duty of honesty in contractual performance toward foreign workers recruited through the Temporary Foreign Workers Program. The case, Basyal v. Mac's Convenience Stores Inc., also found that two immigration firms, Overseas and Trident Immigration Services, charged the workers unlawful fees of roughly $7,000 to $8,000 each for jobs they were not permitted to sell. The court held that the conduct of Mac's and Overseas warranted punitive damages.
Mac's operates convenience stores across Western Canada. Starting in 2012, it retained Overseas to recruit foreign workers, paying the firm $1,500 for each supervisor and $500 for each cashier or food counter attendant it hired. Many of the workers were recruited at events in Dubai, where they were already working and hoping for a better life in Canada.
To bring workers in, Mac's needed positive labour market opinions confirming it had real jobs to fill. The court found that Mac's placed hypothetical positions in stores it did not operate onto blanket applications,...
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