3 Ontario businesses fined thousands for illegally employing foreign nationals

Three Ontario businesses pleaded guilty and were fined thousands of dollars after a joint investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and police uncovered illegal employment practices involving foreign nationals.

The CBSA said the three businesses pleaded guilty to employing a foreign national without authorization on Feb. 28, 2025.

CDA Landscape Services faced 20 counts of the aforementioned charge, while TDA Landscape Services and SDA Services, all located in Ontario, faced two counts each. The CBSA said CDA Landscape Services was fined $400,000, TDA Landscape Services was fined $25,000, and SDA Services was fined $25,000.

The investigation was launched in 2019 after the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) arrested a foreign national for impaired driving. Subsequent efforts by CBSA and OPP investigators uncovered a network of unauthorized workers operating across multiple southern and eastern Ontario jurisdictions, including the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

The CBSA said officers determined that more than 700 foreign nationals who the organization had employed without authorization to work in Canada were identified throughout Ontario. Multiple foreign nationals were also found inadmissible due to criminality and were removed from Canada by border agents, officials added.

In a news release, the CBSA said in 2024 alone, border agents removed over 16,470 foreign nationals from Canada for violating the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).