‘You control their lives and when you take advantage of them, you’re committing one of the grave injustices that we see in these courts’
Calling his conduct “despicable” a Calgary judge on Monday sentenced a city restaurant owner to an 18-month conditional sentence for violating the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
“You control their lives, and when you take advantage of them you’re committing one of the grave injustices that we see in these courts,” Justice Harry Van Harten told Karthikeyan Stalin.
Stalin, 44, the owner of Masala Bhavan, a South Indian cuisine restaurant, pleaded guilty to two charges under the IRPA for swindling a temporary foreign worker he hired under the federal government program.
Van Harten said as an immigrant himself, Stalin should have understood the implications of taking advantage of a newcomer to Canada.
“You should know because you immigrated here, and somebody probably helped you become a permanent resident and then a citizen (in 2014),” the Calgary Court of Justice judge said, in accepting a joint submission from Crown prosecutor Omelia Tedesco-White and defence lawyer Cory Wilson.
“In other words, if you’re gonna help people come to this country you owe them an obligation to look after them and to treat them fairly. And you did not do that here. That’s despicable.”
According to a statement of agreed facts made in a court exhibit, Stalin used the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to hire Dinesh Kantharaj to come to Calgary from India to work as a cook at Masala Bhavan.
As part of the program, Stalin was required to have a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) done to determine the likely effect a particular worker would have on the Canadian labour market.
In 2017, Stalin contacted Kantharaj in India to offer him a job as an ethnic cook at the restaurant.
“Stalin told Kantharaj that he would be required to provide Stalin $10,000 to cover the LMIA fees. Kantharaj agreed. Recovering the costs of the LMIA from the TFW is not permitted,” the court exhibit stated.
In January 2018, the worker borrowed $5,000 to make an initial payment and paid that amount back in small increments over time.
On Oct. 15, 2018, Kantharaj borrowed from a friend another $3,000 he gave to Stalin, and then repaid that individual over time as well.
Kantharaj worked at Masala Bhavan between June 12, 2018, and Jan. 5, 2020.
Although Kantharaj worked an average of 10 hours of overtime per week, he was never given pay above 40 hours per week until his final two paycheques.
Along with the conditional sentence, which includes six months of house arrest and another six on a nightly curfew, Stalin must pay Kantharaj nearly $27,000 in restitution — $8,000 for the LMIA fees and nearly $19,000 in unpaid overtime — Van Harten ordered.
And Van Harten warned Stalin he’ll face dire consequences if he breaches the conditional sentence order.
“If you should breach it, you and I will see each other again. You don’t want that to happen, ’cause that will not be a pleasant day for you, I guarantee you.”