Updated

Updated · CBC Sports · Aug 13

Dyan Jeny Enterprises Convicted Over $12,000 Foreign Worker Fee, Ordered to Repay Worker

Updated

Updated · CBC Sports · Aug 13

Dyan Jeny Enterprises Convicted Over $12,000 Foreign Worker Fee, Ordered to Repay Worker

Q: Why were charges against the restaurant directors dropped when the judge called their exploitation of a vulnerable migrant worker atrocious?

The charges against the restaurant directors were dropped because the case was resolved through a negotiated guilty plea by the corporation, Dyan Jeny Enterprises, and the Crown withdrew the individual counts as part of that resolution. Court reports say two other charges against the company were also withdrawn. Judge Steven Schiefner’s description of the conduct as “atrocious” reflected his view of the facts, not a finding that every original charge had to proceed. He accepted a joint sentencing submission after the company admitted one proven offence under Saskatchewan’s former Foreign Worker Recruitment and Immigration Services Act: charging a foreign worker an employment-related fee. The available reporting does not indicate that the judge himself dismissed the directors’ charges on the merits. Rather, the withdrawals appear to have been a prosecutorial decision tied to the plea agreement and to the narrower charge the Crown chose to secure. Some of the more serious allegations, including that the company exploited the worker’s fear or lack of knowledge, were also withdrawn. The legal context mattered as well. Because the conduct occurred before July 1, 2024, prosecutors had to proceed under the older law, which carried lower penalties and a more limited enforcement framework than Saskatchewan’s current Immigration Services Act. That likely shaped the Crown’s strategy to obtain a conviction, restitution, and a fine without risking a contested trial on all counts.

3 articles · Updated · CBC Sports · Aug 13

Moose Jaw-based Dyan Jeny Enterprises, operating as Guac Mexi Grill, pleaded guilty to illegally charging a foreign worker $12,000 to keep a job between August 2023 and February 2024.
A provincial judge ordered the company to pay $12,000 in restitution, a $5,000 fine and a $2,000 victim surcharge after a Saskatchewan ministry investigation into the payment demand.
Saskatchewan said the worker needed the job as a pathway to permanent residence, making the fee-for-employment scheme a violation of provincial foreign worker protections.
The case is the first conviction under Saskatchewan's foreign worker protection law, and it comes after the province replaced that statute in 2024 with legislation carrying penalties up to $1.25 million for corporations.