A Winnipeg construction manager has been sentenced to nearly two years of house arrest and fined $50,000 after pleading guilty to unauthorized employment of foreign nationals at a local construction site.
Gurwinder Singh Ahluwalia was charged under the Immigration Refugee and Protection Act in November, after a federal investigation that started in August 2023, prompted by a tip about the employment and mistreatment of unauthorized workers at the site, the Canada Border Service Agency said in a news release on Tuesday.
Investigators on the case found paperwork and work permit applications linked to Ahluwalia, and in May 2024 seized documents and electronic devices, the news release said.
Those documents revealed Ahluwalia lured foreign nationals to Canada to work without permission, the release said, and underpaid other workers who did have valid work permits.
The construction manager was charged in November and pleaded guilty on April 2. Ahluwalia’s sentence included a total of 20 months house arrest, the release said.
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