The Entrenchment of Racial Stratification Through the Colour-Blind Employment Standards Enforcement Regime in Ontario

The employment standards (ES) enforcement regime in Ontario assumes a colour-blind labour market. As a result, processes that make racialized people particularly vulnerable to ES violations in Ontario, continue to proliferate. Drawing on interviews with racialized women and men in precarious jobs, we explore how current approaches to ES enforcement reify racial stratification within the Ontario labour market. First, we argue that siloed approaches to systemic racism and ES violations mask the fact that they are often intertwined. Second, colour-blind enforcement fails to provide a level playing field for newcomers who face violations because they are compelled to gain local work experience, are placed in low-wage or unpaid jobs through settlement agencies, work in small, informal firms, and are directed to obtain jobs through informal networks. Finally, colour-blind enforcement intensifies the vulnerability of temporary foreign workers, many of whom are racialized people. Overall, the failure of ES enforcement in Ontario in light of the colour-coded labour market leads to a reification of the racial segregation of the labour market, facilitating the systematic expropriation of the labour of racialized people.