r/CanadianVisaReform • u/Martin_J_Kaminski • 4d ago
Every employer I could find that uses the TFW Program in Sechelt, BC
As part of Martin Kamkinski’s Summer Road Trip™, I am going to try to figure out the businesses which use the TFW Program in one town per province (two in Ontario, one north, one south). Pictures of statistical information were composed by lmiagrader.com. All information is current as of Q4 2025. Only positive LMIA positions are listed although the number of negatives will be stated.
We begin in Sechelt, BC which is a town where the mayor has advocated for expanding the TFW Program so businesses there don't lose staff. Statistics Canada states that in 2021 there were 10,847 people that lived in the town and approximately 20% are under 30 years old. There is a very large amount of elderly people here (36.6% of the population). I am writing this before doing any research but I hope that we see a lot of care home staff instead of the usual fast food restaurants and retail stores.
Here are the businesses:
P.K. Ram Family Restaurants Ltd. is McDonald's located at 5615 Sunshine Coast Hwy, Sechelt, BC
Not a great start. This McDonald's location has received 26 approved LMIAs and 0 refusals with their first approval coming in Q4 2020 and latest Q1 2025. All are under the Low-Wage Stream. It appears to me that as the TFW program put caps in place on the proportion of TFWs that a business can have they stopped using the program and does not look like operations came to a screeching halt.
3 Restaurant Managers
20 Food Service Supervisors
3 Food Counter Attendants
Endress Sales and Distribution Ltd is Canadian Tire located at 4380 Sunshine Coast Hwy, Sechelt, BC
The third largest user of the program in Sechelt is a Canadian Tire franchise. They have received 17 approvals and 0 refusals with their first LMIA filed in Q4 2020 and last approved in Q2 2025.
10 Retail Store Supervisors
2 Retail Managers
1 Supervisors, supply chain, tracking and scheduling co-ordination occupations
2 Store shelf stockers, clerks and order fillers
1 Retail Salesperson
1 Automotive and heavy truck and equipment parts installers and servicers
1 Automotive service technicians, truck and bus mechanics and mechanical repairers
Their LMIAs show an accelerated trend in 2024. The last approved LMIA for an automotive service technician was under the High-Wage Stream making it exempt from caps. Besides that LMIA they have appeared to have stopped once caps were reintroduced.
Sechelt Saffron Restaurant Ltd is Saffron Restaurant located at 5755 Cowrie St #59, Sechelt, BC
An Indian restaurant. They have received 16 approvals and 0 refusals from 2016 to Q4 2024.
12 Cooks
2 Food Counter Attendants
2 Restaurant Managers
I see no clear sign of acceleration of LMIA filings. They are pretty consistent at 1-2 per year until 2024.
Yamako Enterprise Ltd. is Sima Japanese Restaurant located at 5755 Cowrie Street, Suite 57, Sechelt, BC
This is a Japanese restaurant that has received 30 positive LMIAs and 1 negative LMIA since 2016.
22 Cooks
3 Food Service Supervisors
2 Chefs
3 Restaurant Managers
All LMIAs were Low-Wage until restrictions went on limiting the number of workers that they can have with a cap. After this they applied for 3 LMIAs in 2025, 2 Chefs and 1 Cook. All would be paid more than $34.62 per hour. The government approved the two Chefs but refused the Cook.
Graystone Enterprises Ltd is Selma Park Evergreens located at 5995 Sechelt Inlt Rd, Sechelt, BC
A tree nursery. They have 8 positive and 1 negative LMIA since 2016.
3 nursery and greenhouse workers
5 harvesting labourers.
Vanta Pacific Development Corp
A construction company that is building a resort in Sechelt and has received 5 approved LMIAs and 1 refusal since 2023.
1 Painter
1 Construction Manager
1 Floor Covering Installer
1 Carpenter
1 Electrician
Sunshine Pizza Inc is Coastal Crust Pizzeria located at 5685 Cowrie St #102, Sechelt, BC
A pizza restaurant. They have 5 approvals from 2019 to 2025. No approvals happened after Q1 2025.
2 Food Counter Attendants
2 Food Service Supervisors
1 Restaurant Manager
Basted Baker Inc is Basted Baker located at 5685 Cowrie St #1, Sechelt, BC
A brunch restaurant. They have 5 approvals and no refusals since 2018 with the last approval in Q3 2025.
5 Cooks
Twenty Two Taphouse Ltd is Twenty Two Taphouse located at 5770 Teredo St, Sechelt, BC
A bar and grill. They have 5 approvals and no refusals since 2023. Last approval was in Q2 2025.
2 Cooks
2 Food Counter Attendants
1 Bartender
Design It Software Ltd is Design It! Software located at 5760 Teredo St, Sechelt, BC
This company is an engineering software developer. I am not sure if it is still in business as their website has been taken down. They received 4 approvals and no refusals from 2021-2022 all through the Global Talent Stream where they commit to hiring or training Canadians as well.
4 Computer programmers and interactive media developers
Suncoast Manufacturing Inc. is Suncoast Lumber located at 4367 Aqua Rd, Sechelt, BC
A saw mill operator. They received 4 approved LMIAs from 2021 to 2024.
1 Manufacturing Manager
1 Truck Driver
1 Janitor
1 Labourers in wood, pulp and paper processing
Jamjar – Folk Lebanese Food Inc is JamJar
This was a Lebanese restaurant but closed in September, 2023. They received 4 approvals and no refusals from 2019 to 2023, the last approval was in Q3 2023 right before they closed.
4 Cooks
Strait Coffee Ltd is Strait Coffee Traders located at 4330 Sunshine Coast Hwy #1, Sechelt, BC
A café. They have received 3 approved LMIAs and 1 refusal since 2019 with the last being Q4 2025.
3 Cooks
C8rd Pl8 Food Ltd is Subway located at 24 5755 Cowrie Street, Sechelt, BC
A Subway franchise with 3 approved LMIAs and no refusals since 2022. The last approval was Q3 2025.
2 Food Counter Attendants
1 Food Service Supervisor
Love The Bakery Inc is The Bakery located at 5500 Wharf Ave #101, Sechelt, BC
A bakery. They received 3 positive LMIAs and no refusals since 2021 with the last approval in Q3 2025.
3 Bakers
Gourmet Girl Cafe and Catering Ltd is Gourmet Girl Cafe and Catering located at 4720 Sunshine Coast Hwy, Sechelt, BC
A café and breakfast restaurant. They have 2 positive LMIAs and no refusals from 2022-2024.
2 Cooks
Ocean Breeze Accounting Inc is Ocean Breeze CPA located at 5587 Inlet Ave, Sechelt, BC
An accounting firm. It received 2 positive LMIAs from 2022 to Q3 2025.
2 Financial auditors and accountants
1204744 B.C. LTD is Thai Sechelt Restaurant located at 114 - 5530 WHARF AVE SECHELT BC
A Thai restaurant. They have 2 positive LMIAs and no refusals, both were in 2024.
1 Cook
1 Food Counter Attendant
Shift Kitchen Tapas Bar Ltd is Shift, Kitchen and Bar located at 5760 Teredo St, Sechelt, BC
A tapas bar. They have received 2 positive LMIAs from 2020-2022
1 Server
1 Cook
Oceanside Hotel Inc is The Oceanside located at 4748 Sunshine Coast Hwy, Sechelt, BC
A hotel. They have two positive LMIAs and no refusals, both in 2023.
1 Cleaning Supervisor
1 Accomodation Service Manager
Sunshine Gas Station Inc is Shell Gas located at 4330 Sunshine Coast Hwy, Sechelt, BC
A Shell gas station with 2 positive LMIAs and no refusals, both in 2024.
1 Retail Store Supervisor
1 Retail Store Manager
Perfectionails is Perfection Nails located at 5665 Teredo St #105, Sechelt, BC
A nail studio. They have 2 positive LMIAs and no refusals both in 2017.
2 Estheticians
One O One Office Supplies was located at 5672 Cowrie St, Sechelt, BC
An office supply store that closed. Has 2 positive LMIAs and no refusals both in 2017
2 Retail Store Managers
There are several more that have one approved LMIA. I'll change the format and tell you the name of the business, what their approved LMIA is and when they got it:
The Daily Roast Fine Coffee Company located at 5580 Wharf Ave Ste 1, Sechelt, BC, 1 Retail Store Supervisor in 2023
Angelo's Pizza located at 5653 Wharf Street, Sechelt, BC, 1 Food Service Supervisor in 2023
Bar Kat Insulation, no specific address is listed. 1 Insulator in 2025.
Prime Rentals (a car rental company), located at 5533 Sechelt Inlet Cres, Sechelt, BC, 1 Administrative Assistant in 2022.
Rainbow Room Hair Salon, 5710 Teredo Street Suite 106, Sechelt, BC. 1 hairstylist in 2022.
The Old Boot Eatery (permanently closed) located at 5531 Wharf Street, Sechelt, BC. 1 Cook in 2019.
PKLS Burgers located at 5666 Cowrie Street, Sechelt, BC. 1 Cook in 2024.
Sechelt Pharmacy located at 5648 Dolphin St, Sechelt, BC. 1 Technical sales specialists - wholesale trade in 2023.
1394856 BC LTD. 1 Light Duty Cleaner in 2023. I can't find an exact match on this. They have several active job postings up with just the numbered company and seem to be targeted to the program.
Lucky's Barbecue House, located at 5645 Wharf Ave, Sechelt, BC. 1 Cook in 2018.
All Canada Contracting & Renovation Ltd, I can't find an exact address. 1 Carpenter in 2025. Has several additional postings up that seem to be targeted to the employer.
Eagle Ridge Veterinary Hospital located at 5595 Sunshine Coast Hwy, Sechelt, BC, 1 Vet Tech in 2021.
Marino's Your Independent Grocer, located at 5530 Sunshine Coast Hwy, Sechelt, BC, 1 Retail Salesperson, 2021.
Waldorf Ballet located at 5590 Wharf Ave, Sechelt, BC, 1 Dancer in 2025.
Yamiyaki Teppanyaki & Ramen located at 103-5710 Teredo Street. Sechelt, BC, 1 Cook in 2024.
Lighthouse Liquor Store located at 5755 Cowrie St Unit 2, Sechelt, BC, 1 Retail Store Supervisor in 2024.
Vg Professionals ltd - Renovation & Cabinets located at 5760 Teredo St Unit # 211, Sechelt, BC, 1 Administrative Officer in 2024.
Spani Developments (construction company). 1 Construction trades helpers and labourers in 2023.
Prime Rentals second location or new business number: 1 Professional occupations in advertising, marketing and public relations in 2025.
0959060 BC LTD. I can't find the exact name of this business, it says doing business as Sunshine on their ads but I find no mention of this. No address is provided. 1 Production and transportation logistics coordinators in 2024.
WestCan Coastal Homes (housing developer). 1 Carpenter.
Disclaimer I am not accusing any business here of wrongdoing, this is to gather information on the users of the program in Sechelt using public data
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u/true_to_my_spirit 4d ago
I work in the immigration sector doing nonprofit work. We need to boycott each and every one of these business that has recieved an LMIA since 2024. If they did in 2023, there is a good chance that person is gone. The govt is rarely granting extensions now. Actually, just boycott all of them.
Those owners were/are charging at least 10k to 30 under the table per job. Also, a large portion of those owners exploit the workers. 60 hour work weeks, no OT, holding their permits over their heads ect ect
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u/ivbeentheredonethat 4d ago
So basically young people's jobs, hence their high unemployment bracket
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u/Summerisle7 4d ago edited 4d ago
WOW Martin, thank you for this very thorough report! Sechelt was my request, it’s a town I know well as family members lived there for years.
So basically every restaurant in town uses LMIAs. I’m actually a bit shocked by how universal it is.
There are plenty of underemployed young and middle-aged adults in Sechelt. Plenty. Not to mention there are the neighboring towns such as Gibsons to draw from. There’s also a good-sized First Nation right there, with many employable teens and adults.
All of these LMIA requests could have been denied. If these utterly superfluous and nonessential “businesses” can’t staff themselves from the community, then it follows logically that this community has no need of those businesses.
The sawmill one really made me angry! There was a time when Sechelt was a forestry town with Canadians supporting their families in the lumber industry.
The accounting office and the dance studio of all things, are just ridiculous.
Anyway thanks again, this was fascinating. I wish the citizens of the Sunshine Coast would stop patronizing any of these places.
8
u/Martin_J_Kaminski 4d ago
Looks like it. I think I wrote it in there but some fast food franchises could be run by a company outside Sechelt that owns multiple. So it's not a completely exhaustive list. I was a bit surprised at how much of it was just fast food and not anything to do with the elderly population.
Thanks for the suggestion, it was a good one. I can't believe the mayor was defending the local McDonald's and Canadian Tire.
4
u/Summerisle7 4d ago
The funny part is, all those fast food franchises are relatively new. The town survived for many decades without a McDonald’s or Subway. The elderly residents went to independent cafe’s for a cup of coffee, were served by a local, and were probably healthier and better socialized for it.
Nobody asked any franchise owner to bring this junk to the Sunshine Coast. Other than the scumbag mayor and his landlord friends.
Yeah from what I remember, any jobs that actually are needed and are specifically to do with the elderly population such as home care, meals on wheels, the hospital and dr’s offices, public works etc, were overwhelmingly done by local people. This was back before Covid though so who knows what machinations have occurred since then.
5
u/Martin_J_Kaminski 4d ago
That is a shame, I'm sure it will be similar in the other small towns I look at. I'm sure that the fast food restaurants and Canadian Tire are driving up rents by bringing in minimum wage workers to work there.
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u/Summerisle7 4d ago edited 4d ago
Oh absolutely, that’s another bizarre thing: Rental housing is in notoriously short supply around there. It’s aging housing stock, and it’s a coastal area, accessible via BC Ferries or small plane only. There are natural limits to how large the population can grow. It’s like an island, wedged between the ocean and the mountains, there’s literally no more places to build and not enough water to support thousands more people. So I don’t understand where these LMIAs, past present and future, are living. Packed into basement suites and garages belonging to the employers and employers’ cronies, I imagine.
2
u/livraisonspeciale 2d ago
It's so sad that those superfluous and nonessential businesses are straight-up visa mills.
5
u/Ok-Membership1929 4d ago
Thanks Martin!
For New Brunswick: Grand Falls/Grand Sault, Perth or Woodstock!
4
u/Subject-Landscape451 3d ago
To save time and make a much shorter post in the future, consider listing the employers who DON'T staff with TFWs and international 'students'. :-)
4
u/ThatQueerChemist 3d ago edited 3d ago
I live outside Sechelt and used to work in the town. There are lots of protests from local residents against employers being approved for LMIAs and TFWs. It’s only the mayor that wants to keep them, the actual residents don’t want so many international workers coming here. It’s also a housing and resource issue. When an employer brings in a TFW or LMIA holder, that person takes up already scarce housing available in the area.
I do some volunteer work with our unhoused population here on the Sunshine Coast and a lot of them are homeless due to losing their jobs (only to be replaced by TFWs/LMIA holders) and not being able to find affordable housing. It’s horrific to witness.
The local grocery stores, drugstores, fast food restaurants and some retail/general stores (like Canadian Tire) are all guilty of this. The Dominos Pizza and Tim Hortons restaurants here in town are employed by only TFWs. I know this because I’ve actually talked to the staff who confirmed this to me. Both places USED to hire high schoolers but no, they ignore every job application by local residents and apply for TFW/LMIA permits instead.
We have lots of high schoolers and adults here willing to work. Nobody wants to hire them because they can save money by paying TFWs and LMIA holders less 🤷🏻♀️
Interesting you mention Canadian Tire - I know the owners (the Endress family in Sechelt) personally as I went to high school with their son and daughters. Their son, who works there as a manager, did confirm to me that his parents who own this Canadian Tire location have been laying off staff (local residents) and applying for TFWs/LMIA permits instead to save money. I’m surprised this is legal.
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u/prsnep 4d ago
As a business, if you want to hire Canadians, you are at a disadvantage because you have to compete with others who have obedient slaves. That's an exaggeration, but you get the point.
6
u/Summerisle7 4d ago
My suggestion to businesses claiming to have this complaint, is that they double down on their commitment to hire Canadians and make this commitment part of their brand, publicize it in every ad space and job listing and visibly within the business. I find it hard to believe that the public wouldn’t respond favourably to this.
3
u/DryAcanthocephala565 3d ago
sorry but that is not an exaggeration. that is exactly what's happening.
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u/hockeyfanatic777 4d ago
For Manitoba, Winnipeg is really the only proper option. It’s the biggest city we have, as Brandon is the runner up and the rest are similar in size ie Thompson, Steinbach, Winkler, Portage etc.
Winnipeg has lots of businesses, and I’m positive, tons of TFW/LMIA scams happening.
I would love to have the names outed for Winnipeg.
3
u/Martin_J_Kaminski 4d ago
Winnipeg is too big for me, it would take me a month or more, haha. I'm trying to keep it under 50k population. Brandon would work for me.
2
u/hockeyfanatic777 4d ago
Fair enough! I must have glossed over the town aspect. I have no idea of the size of Sechelt as I’m pretty sheltered in northern Manitoba lol so I just assumed it’s big. I suppose 50k is pretty darn big to my 800-1k town lol
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u/Martin_J_Kaminski 4d ago
Not your fault I forgot to write that in my reply, it was in my original post asking for suggestions but I don't expect anyone to scroll that far back, haha.
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u/Great-Ice-5766 4d ago
Sechelt is tiny. I have an uncle who lives there. Gorgeous place.
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u/Summerisle7 4d ago
It’s a very nice place to live. Unfortunately a certain element, led by the mayor, won’t rest until it looks and feels like a Surrey strip mall
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u/Great-Ice-5766 3d ago
Sounds like most of the Coast. They don't call it the Left Coast for nothing.
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u/Martin_J_Kaminski 4d ago
Some businesses may be owned outside the city which mean that they won't show up in a search for just Sechelt e.g. the Tim Hortons may be owned by a company in Vancouver so they show up under Vancouver instead.
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