Trafficking charges junked against Filipina labor recruiter in Ontario

Charges of human trafficking against Liwayway Miranda have been dropped. She says she plans to sue Canadian authorities for damages. FACEBOOK

TORONTO — Charges of human trafficking have been dropped against a Filipina former owner of a migrant-worker recruitment company after border authorities admitted on Wednesday that there was not enough evidence to convict her.

Liwayway “Lily” Miranda, the owner-operator of A&L Hammer Workforce Management in Toronto was one of three people in 2018 by the Canada Border Services Agency (CSBA) in an alleged scheme to traffic and exploit Filipino workers.

Miranda was in court on Wednesday with supporters she previously recruited for a mushroom farm in Sharon, Ontario.

She she said her reputation and finances have suffered. Miranda says she was forced to close her business and spent large sums on legal representation. She’s planning to sue the government for damages, according to a City News report.

“Financially, emotionally, spiritually I was really destroyed,” she said. “Even now the case is finished, but it will never be the same. How many people have I helped to come here to Canada? Hundreds.”

The Toronto Star reported in March 2019 Miranda was ordered in small claims court to repay $43,350 in fees she charged 8 migrant workers to secure jobs at the farm in Sharon.

“(Her company) provided immigration services that they are not legally entitled to provide or charge for,” the judge wrote in his decision.