Remote workers at Global Affairs say they’re being forced to transfer to capital

Public servants with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) who have been teleworking full-time for the past several years from cities such as Montreal are now being required to work in offices in the National Capital Region. 

The workers were hired before or during the COVID-19 pandemic to work remotely, and some say they’re being forced to resign because they can’t relocate.

“I’m angry,” said one employee whose identity Radio-Canada agreed to protect because they fear reprisal from the employer.

Like others who spoke to Radio-Canada, the public servant said their family and personal circumstances make it difficult for them to move to the Ottawa-Gatineau region, nor can they commute there three or more times a week.

The worker said that prior to accepting the role, they had received verbal guarantees from their employer that they could work remotely.

“That was definitely one of my preliminary questions. Had I known that after a while I risked losing my job for that reason, I would never have applied,” the employee said.

Radio-Canada spoke with two other public servants facing similar situations. Both said they feel caught off guard and fear disciplinary action if they do not comply with the new requirement.

They say they want to find another job within the federal government, but fear it will be difficult with the cuts announced in the latest budget.

“I’ve lost hope of returning to the government,” one of them told Radio-Canada. 

“I find this management incredibly inhumane,” another said.

By the end of 2025, 307 GAC employees were working fully remotely because they lived more than 125 kilometres from their workplace. In April 2024, when the department began compiling this data, 238 employees were in this situation.

Designated workplace

In a written statement, GAC said telework agreements are separate from offer letters that are signed by public servants when they’re hired. According to spokesperson Charlotte MacLeod, such agreements don’t alter the designated location of a job, which is clearly indicated in the offer letter.

Radio-Canada was unable to confirm the telework agreements reached by the employees it spoke to, since they were made verbally, nor did GAC comment specifically on those verbal agreements.

The department declined to specify the extent of the discretionary power granted to assistant deputy ministers who review telework requests from employees, and also declined to clarify the criteria considered during these reviews.

Current federal service rules still allow public servants residing more than 125 kilometres from their place of work to telework full-time under certain conditions, subject to operational requirements and approval by management, on a case-by-case basis .

MacLeod said the teleworking agreements are separate from any decisions related to the Liberal government’s comprehensive spending review, which is expected to generate savings of $60 billion over five years.

GAC was unable to say how many teleworking requests have been cancelled or rejected, as it does not keep track of this data.

‘It’s a betrayal’: union

Alex Silas, national executive vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said he’s disappointed by this latest development, and said the union plans to fight to ensure GAC honours the commitments it made when it hired the employees.

“This is not a new feeling that workers in the federal public service are feeling, this feeling of being disrespected and undervalued,” Silas said.

“To someone who’s been doing their job with no issue, and now suddenly they’re being put in this impossible situation where they either have to resign or they have to completely relocate their lives, it’s disappointing and it’s a betrayal.”

In 2023, the Treasury Board Secretariat implemented an interim rule authorizing full-time telework for those living far from their designated workplace. That allowance remains in effect until March 2027.

The government declined to specify what criteria would be examined to determine whether it will renew the practice. It does not have centralized data on applications submitted, accepted and rejected.

Since the pandemic, other departments have hired staff for positions that are fully remote.

At Transport Canada for example, spokesperson Hicham Ayoun said public servants have been recruited nationally for full-time positions that can be performed remotely, depending on the skills required and organizational needs, and subject to operational requirements.

According to the most recent data, 36 Transport Canada employees have benefited from this arrangement.