Participants in Indigenous cultural exchange program to New Zealand feel ‘scammed’

What many thought was a dream opportunity for Indigenous youth from Canada to participate in cultural exchange with local Māori communities in New Zealand turned into what one participant describes as a “nightmare.”

It was marketed as a 12-week working holiday for Indigenous youth but left some participants feeling scammed. 

“They’re almost luring us into this program using Māori culture and the idea of Indigenous connection,” said Ashley Clearsky, from Waywayseecappo First Nation in Manitoba.

“It was just a bit of a nightmare.”

Clearsky said she first heard about the program from a Facebook advertisement. She clicked on the ad and filled out the form. 

Clearsky said she was attracted to the program because she has family in New Zealand. 

She was invited for a Zoom interview with Go International — a Canadian company based out of Vancouver and a recognized organization with the federal government’s International Experience Canada program. 

Go International partnered with Jenza, a New Zealand travel company that would manage participants once they were in that country. On Go International’s website it says Jenza has “strong connections with employers and the Māori communities.”  

She was given a fact sheet from Go International and was told to give it to her band office so she could access funds for the program. 

“For Indigenous youth from Canada, this program serves as a bridge between nations, fostering cross-cultural understanding and empowering participants to develop valuable skills and embrace new environments and perspectives,” read the letter. 

But Clearsky said her band didn’t give her any money because the program wasn’t educational, nor was it going to give her any credits toward the university degree she was pursuing at the time. 

“That should have been like maybe the first red flag — my band wasn’t willing to pay for it,” said Clearsky.

Clearsky ended up paying the $4,200 for the program out of her own pocket. 

Participants were also responsible for paying their own travel insurance, visa fees and flights, which by Go International’s own estimates on their website would cost about $3,000. 

‘No Māori people at all’

In information sessions about the program, Go International and Jenza said they sought input from a session with more than 100 Indigenous youth across Canada and formed a 15-person Indigenous youth council for advice. 

But Clearsky said none of the staff at the companies she met were Indigenous, and she felt staff lacked the cultural sensitivity or knowledge to be working with Indigenous youth. 

The program was to span 12 weeks, with participants’ time split between work placements and cultural activities in Māori communities. 

The program had three cohorts with about a dozen participants in each group. The first group arrived in New Zealand in February. CBC News spoke to three people in this group including Clearsky. 

“There were no Māori people at all like when we first got there,” said Cheryl Bear, from Flying Dust First Nation in Saskatchewan.

Participants CBC News spoke to said the first two weeks of the program went mostly as planned, though they found it odd they never took part in a pōwhiri (Māori welcome) and the only cultural activities they had were at typical tourist destinations like Waitangi Treaty Grounds. 

“It wasn’t what I had expected because when you talk about culture and stuff, it’s not like a tourist thing,” said Bear. 

Rodents and bugs

In the third week, the jobs weren’t ready at the kiwi fruit farm because of bad weather and Jenza sent the group to Kohutapu Lodge, a Māori-run tourist facility in a rural part of the country. 

There the participants worked between four and five hours a day helping with guests and around the lodge. 

“Realistically, we were working like eight hours a day, every day, like, no days off,” said Amber Stevens, from Sapotaweyak Cree Nation in Manitoba. 

Participants describe being stuck at the lodge with no way to leave. The closest town, Murupara, was about 20 kilometres away. 

Stevens and Clearsky did leave, catching a ride with a tourist who was on his way to Wellington, offering to pay his gas if they could join. 

“We don’t want to be here, this isn’t what we signed up for,” said Stevens. 

The rest of the group spent two weeks at the lodge until Jenza had jobs ready for them in the kiwi industry. Stevens and Clearsky rejoined the program.

But the kiwi jobs were not what they expected. The program advertised working in the kiwi fruit industry at a company called East Pack, but the group ended up with a different company. 

Stevens said she thought they’d be picking fruit outside from the trees.

“I was excited for that,” said Stevens.

Instead the group worked shifts up to 12 hours in a packing plant, filling heavy boxes full of fruit for shipping, or sorting rotting fruit to be packed.

“You would look at this machine and it spins the kiwis around and you would just pick out the bad kiwis,” said Stevens.

 “I remember one time Cheryl and I were working on the grading machine and we both got so dizzy that we both ended up throwing up.” 

Stevens said the day shift would work from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. before switching with the night shift from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. 

Stevens said she worked a split shift, working two day shifts, then two days off, before switching to two night shifts. 

To make a bad situation worse the group was living in the company’s staff housing, sleeping two people in a room they said was infested with mice and bugs. 

“I was so terrified to sleep that night,” said Stevens.

 “I was so scared there was going to be a mouse in my bed when I woke up.” 

In an email obtained by CBC News, a parent of a participant emailed Go International and Jenza about the living conditions, and concerns over the changes from the itinerary. 

In response to the email, Go International said the living accommodations didn’t have rodents, and that the group “confused harmless small black bugs called ‘clicker bugs’ with rodent droppings.”  

The group said that wasn’t true and the cleaning service provided did nothing about it. 

The itinerary for the program advertised that based on New Zealand’s minimum wage, the work periods would provide an opportunity to earn at least $750 New Zealand dollars a week, about $636 Cdn. 

“Nobody made that at all,” said Bear. 

Hundreds of dollars were deducted from each paycheque for rent, transportation to work, and taxes. 

According to Bear’s pay stubs from March 11 to April 21 at the Kiwi fruit farm, after deductions she made a total of  $2,032.18 NZ ($1,709.27 Cdn), averaging about $338 NZ ($282 Cdn) a week, for an average of 24 hours of work a week.

“Lots of us still had bills to pay back home and it was ridiculous,” said Bear. 

Bear said she ended up deferring her university courses she was taking online, because of the stress of the situation. 

What was supposed to be four weeks spent working in the kiwi industry turned into six weeks. 

Bear stuck it out right to the end of the program, unlike Stevens and Clearsky who left after being at the kiwi packing plant for just over a week. 

Stevens made a trip to Auckland and bought a car, packed up her stuff and left. 

Clearsky and another participant left with her and went to stay with family who lived in New Zealand. 

Māori families open their homes

Rita Peihopa, a Māori woman from the Ngāti Hine and Ngāti Rehia tribes, met Clearsky at a family friend’s birthday party in March and learned about what happened to them in the program. 

“I felt obligated to look after them and to ensure that they came here and received the experience that they should rightly have received,” said Peihopa, who works in international education and has visited Indigenous communities in Canada. 

Peihopa opened her home to Clearsky and the other participant, and they stayed for about a month. She said at least two other people who left the program also came to stay with her. Peihopa, Clearsky and the other participant went on the media in New Zealand to talk about the program. 

After the news story aired, about five other Māori families offered to house people from the program if they wanted to leave.  

“You would be treated like honoured guests here in our lands had you come through the right channels,” said Peihopa. 

She said she was appalled by Jenza and Go International’s apparent disregard for Māori protocol when welcoming guests. 

“Go International and Jenza are bringing people over on behalf of Māori people and just completely screwing it up,” said Peihopa. 

CBC News spoke to one member of the second cohort who did not want to be interviewed for this story but confirmed a similar experience to the first group. CBC News has not spoken to any members of the third group. 

Inadequate consultation

Go International told CBC News in an emailed statement that despite partnering with a reputable company “the high standards we set for the experience were not met.” 

“While most of the participants had the experience that we had hoped for, we acknowledge that some were dissatisfied with their work placements, date changes, and accommodations,’ said the statement. 

The company said it will use the insights gained from the program to create opportunities for Indigenous youth, but will not continue the program. 

In an emailed statement to CBC News, Jenza said in creating this pilot program it engaged with existing contacts within the Māori community but did not consult adequately the iwi (tribe) and hapū (clans or descent groups) of the areas program participants visited. 

“We did not [go] far enough to ensure comprehensive involvement of Māori community members in developing the program,” said Olga Adamovich, chief product and innovation officer for Jenza. 

“We understand and deeply regret the disappointment and frustration this has caused.”

Jenza said it has hired a Māori program co-ordinator and has “the assistance of a well-respected Māori Cultural Consultant to facilitate the youth forum element of the itinerary for all three groups.”  

Jenza also said that it chose reputable suppliers and employers to work with but acknowledged “errors were made in providing sufficient guidance to participants before arriving in New Zealand regarding the expectations of their work and the additional costs that may be required throughout their stay in the country.” 

‘Where did our money go?’ 

Participants in the first cohort CBC News spoke with said Go International offered them a $600 refund but none of them accepted it. 

Stevens, Clearsky, and Bear, along with other participants, wrote a letter to International Experience Canada asking for help getting a refund from Go International. 

“I do really feel scammed,” said Stevens. 

Bear and Stevens said they requested a cost breakdown of their program fees from Go International and Jenza but never received an answer. 

“Where did our money go? Because I didn’t do any of those extra activities either,” said Stevens. 

The participants CBC News spoke with said they feel angry, and believe the company should apologize and issue refunds. 

“Our money is just being put into their pockets,” said Stevens.