Out of work and impoverished, the men from the town of Papa in western Hungary were offered jobs in Canada, where they believed they could start new lives or at least earn enough money to support their families back home.
The RCMP say the reality they faced after their new bosses picked them up from John C. Munro airport in Hamilton was far different: housed in the basements of their employers' homes and fed scraps from the table, they were made to work long hours at construction sites for no money.
On Friday, police announced charges against 10 members of a family of Hungarian descent in what is believed to be the largest human-trafficking case since Canada enacted legislation against it eight years ago. Nineteen workers have come forward to authorities.
"Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery," Inspector Steve Martin, commander of the RCMP's Hamilton Niagara Detachment said in a statement. "Public awareness is the first step towards putting an end to this horrific crime that robs one person's freedom to benefit another."
The family's associates in Hungary would recruit the men and send them to Hamilton, where they were instructed to make false refugee claims and start collecting social assistance, police said. Officers said the men never saw a penny of their welfare cheques, which were taken by their employers.
With poor English skills and their employers watching over them often, the workers were unable to inform authorities, police said. The alleged traffickers are accused of threatening to harm the men's families back home to ensure their obedience.
"They limited the contact they had with anybody," said RCMP Sergeant Marc La Porte. "It's been going on for several years."
While elements of the alleged trafficking ring in Hamilton are similar to those in other cases - such as the withholding of money and the isolation of the victims - it is unusual to see a case of this size, said Benjamin Perrin, author of Invisible Chains: Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking.
"Ever since Canada has had a human trafficking law, there hasn't been an arrest with this number of suspects or this number of alleged victims," he said.
Mr. Perrin, a law professor at the University of British Columbia, said the issue, which at one time was thought to relate almost entirely to the sex trade, is actually much broader, extending to any dirty or dangerous industry, from agriculture to cleaning work.
The purported scheme in Hamilton began to unravel late last year when one of the workers who had been brought before an immigration officer used the opportunity to tell him what was going on. That started "Project Opapa," a 10-month long investigation by the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency.
In March, police dismantled the alleged trafficking ring and charged three members of the family. Two more were charged weeks later.
Some workers are believed to have escaped over the years, others opted to return to Hungary, while others have applied to stay in Canada and are still being assessed.
On Wednesday, officers tried to lay additional charges against all 10 members of the family, but couldn't track any of them down. They are believed to be in the Hamilton area.
Ferenc Domotor, 48, Ferenc Domotor Jr., 20, Gyongyi Kolompar, 40, Gizella Kolompar, 41, Lajos Domotor, 42, Ferenc Karadi, 47, Gizella Domotor, 42, Attila Kolompar, 35 and Gyula Domotor, 32, are all wanted for trafficking in persons and fraud. Zsanett Karadi, 24, is wanted for theft.
Adrian Morrow