A group of migrant farmers working in Canada as part of the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) were sent back to Jamaica earlier this month after they held a walkout in protest of unbearable workplace conditions at a farm in southwestern Ontario.
The Jamaican workers arrived in Ontario in the spring and were supposed to remain on a produce farm until the fall but were sent home and swiftly replaced almost two months early, on Aug. 8.
Alarm bells were raised online after a video surfaced depicting a farmer shouting abuse at a group of since repatriated employees. “If you choose not to work today that will be a problem…you don’t pick and choose the days you wanna work,” the man said.
The incident comes a year after Garvin Yapp, a highly experienced Jamaican migrant farmer who had worked under SAWP for 35 years, was killed while operating heavy machinery at a farm in Norfolk County.
SAWP allows Canadian farmers to employ temporary foreign workers when Canadians and permanent residents are unable to fill agricultural roles. The migrant workers are typically permitted to work a maximum of 8 months of the year.
It is the responsibility of the employer to provide proper housing, food and health care to migrant workers; but reports of inadequate and unsanitary living and working conditions are commonplace.
“Lack of work” is often cited as a reason for terminating employees who raise concerns over their living and working conditions, Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW), an Ontario-based migrant advocacy group, said in a letter to the federal government on Monday.
“The repatriation of several migrant agricultural workers who were terminated after raising concerns about alleged workplace harassment and deplorable housing conditions” was indicative of systematic failures, and immediately replacing those sent home, was an “attempt by the employer to suppress workplace resistance,” the letter said.
The firings of the Jamaican workers also happened in conjunction with the Canadian government’s decision to introduce the Recognized Employers Pilot “which aims to cut red tape for employers who have a history of compliance with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program’s policies, ” J4MW said, in turn facilitating a fast-tracked procedure for the importation of foreign labour to Canada.
“Tens of thousands of migrant agricultural workers come to Canada each year to satisfy a so-called labour shortage in the agricultural industry. As we and many others have stated, for decades, these workers come to live and work in Canada under conditions that would not be tolerated by any Canadian,” J4MW concluded.
J4MW is demanding the following steps are undertaken:
● Permanent status for all current and former migrant workers
● An end to the tied work permit system
● An end to unilateral repatriations and disbarment from employment in Canada
● Full inclusion in and access to programs such as Employment Insurance, healthcare
and Canada Pension Plan (including proactive facilitation of access)
● Sectoral bargaining for all agricultural workers
● Access to and choice in further education
● Family reunification for migrant workers
A representative for the federal government told Now Toronto in a statement that the “mistreatment or abuse of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) is unacceptable. All allegations of abuse received are reviewed and appropriate action taken.”
The federal government said it invested an additional $14.6 million in 2022-23, to improve the quality of inspections and hold employers accountable for the treatment of workers.
Employers are also subject to inspections, if they do not meet required standards fines up to a maximum of $1 million may be administered, as well as a temporary or permanent ban from the program.
TFWs who have faced mistreatment or abuse can contact a confidential tip line to file a report. “This is the most effective way for the government to identify and address bad actors,” the statement said.
The government’s confidential tip line is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with live agents offering services in 200 languages.
