As many Canadians look for more products made locally in places such as the supermarket and the liquor store, those that cultivate and harvest the fruits and vegetables that are sold there or enter these products often are not Canadians.
Despite spending most of their time in Canada, migrant workers in the agricultural sector have limited or non -existent paths to become permanent residents or obtain an open work permit. That also means that they cannot vote.
“These are essential workers who come to do an essential job here in Canada. They do jobs that Canadians do not want to do,” said Reverend Antonio Illes, who directs the migrant agricultural workers project (MFP) in the Niagara region.
“If it were not by our agricultural workforce, our greenhouses, vegetables, flower industry, vineyards, these industries could not succeed,” he said in an interview translated from Spanish.
Illes said many workers spend decades doing “work work” in Canada for months.
“A worker who has come here for 25, 30 years and who, at the end of the day, when he wants to enjoy his pension, wants to do his country … How unfair is they not to do it?” said.
“In my opinion, to improve the structure of this program, and based on social justice, this seasonal agricultural workers program must be modified.”
Illes said it falls to Canadian citizens “monitoring this vulnerable community and fighting”, because they have no voice in which it is the electoral ballot.
“It depends on us,” he said.
Illes wants to know what ways they are offering migrant workers to permanent residence.
He said that in his experience, most workers do not want to stay in Canada “, but there is a percentage that would like to adjust their migration status and [the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program] It does not provide it. “
‘We must safeguard the dignity of this group’
Through the seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP), Canadian employers can hire and fly in temporary foreign workers.
The program is open to workers in Mexico and several Caribbean countries (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Granada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis, Santa Lucía, San Vicente and Granadines, and Trinidad and Tobago).
Sawp began in 1966 with Jamaican workers and expanded to the Caribbean until 1974, when Mexico included.
“Maybe in 1966, when the program was done, it was not a problem, but now, 58 years later, there are some [workers] Who would like to migrate to Canada and make this their country, “he said.
The migrant agricultural workers project in Niagara aims to “gather” workers with volunteers and community members in the region, said Illes.
They offer free meals, clothing, medical care and a space for workers to access the Internet and connect with others.
The project also directs a program called Community Square (Community Square in English), which helps Mexican adults to finish their primary and secondary education. Illes said they are always looking for volunteers.
Illes said, as it is, the federal government sees migrant workers purely as a source of “cheap labor.”
“We must safeguard the dignity of this group, and that is why we want [migrant workers] Not to be invisible in Canadian society, “he said.
Other defense groups have been asking that migrant workers have access to permanent residence for many years.
“Without permanent resident status, migrants remain vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and, in some cases, even death,” said Karen Cocq, of the Alliance for the Change of Migrant Workers, at a press conference in BC last year.
What the parties say
CBC Hamilton communicated with the main political parties to ask about their plans for the program, how they will support agricultural and migrants and if they plan to make permanent residence more accessible to these workers.
The conservative party did not respond to the CBC application.
Here is something that others said.
Green party
Fabrice Lachance Nové, press secretary of the Greens, said in a statement to CBC Hamilton, the party “will review and thoroughly review the temporary program of foreign workers”, a broader program than SAWP that allows employers to fill temporary jobs where there are no available Canadian workers.
The part would do that to “protect the workers from abuse and exploitation, while ensuring that critical work needs in agriculture are met.”
“This includes the strengthening of the application of labor protections, fair wages, adequate housing and safe working conditions for foreign agricultural and seasonal workers, and addressing the barriers facing these seasonal workers to access social security networks, such as employment insurance and disability protections,” said the spokesman.
The party would aim to reduce the dependence of the program, expand the “immigration routes promoted by the employer” and ensure that migrant agricultural workers have “fair routes” to the permanent residence.
They will also aim to “prevent labor traffic and exploitation by ordering open work permits, increasing unnoticed labor inspections and enforcing strict sanctions for abusive employers.”
Liberal Party
The part did not respond directly on the program or support for workers in Canada under SAWP.
Mohammad Hussain, spokesman for the liberals, said in a statement, liberal leader Mark Carly is “taking measures to build a strong economy and return more money in Canadian pockets.”
“For Canada’s day, we will eliminate interprovincial commercial barriers that will facilitate Canadian companies exchange their goods throughout the country and reduce costs,” said the spokesman.
The statement also said that the party wants to establish “immigration levels” responsible with an approach to building a strong economy and ensuring that the key sectors have the workforce they need. “
According to the website of the party, they also have the objective of “facilitating” that Canadians buy local products working with “agricultural producers”, among others.
New Democratic Party
The NDP provided a statement through Hamilton East: Stoney Creek MP candidate Nayla Mithani, who said: “Our immigration system should be responsible to Canadians and rooted in the values of equity, dignity and human rights.”
Mithani said the party will eliminate closed work permits, “an exploitation system that denies workers their rights.”
“We will implement a broad and inclusive regularization program that gives those without a state of a clear way towards permanent residence,” he said.
“The force of Canada comes from the people who have turned it into their home, from the first nations that have administered the land for millennia until generation after the generation of newcomers who have built their lives here.”
