Zahraa Hmood St. Catherine’s Standard Wed., Oct. 19, 2022
The Jamaican seasonal farmworkers behind a letter published this summer comparing Canada’s seasonal foreign workers program to “systematic slavery” have released a new video further describing what they say are subpar conditions and mistreatment on two Niagara-on-the-Lake farms.
This comes as a team assembled by the Jamaican government begins a fact-finding mission to investigate the conditions on Canadian farms and speak with workers.
The video, uploaded to YouTube on Oct. 11, was shared by Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, of which the two featured workers are members.
In it, they described a myriad of issues like inadequate wages, overcrowded housing set-ups, safety issues caused by lack of proper training, pesticide concerns, and intimidation from their bosses — all compounded, they say, by a system that allows mistreatment to continue.
“The bosses are constantly on our back, telling us to move faster” said one worker, going by the alias Philip Douglas, who helped write the letter. “Especially new workers … they punish them for not working fast enough … the boss uses abusive words that I can’t use on camera.”
In the video, the two workers can be seen sitting from the shoulders-down, hiding their faces, their voices digitally altered: “They have chosen to be anonymous, and their voice has been altered because of reprisals,” reads a note before the video begins.
Part of the reason, they say, why these conditions continue is because workers fear their employers punishing them for speaking up about their issues by not hiring them back for the next farming season, and potentially blocking them from being hired elsewhere in Canada.
These are issues, they say, not being addressed by the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, through which employers hire temporary foreign workers. They’re calling for migrant workers like themselves to receive permanent resident status for Canada.
“How can somebody who’s been coming here for 30 years be ‘temporary’?” Douglas said. “I basically live here.”
Having this immigration status, he said, would allow them to take their concerns to their employers without fear of repercussions, and even what he described as a power imbalance between them and their employers.
“Then, the bosses know that if they treat us bad, then the person can go and seek a job elsewhere,” Douglas said.
In August, they sent their original letter to Jamaica’s labour and social security minister Karl Samuda on Aug. 11, ahead of his visit to Canada on Aug. 15. He observed conditions on some Canadian farms, including two farms named in the letter: Kai Wiens Family Farms and Tregunno Fruit Farms.
In response to a request for comment sent to Kai Wiens Family Farms and Tregunno Fruit Farms, an Aug. 27 statement from the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association was shared on behalf of the two farms, which are members of the association.
“Farm employers take the responsibility of having these individuals on their farms very seriously,” the statement reads. “Without them, Ontario farmers couldn’t contribute to Canada’s food security.”
The page-and-a-half-long statement outlines the “extensive” requirements for employers hiring workers under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program and states these workers have the same workplace protections as Canadian workers, details rules around wages, housing inspections and safety training.
It adds that non-compliant employers are fined, placed on probation, or excluded from the program if they fail to meet the standards.
Initially, the minister told Jamaica-based newspaper The Gleaner that he found working conditions to be “excellent” and observed a “strong and pleasant” relationship between farmers and workers.
However, according to the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, following pressure from the farm workers who spoke up, as well as “members of Jamaican civil society,” the fact-finding team was announced on Sept. 5.
The team, consisting of seven people from the Jamaican government and national labour organizations, has the support of the Canadian government: according to a media release from Samuda's ministry, they share Jamaica's concerns for the safety and security of workers.