More effort needed to support Canadian farm workers
Dear Editor,
The response from the Minister of Labour Karl Samuda and his liaison officers is very unfortunate.
I know they mean our workers well, but on this occasion, they are placing the programme ahead of the Jamaican workers.
Sending Jamaicans to over 600 farms in a country as big as Canada (3.8 million sq miles) to be monitored by 13 liaison officers is quite inadequate in the first place. Some owners/operators of these farms would, no doubt, be aware of this impossible task and take advantage of it to increase their profitability, so we should give our people a listening ear.
As I understand it, Canada is one of the few countries in the world that is food self-sufficient, and in 2021 they exported over CAN$80 billion worth of food, which tells me there are thousands of other workers in the agricultural sector. The programme accepts approximately 50,000 to 60,000 migrant workers from 11 Caribbean countries and Mexico each year.
In my view, our workers are not trying to disrupt the programme. They left their country because they are trying to make a living for themselves and their families. All they are asking the minister to do is to look at the total programme and see how it matches up with the other workers in the sector as far as production, working hours/conditions, pay, housing, mortality, etc are concerned and be treated fairly.
May I suggest that when workers are getting ready to leave Jamaica and the briefings are taking place, along with being given contact numbers for their liaison officer, a member of the group from each farm be appointed team leader of the Jamaica contingent. The name of the team leader should be communicated to the owner/operator of the respective farm. These team leaders should be asked to complete a monthly report of the activities on their farms (good or bad) and send it to the relevant liaison officer.
It is my understanding that the Canadian Labour Department is aware of the issues and investigating, let’s hope our ministry will do the same and good sense will prevail.
John Chen
johnchen1252@yahoo.com
