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The plight of migrant workers in Ontario
Monday, February 13, 2012
By Juan Carranza, LL.B., M.B.A.
The tragic motor vehicle accident of February the 6th, 2012 near Hampstead, where eleven men lost their lives, was the first time many Ontarians became aware of the presence of foreign migrant workers in the province’s green belt. Out of the public focus, for decades thousands of migrant workers have been coming to this province to work in poorly paid agricultural jobs. With the federal government’s recent changes in immigration policy it is expected that the numbers of temporary migrant workers in Canada will dramatically increase over time. But how can it be that thousands of men and women travel thousands of kilometres to do these hard jobs for such little pay?
Given the abysmal economic disparities between the countries of the North and those of the South, agricultural work in the north often offers an important economic opportunity for workers in the south that is not available in their home countries. For countries of the north it is an opportunity to fill much needed vacancies for poorly paid back-breaking work. For countries of the south, it represents a valuable socio-economic safety valve in that the foreign jobs taken help to alleviate unemployment and underemployment pressures in impoverished sectors of the population. However, these economic benefits for the workers and their countries of origin also come with high costs and challenges, mostly for the workers and their families.
In addition to the obvious hardship of being separated from their loved ones often for several months at a time, workers come to Canada with very limited English language skills, limited knowledge of the country, and of their legal rights. Generally, migrant workers come to work in rural communities with little access to services and information. The temporary nature of their immigration and employment status, their lack of familiarity with their rights as employees makes migrant workers some of the most vulnerable labourers in Canada.
This has led to many abuses. Despite working long and back-breaking hours migrant workers are generally not paid overtime, not even when they work on holidays. The workers are commonly unaware of their right to refuse unsafe work and due to their precarious temporary contract situation feel pressured to take on any work assignment, no matter how unsafe, for fear of being sent back or not rehired the following season. Lack of knowledge of their legal rights is particularly concerning since foreign workers often do jobs with a relatively high risk of injury. This has led to particularly egregious abuses following work-related injuries where migrant workers have been terminated and sent back home despite ongoing need for treatment and without an opportunity to seek compensation for what are often permanent and disabling injuries. In such cases, instead of returning home with money for their families, the worker, often the only breadwinner in the family, returns as an emotional and economic burden to his family that was already overwhelmed with the daily struggle of poverty.
There are no quick fixes to this situation. Needed legislative and regulatory changes will take some time. However, there are some important immediate steps that can be taken to help to improve the plight of migrant workers. First of all, it is crucial that migrant workers be informed of their legal rights. Workers need to receive in their own language information about employment standards, safety, immigration procedures, their rights in case of injury, etc.
Advocacy groups like Justice for Migrant Workers have for years done a heroic job by regularly holding information sessions in rural areas where the migrant labourers work, and they assist workers when they are injured, as well as advocating for much needed legal changes to the foreign workers program. Unfortunately, volunteers for Justicia are often not welcomed by employers. In some cases employers have gone as far as threatening their workers with dismissal if they attend go near the Justicia volunteers.
While there are difficult ethical and economic considerations involving the existence and expansion of a migrant workers program it is fundamental that while such a program exists, the people who make enormous sacrifices to come to Canada and grow the food that we eat, should be fully protected under the law. Anything less would be simply unjust.
At Carranza we are committed to advocating on behalf of migrant workers and their families to ensure that they receive the protection under the law that they rightfully deserve
