Regional approach needed to protect seasonal farm workers

A UNIFIED regional approach is needed to ensure seasonal farm workers working abroad are protected.

This was the view of two regional academics who recently participated in a forum entitled ‘Seasonal Farm Workers in Canada’ during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The online discussion was hosted by the Canada-Caribbean Institute, which was founded by the University of the West Indies and Brock University of Ontario Canada and sought to identify areas for research, inform policy on the issues of seasonal work and determine what interventions could be used on the ground to prepare for the adjustments and hardships the farm workers may be facing.

Dr. Talia Esnard, a lecturer in Sociology at the St. Augustine Campus, opined that a policy initiative can be developed from a Caribbean perspective based on the research and recommendations of a multidisciplinary team. “I would suggest a team that really covers the area of social work.

“We need to understand the multi-layer level of analyses that are required to address a very complex situation such as this... they are deep. There are much deeper fundamental systemic issues that need to be addressed.... this is just the icing on the cake.

“This COVID-19 is really in a very direct way exposed the vulnerabilities and exposed the endemic issues that are current and underlying what those seasonal workers are exposed to and what they confront when they leave and when they arrive.

“So most immediately there is a call for regional governments to come together and really form a multidisciplinary team and form action plans based on solid data that speak to those experiences and the issues that go deep, not just to identify immediate initiatives, but to problem solve and that requires a long-term initiative and agenda, but one that is based on providing solutions for the entire region...because this affects a region and relations between the region and Canada as well,” she said.

Dr. Claudette Crawford- Brown, lecturer Clinical Social Work at the Mona Campus, held the firm view that a strong presence by the State defending farm workers and strong advocacy groups are key to ensuring their safety.

“The governments in the Caribbean, in particular Jamaica, have dropped the ball in this particular situation. The first thing they have to do is not be defensive but acknow-ledge the ball was dropped. They are in a difficult situation, they were were rushed. We understand this as a people, but we must now take up the responsibility for migrant people to communicate better with them.

“I am suggesting that a place like the UWI or all other universities are in a very good position to pull together to create the kind of initiatives, that would help our persons.”

She noted that improving communication, amplifying the work of the migrant worker and making their voices heard will go a long way.

“It should not be coming through the media, journalists, advocates all the time. We must have somewhere in the Caribbean, mainly the UWI, where the voices of the migrant can be heard on a regular basis and we can feel their concerns and refer them to the necessary organisations working in the Ministry of Labour or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I think this is relatively easy, relatively quick way, through using Zoom or our different teleconference platforms to find out exactly what is happening, what are the immediate concerns,” she said.

It was noted that nearly 55 000 migrant workers enter Canada each year to work on farms, in greenhouses and other agricultural settings across the country in spring, summer and fall. Since Barbados signed on to the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Programme Agreement with Canada in 1967, thousands of workers have taken up the opportunity to work in Canada. (JH)