Ongoing Crisis of Agricultural Migrant Workers amid COVID-19
Canada’s seasonal agricultural workers make up a large portion of the agricultural industry and ensure that the country remains free of food insecurity. We often forget about the extensive labour that goes into the production of our food supply. Canada’s agricultural production and supply largely depend on migrant seasonal agricultural workers, who make up about 93% of the agricultural industry [1,16]. Without the annual arrival of over 55,000 migrant workers that arrive in Canada, our grocery stores’ shelves would be at risk for standing empty [2,3]. Unquestionably, seasonal migrant workers contribute significantly to the stability of Canada’s economy and are central in keeping Canadians food-secure [1]. Despite their valuable contributions, their employment journey in the country is plagued with inequities of health and labour rights, living, and working conditions. Seasonal agricultural workers face extremely exploitative conditions, which are directly driving poor health outcomes of thousands of workers [3]. These long-standing exploitative conditions are a result of the policies that continue to perpetuate exacerbated health risks for migrant workers in farms across the country. So, the question is, what prices do these workers’ pay for allowing us the privilege of our fresh fruits and vegetables?
Original illustration by Karly Franz.
To better contextualize why these conditions are permitted, it’s important to understand the historical background of migrant workers in Canada. The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) was created in response to Canada’s agricultural shortage in the 1960s [4]. By 1966, SAWP was bringing in thousands of workers from Jamaica, eventually reaching into countries throughout South America [4]. Notably, though, this program came about during a time in which anti-Black immigration policies were still around, which intentionally limited the immigration of Black and Brown people to Canada [5]. Despite these immigration policies, SAWP brought in workers from the South to fulfill the growing demand for agricultural workers, essentially viewing them as disposable and replaceable labour. The disposability of low-wage migrant workers are immanent in the policies that perpetuate poor living and working conditions, the lack of access to health and labour rights, and is especially encapsulated in the repatriation of injured or ill migrant workers [17]. Workers were subjected to differential discrimination as they were deliberately excluded from having labour rights and receiving healthcare coverage [4,6]. In the self-serving need to solve the labour shortage problem, SAWP decidedly upheld racist immigration policies that have allowed for worker exploitation for decades now [7]. Allowing for long workdays, lacking compensation for workplace injuries and sick days, and extremely low wages describe just a few of the discriminatory policies that SAWP is built on [7].
Although SAWP is accredited for opening the market for labour access, in which migrants are able to cross borders for better access to economical wealth [18], however, the mobility of workers is limited through policies such as the “closed worker permits”. These permits place constraints on workers and obligates them to be tied to one employer for the duration of their contract [3]. Closed worker permits aptly reflect the structurally discriminatory logos embedded into SAWP, which essentially gives employers complete power over workers mobility, labour rights and healthcare access [3,8]. The constant insinuation of deportation that comes with these permits reiterates the notion of disposable labour, thus, forcing workers to feel a sense of indentured servitude to keep their jobs in Canada [8,9]. To ensure their job stability, employees work beyond their able physical limits, such as working long unethical hours on the farms [10]. In addition to this, SAWP operates on a reactive, complaint-based approach [10]. As a result of these repressive policies and the lack of health coverage, workers underreport their illnesses and injuries, making them more vulnerable to prolonged health implications [3]. Long-term health implications can vary from mental health challenges to somatic symptom illnesses in which employees display persistent physical symptoms such chronic weakness, pain, and shortness of beath which can impair physical functioning [19]. Productivity of the farm is prioritized, and employers who fall ill or are injured in the workplace are easily replaced and/or deported, maintaining a cycle of expendable labour, further perpetuating discrimination and marginalization. SAWP’s design is built on the foundational anti-Black immigration policies that were implemented around the same time , where Black and Brown people were diminished to be ‘simply labourers’ [7]. The structure of these policies is overtly embedded in racist policies that turn a blind eye to the unjust conditions seasonal agricultural workers face, intricately impacting how health is experienced and accessed by migrants.
In the self-serving need to solve the labour shortage problem, SAWP decidedly upheld racist immigration policies that have allowed for worker exploitation for decades now
As transnational workers form the global south, workers keep returning to these conditions in hopes of survival and providing for their families that were left behind [8]. The returning of seasonal agricultural workers is placed within a larger global inequity context, where they are forced to pursue and tolerate poor working conditions with limited access to protection through health coverage and labour rights. Ultimately, many migrant workers trade off their health in hopes of improving the economic inequity within their own countries [8]. Despite migrant workers being an important source in the global economy, the protection to health and labour rights impacting their health is constantly stripped to ensure the labour force benefits the market the most. Countries such as Canada, whose economic stability is dependent on migrant workers, should expand health and workplace injury coverages to protect the vulnerable and break the cycle of health inequities originating from discrimination.
The underlying policies and regulations of the SAWP giving employers preferential power and control over workers has exacerbated the poor health outcomes of migrant workers in a country that is well known for its accessible and universal health system. Housing and living conditions have been at the forefront of ill-health among migrant workers. Working and living conditions are some of the most critical determinants of health burdens. Overcrowded housing complexes provided by employers, with unsanitary and unhygienic conditions, have impacted the health experiences of thousands of workers [11]. Substandard housing includes overcrowded communal washrooms and cooking facilities which lack attention to proper running water, cleaning supplies, and basic necessities [20]. Such conditions make it easier for the transmission of microbial diseases such as gastrointestinal illnesses and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis among workers [12]. Unethical working conditions have increased the risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and mental health disorders [21], in addition to workplace injuries [10]. Most farms or greenhouses are limited with hand washing stations, lack attention to hygiene, don’t have adequate PPE, and do not provide workers with training for workplace safety on farms [9,10]. Moreover, the constant use of pesticides is extremely concerning for migrant workers and their health as very little training and PPE are provided to ensure safe handling [10]. Workers are also working an upward of 14-16 hours daily, with very little time to rest adequately, contributing to physical and mental exhaustion [4]. Such working conditions can lead to increased workplace injury as a result of overworking and can also exacerbate the risks of cardiovascular diseases, among others [11].
Beyond living and working conditions burdening their health outcomes, their isolated rural housing complexes takes away their opportunity to integrate within Canadian society, intensifying their vulnerability to health burdens [8]. This physical separation of workers drives racial discrimination and limited access to health services and can be analyzed using the tool of geography [8]. Geography is essential to understanding how racial hierarchies are constructed and maintained, and this can be seen with migrant workers who are placed in rural communities that are largely not diverse and risk the chances of discrimination when coming into contact with white settlers [8]. When crossing the made-up borders of the segregated farms into communities, migrants face forms of physical and verbal harassment [8]. This isolation and segregation maintaining social hierarchies is associated with health disparities, such as access to services and lower quality care, and can also be linked with increased prevalence of chronic stressors triggered by discrimination [13]. Chronic stressors can expose and weaken migrants to face accelerated adverse health conditions of cardiovascular disease, somatic disorders, and infectious diseases [13]. Workers fall short of adequate health because of systemic discrimination carried out in various aspects of migrant health.
Despite migrant workers being an important source in the global economy, the protection to health and labour rights impacting their health is constantly stripped to ensure the labour force benefits the market the most
In addition to the exposure of various conditions exacerbating negative health outcomes, migrant workers face additional barriers in accessing health, such as language and cultural limitations. A 2018 report of over 50,000 workers suggested that almost 20% of workers did not carry a health card and almost 55% of workers underreported illnesses and injuries [3]. Many provinces that utilize migrant workers through SAWP have intentionally denied extended health coverage, allowing them to fall through the cracks, and inhumanely optimizing the productivity of farms [14]. These policies then illustrate the two-tiered failure of workers, at both the program and employer level. The lack of health care coverage across Canada to workers who perform strenuous labour is censured [15] and reiterates that the country’s notion of the right to health care is a privilege that migrant workers are excluded from. The exclusion limits the services that migrant workers have access to such as sick days, and compensations for workplace injuries [3], and gives employers consequential autonomy over exploiting workers. Besides the restrictions imposed by SAWP, the program has also given employers unhindered control over the mobility of workers. For instance, in cognisance of the efficiency of the farm, employers can limit access to when and how often they can access a doctor or services [15]. Language also acts as a key barrier in the inaccessibility of healthcare, along with the lack of health literacy [2,3]. Without proper translation services provided by the program and by employers, migrant workers are unable to communicate their symptoms and illnesses [2].
In 2020, almost 84% of workers reported accessing medical services without an independent translator, in which case, most of the translation was provided by the employers [22]. Language barriers have prevented migrant workers from understanding their health rights, obtaining a health care to access healthcare, or engaging with healthcare workers. Employers are instilled with immense power to control when and how workers access healthcare services. By keeping individuals segregated, deprived of the opportunity to learn the language, and dependant on employers by worker permits, employers can blindly continue to exploit.
For decades now, workers have called for more ethical work permits, giving them more mobility to work for various employers and access to participating in labour and health rights – a threat to the capitalist operation of the agricultural industry [7]. The calls for labour rights and health reforms for migrant workers within SAWP have been ongoing. The conditions driving the poor health of migrant workers need to be addressed from a human rights and justice perspective rather than a capitalist one, in which the inequities faced by migrant workers are currently understood. Activists, community organizations, and workers for some time now proposed equitable changes to SAWP to ensure a protected and safe tenure in Canada as migrant workers, who are already vulnerable as transnational workers within a global context.
By keeping individuals segregated, deprived of the opportunity to learn the language, and dependant on employers by worker permits, employers can blindly continue to exploit
Of all the calls, housing and living conditions remain key [1]. SAWP should also engage in a more proactive system to implement and monitor unsafe working conditions to avoid a large number of workplace injuries and illnesses that are often underreported [10]. As a country that relies on migrant workers, an obligation to protect the health of those who arrive here is mandatory. Health coverage including sick days, compensation for workplace injuries, ethical work hours and conditions should be extended through provinces for migrant workers across the country. Revising closed work permits to a fairer permit will give workers more autonomy over their mobility and will be able to protect their health by leaving employees that are exploitive without the fear of deportation. Reforms in the SAWP program will help break the cycle of conserved abuse and discrimination that is driving the poor health experiences of migrant workers. Finally, a community-level intervention is needed in ensuring that employers include barrier-free access to health information and services, and also for training to protect the safety of migrant workers in workplaces. Without an equitable approach to the challenging issues faced by the migrant programs arriving in Canada through SAWP, systemic discrimination will prevail to plague the conditions of migrant workers.
Abisha (she/her) is a fourth year undergraduate student majoring in Health Studies, with a minor in Biology and International Development from the University of Toronto. She hopes to work in the Global Health and Development field, with a focus in Immigrant and Refugee health and inequities. Abisha is part of the 2021/2022 Juxtaposition Staff.
References:
[1] UFCW Canada And The Agriculture Workers Alliance. (2020). The Status Of Migrant Farm Workers In Canada, 2020. UFCW. http://www.ufcw.ca/templates/ufcwcanada/images/awa/publications/UFCW-Canada-Status-of-Migrant-Workers-Report-2020.pdf.
[2] Minnings, K. (2021, January 25). 'Already it was hard. now, it's become impossible': Pandemic highlights barriers to healthcare for migrant workers. Healthy Debate. https://healthydebate.ca/2021/01/topic/healthcare-migrant-workers/.
[3] Landry, V., Semsar-Kazerooni, K., Tjong, J., Alg, A., Darnley, A., Lipp, R., & Guberman, G. I. (2021). The systemized exploitation of temporary migrant agricultural workers in Canada: Exacerbation of health vulnerabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and recommendations for the future. Journal of Migration and Health, 3, 100035. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmh.2021.100035
[4] Coalition of Racialized Workers. (2016, March 21). International Day for the elimination of racism and racial discrimination. OPSEU SEFPO. https://opseu.org/news/international-day-for-the-elimination-of-racism-and-racial-discrimination/14499/.
[5] Hébert, P. (2016, August 27). Immigration policy, the West Indies, and Canadian Black Activism in the 1960s. Black Perspectives. https://www.aaihs.org/immigration-policy-the-west-indies-and-canadian-black-activism-in-the-1960s/.
[6] Kinch, M. (2021, April 23). Covid-19 makes a bad situation worse for agricultural migrant workers in Canada. Equal Times. https://www.equaltimes.org/covid-19-makes-a-bad-situation#.YYX8NC2z2qD.
[7] Defining racism. (2017). Public Service Alliance of Canada Union. Retrieved December 1, 2021, from http://psacunion.ca/sites/psac/files/attachments/pdfs/2_-_impact_of_systematic_and_structural_racism_-_handouts_-_en.pdf.
[8] McCausland, J.A. (2020, May 19). Racial Capitalism, Slavery, Labour Regimes and Exploitation in the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program. Caribbean Quilt. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cquilt/article/download/34378/26340.
[9] Haley, E., Caxaj, S., George, G., Hennebry, J., Martell, E., & McLaughlin, J. (2021). Migrant farmworkers face heightened vulnerabilities during COVID-19. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9(3). https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2020.093.016
[10] Caxaj, C. S., & Cohen, A. (2019). "I Will Not Leave My Body Here": Migrant Farmworkers' Health and Safety Amidst a Climate of Coercion. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(15), 2643. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16152643
[11] Colindres, C., Cohen, A., & Caxaj, C. S. (2021). Migrant Agricultural Workers' Health, Safety and Access to Protections: A Descriptive Survey Identifying Structural Gaps and Vulnerabilities in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(7), 3696. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073696
[12] Elbadri, N. (2020, May 4). Microbial Health Risks facing migrant farm workers in Canada: The realities that pre-date covid-19. Canadian Science Policy Centre. https://sciencepolicy.ca/posts/microbial-health-risks-facing-migrant-farm-workers in-canada-the-realities-that-pre-date-covid-19/.
[13] Beck, A. F., Edwards, E. M., Horbar, J. D., Howell, E. A., McCormick, M. C., & Pursley, D. W. M. (2019). The Color of Health: How Racism, segregation, and inequality affect the health and well-being of preterm infants and their families. Pediatric Research, 87, 227-234. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-019-0513-6
[14] Ramsaroop, C., & Smith , A. A. (2014, May 21). The inherent racism of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. The Star. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/05/21/the_inherent_racism_of_the_temporary_foreign_worker_program.html.
[15] Rai, N., Majeed, A., Deutsch, J., & Bailey, B. (2013, September 18). Denying health coverage to injured migrant workers is shameful. The Star. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/09/18/denying_health_coverage_to_injured_migrant_workers_is_shameful.html.
[16] Government of Canada, S. C. (2019, July 8). Agricultural sector workers from the Temporary Foreign Workers Program, 2015. The Daily. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190708/dq190708a-eng.htm
[17] Stasiulis, D. (2020). Elimi(Nation): Canada’s “Post-settler” embrace of Disposable Migrant Labour. Studies in Social Justice, 2020(14), 22–54. https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v2020i14.2251
[18] Baruah , N., & Kouba, S. (2019, February 7). Access to the labour market for admitted migrant workers in Asia and related corridors. International Labour Organization. https://www.ilo.org/asia/publications/WCMS_669748/lang--en/index.htm.
[19] Moyce, S. C., & Schenker, M. (2018). Migrant workers and their occupational health and safety. Annual Review of Public Health, 39(1), 351–365. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040617-013714
[20] CBC/Radio Canada. (2021, June 10). 'Worse than if we were in prison': Migrant workers in new Canadian report describe living conditions. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/migrant-farm-workers-housing-conditions-new-report-1.6060423.
[21] Lee, H., Cho, S., Kim, Y. K., & Kim, J. H. (2016). Is there disparity in cardiovascular health between migrant workers and Native Workers? Workplace Health & Safety, 64(8), 350–358. https://doi.org/10.1177/2165079916633222
[22] Basok, T., Cajax, C. S., Hanley, J., Hennebry, J. L., Huesca, E., Mayell, S., McLaughlin, J., Tew, M., Tucker, E., & Vosko, L. F. (2020, November 17). 2020 Canada-Mexico Sawp Negotiations: Recommendations From The Migrant Worker Health Expert Working Group. MWH-EWG. http://www.migrantworker.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/MWH_EWG_Inputs_Mexico-Canada_SAWP_11.17.20_FINALshare.pdf.