Mexican Government Stops Sending Temporary Foreign Workers to CanadaOn June 15, Mexico's Ambassador to Canada announced that his government will not be sending any more temporary foreign workers to Canada until it has more clarity on why two died due to COVID-19. The two workers were 31-year old Bonifacio Eugenio Romero who died on May 30, and 24-year-old Rogelio Muñoz Santos who died June 5 in Southwestern Ontario. Bonifacio was employed at Woodside Greenhouses in Kingsville in Essex County and Rogelio at Greenhill Produce in Chatham-Kent.
This change affects at least 5,000 temporary foreign workers who were expected to travel to Canada in the coming months, as well as numerous agricultural operations across the country where they were to work. These operations have already been greatly affected by measures to contain the pandemic that prevent normal operations. It is reported that workers from Mexico make up about half of the temporary foreign worker population employed in the agriculture sector, which in 2018 amounted to 25,060 people employed on farms, in greenhouses and other related jobs.[1] The ambassador noted that some agriculture firms who have reported outbreaks are asking Mexico to keep sending people, and said "that will not happen." He did say that the pause is intended to be temporary, respecting the fact that farmers often need workers at specific times. However he said the workers would not be allowed to leave for Canada until Canadian officials increased their monitoring of the implementation of health and safety rules, and ensured that workers are paid while in isolation. The ambassador made reference to measures adopted by the Canadian government to put protections in place to limit the spread of COVID-19, including requirements for migrant workers to spend 14 days in quarantine when they arrive. The federal government has provided funds to employers to cover 60 hours of pay per worker and other costs of the mandatory initial quarantine requirement as well as the purchase of personal protective equipment. Gómez Camacho said the Mexican government worked with Canadian officials to design some of those supports, including a provision that workers be paid while quarantined upon arriving in Canada. How and even if these measures are being implemented and enforced varies from province to province and workplace to workplace, while the working conditions and especially living conditions of migrant workers continue to make social distancing and strict sanitation measures problematic, if not impossible. The Mexican government also put in place a
program this year that saw only workers who were
requested by name by Canada's farms and
greenhouses be allowed to travel here. The
ambassador said many workers are connected to
small family farms and have developed
relationships over time. The pause on allowing
more to arrive is a nod to that relationship, he
said. "We are doing this out of solidarity with
Canada," he said. "We understand the role these
workers play in your food chain." While the ambassador referred
to small family farms and solidarity with Canada
by helping guarantee its food supply during the
pandemic, the Mexican government is also aware
that Canada relies on the value created by these
workers in the form of agricultural exports. In
a communiqué announcing the departure of this
year's first contingent of workers in early
April, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs
mentioned among other things that Canada is the
world's fifth largest exporter of agricultural
products, and that this represents a core part
of its economy. Furthermore, some two-thirds of
migrant workers are employed by large farms with
gross receipts of more than $2 million annually. In addition to the announcement by the Mexican government that it was calling a temporary halt to workers coming to Canada, there are reports that the Mexican National Human Rights Commission has launched an investigation into the deaths of the two workers and the conditions faced by Mexican migrant agricultural workers in Ontario. It will also investigate alleged lack of attention by Mexican consular authorities to these workers, which the Commission said could constitute human rights violations. Note
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In an interview,
His Excellency Juan José Gómez Camacho said that
the change is so the Mexican government "can
reassess with the federal authorities, provinces
and farmers why this happened and if there is
anything to correct." His government needs
assurances that the situation can be brought
under control, he said, before allowing more
workers to arrive. Ambassador Gómez Camacho
informed that across Canada, 300 Mexicans are
believed to have been infected with the novel
coronavirus.
