Advocating for Seasonal Agricultural Workers in British Columbia

- Interview, Perla G. Villegas-Diaz -

Migrant workers' organizers in Kelowna, BC, June 17, 2019.

Workers' Forum interviewed Perla G. Villegas-Diaz, an activist and researcher with Radical Action with Migrants in Agriculture (RAMA), who herself is from Mexico. She is in Canada with her family studying International Development at Okanagan College.

Workers' Forum: Tell us about your work with seasonal agricultural workers.

Perla G. Villegas-Diaz:I came to Canada almost three years ago. I am a lawyer in Mexico, worked for 15 years with a federal human rights tribunal, and while I am studying here I learned of the situation of migrant farm workers in this community and last year I accepted work as a research assistant with RAMA. To be honest I didn't know anything about the conditions of workers who come to Canada every year to work on farms. When you live in Mexico you think that those who go to Canada or the U.S. are "living the dream." Last year I met a lot of workers and I remember two in particular who told me "Can you imagine working more than 10 hours a day without being allowed to use a washroom or being allowed to drink water, even when it is 38 degrees?" They live in crowded conditions.

WF: Have there been any changes this year because of the COVID-19? Are there any new measures being put in place to improve the living conditions to protect the workers?

PV: No, it's exactly the same. We thought that there would be improvements because the government said that employers had to provide the best sanitary conditions for workers, no crowded housing, social distancing. When I started to visit SAWP workers before the peak of COVID-19 I realized the employers were just keeping the same things.

I had a phone call from a worker in Mexico asking me, how am I going to live, what is the housing, how is the employer going to treat me now, so I decided to talk with his employer and they just told me, well tell him that we're going to take care of him, we have a trailer for him to live in, the trailer has the best water and electrical conditions but no, no, the government did not talk about trailers, the government talked about having the workers in quarantine in hotels or in other houses. I talked to several employers and it was clear that they were not about to take care of the workers. I think that is the reason the British Columbia government decided to take care of the 14-day quarantine in hotels near the Vancouver airport when the workers arrive, before they were allowed to come to Kelowna, because they realized that the employers were not respecting the rules.

WF: Are there fewer migrant workers this year?

PV: There are fewer people from Mexico and from Jamaica, I know. The majority of workers who come to BC are from Mexico, I think about 70 per cent, and the rest are from Jamaica, and probably 5 per cent from Guatemala.

WF: What does RAMA do?

PV: RAMA was founded ten years ago by Amy Cohen and Elise Hjalmarson and we help migrant workers in many ways. For example, we provide English classes, we organize soccer games and other social events. If they have an emergency we take them to the doctor. We translate for them. If they have problems with employers or managers we also offer interpretation and translation services. What we want is to socialize with them, to make them feel included in Canadian society because all the farms here are far away from the city and the workers are very isolated. We also make the people in the Okanagan aware of their presence in the community, the role they play in food production and their working conditions. We also provide legal assistance.

WF: How are the workers recruited?

PV: Since 1974 there is a memorandum of understanding between Mexico and Canada. The employer has to fill out a Labour Market Impact Assessment then this documentation goes to the labour office in Mexico and in Mexico they have a big list of workers they provide the Canadian employers. This is between the Mexican consulate in Vancouver and the employers in BC. There's a lot of discrimination. Employers don't want women so they don't select women from the list. They also try to get the same workers year after year so new people have little chance. Employers can also refuse to take a worker that has been 'complicated,' complained to Worksafe BC or spoke out loud about the working or living conditions. This means workers don't speak out, even to the consulate, because they fear losing the work. This is a kind of punishment. 

Two days ago I talked with a worker who told me "two years ago I had an accident and I seriously injured my back and then I talked with the consulate. My employer took good care of me but the consulate told the employer that I needed to get back to Mexico," so even when the employer was worried about the worker the consulate decided to take him to Mexico and once the worker was in Mexico the consulate told the worker 'well you are in Mexico, you don't deserve any medication, you don't deserve any treatment, your wife can take care of you.' Then the consulate cancelled his application to work in Canada for two years. Now he is here but he decided not to talk to anyone about anything. He told me, if I have an accident I have to take care of myself by myself and god help me.

WF: How has COVID-19 complicated matters?

PV: Workers under the SAWP are forbidden to unionize and are denied basic rights that Canadian workers have. There are many examples of poor living conditions. Last year we visited one farm where the employer housed 15 workers in a small room four metres square. One worker told me that he has to walk about one kilometre to use the washroom and he is not paid for the time it takes to go there and back. He said the washroom hadn't been cleaned in one year. So COVID-19 complicates things because of the overcrowded houses, because of the poor sanitation and because workers get respiratory and skin injuries because they are constantly exposed to the use of pesticides and irritants with no protection. What has changed is the fact that they are more policed than they used to be because employers don't want anyone to know about their conditions, so they are even more isolated. 

At one farm with about 100 workers the workers told us "don't come here, don't approach us because if the employer sees us talking with any person not from the farm we are going to be punished with being put in quarantine for two weeks without pay, so please don't come around. Don't even call us frequently because if one of the managers knows that I am talking to you I am going to be punished." As well, SAWP workers are not eligible for citizenship or permanent resident status. 

Farm workers are considered crucial to food production in Canada because they are willing to do the dirty work, but they are undesirable as permanent residents. One of my friends has been working in Canada for 26 years, coming to Canada to work for seven to eight months every year, then going back to Mexico but still she is undesirable as a permanent resident. This is not acceptable and RAMA supports the call for permanent resident status for seasonal agricultural workers.

This article was published in

Number 46 - July 2, 2020

Article Link:
Advocating for Seasonal Agricultural Workers in British Columbia - Interview, Perla G. Villegas-Diaz

    

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