Migrant
Farm Workers from Trinidad and Tobago Stranded in Canada
Charge the Federal Government for Abuse in its Treatment of Migrant Workers!
Several hundred migrant farm workers are stranded in Canada because
of a ban, due to the pandemic, on travel to Trinidad and Tobago. These
are workers who came to Canada this year under the Seasonal
Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), along with workers from Mexico and
other Caribbean countries. Normally when their work on
Canadian farms ends migrant farm workers return to their home
countries, many coming back to Canada year after year. This year most
workers returned home at the end of the season but the workers from
Trinidad and Tobago have not been able to. The
situation these migrant workers found themselves in was not only
untenable
but an outright violation of human persons. The federal government
should be charged with abuse and give compensation for what these
workers have suffered. These workers are forced to pay EI premiums when
working but they are not entitled to receive EI benefits. This
is because one of the conditions for EI is that a worker be willing and
able to work and, under the SAWP program, a worker is tied to one
employer and therefore prohibited from working for any other. This
means that they are here without any income at all. Furthermore,
because they came to Canada prepared to return to their families at the
end
of the season, they now have no winter clothing and have been forced to
live in inadequate accommodation, including their employers'
bunkhouses, some of which are not winterized. They have been without
income, without winter clothing, without adequate accommodation and, in
addition, they have had to cover expenses for food and, in some
cases, rent and/or utilities -- all in below zero temperatures.
Workers' Forum firmly condemns the
Canadian government for
permitting this situation. The treatment these workers have been forced
to suffer is outright abuse of human persons. Migrant
worker advocates have been helping out with food and
clothing. They have been demanding immediate action to ensure that all
these workers' needs are met while they remain in Canada, including
income support, health care, proper food, clothing and accommodation.
Their appeal to the government demands it provide EI benefits,
training and an end to the restrictions that prevent the stranded
workers from working for other employers. They are also repeating the
demand to resolve the problems that have existed for as long as the
SAWP has existed and which were made far worse this year because of the
pandemic. Migrant workers must be provided with all benefits to
which Canadian workers are entitled under the law, open work permits
and permanent status in Canada.  It
is now reported that on December 16, Immigration, Refugees and
Citizenship Canada issued a temporary public policy which will allow
the workers from Trinidad and Tobago to apply for temporary status and
get a 6-month open work permit, according to a government statement.
The statement says: "Under the policy, which will be in
effect until February 12, 2021, workers will be able to apply for
temporary status and get a 6-month open work permit. This should allow
them to find other employment and apply for any other government
support they may be entitled to, such as employment insurance. This
action is part of a broader effort to support the needs of these
workers,
including emergency accommodation."
Justice for
Migrant Workers issued a statement on December 17,
stating: "For decades, migrant farm workers have been demanding change
and substantial reforms to Canada's temporary foreign worker program
(TFWP). The federal response is a direct result of the organizing by
workers and advocates to address an archaic and outdated
migration scheme that resulted in the crisis that the workers from
Trinidad and Tobago are put in. It is imperative to offer
support and the full range of benefits and freedoms to those who are
being forced to stay in Canada and that steps are taken immediately to
assist migrants who desire to return home." Justice
for Migrant Workers again called on the government to extend
the policy to all migrant workers employed in Canada, provide open work
permits for all migrants immediately and implements a system where all
migrants have permanent status on arrival. The full statement
can be found here.
Justice for Migrant Workers is calling on everyone to join a
letter-writing campaign addressed to the Ministers of Families,
Children and Social Development, Immigration, Refugees &
Citizenship, and Employment, Workforce Development and Disability
Inclusion -- Ahmed Hussen, Marco Mendicino and Carla Qualtrough
respectively. For a
template which people can fill in to send a letter to the three
ministers and to their local MP, click here.
The letter states: We call on the Government of
Canada to do the following: 1. Reverse all
decisions denying regular EI benefits to migrant farm
workers, that were made on the basis that they were unavailable to work
because of their work permit status. Award EI benefits to all workers
who have applied immediately; 2. Remove the
conditions predicating access to regular EI benefits
on their work permit and their physically being in Canada. Provide
equal access to the regular EI benefits for migrant workers, after they
go back to their countries, through the development of interstate
agreements between the governments of Canada and sending countries.
This
access can be modelled on similar agreements that already exist with
the United States and inter-state agreements globally; 3.
Restore migrant workers' access to special EI entitlements including
parental, maternity and compassionate benefits; 4.
Provide migrant workers with access to training and education and
all social and income benefits in Canada and when they are back in
their home countries; 5. Waive all fees for
applications for work permits for farm work; 6.
Provide all workers arriving in Canada under SAWP or the
Agricultural Streams with open work permits that are not dependent on
LMIAs; 7. Provide them with permanent residence
status on arrival.
This article was published in
Number 85 - December 17, 2020
Article Link:
: Charge the Federal Government for Abuse in its Treatment of Migrant Workers!
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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