Jamaica Sends Team To Canada To Investigate Farm Labor Conditions Agricultural News

In a statement shared on social media on Thursday, Jamaica’s Minister of Labor and Social Security Karl Samuda said a six-person team would “travel to Canada to monitor businesses and talk to farm workers and provide a report to the Minister”. The brief statement did not provide additional information, such as which farms the team members will visit or when the trip to Canada will take place. “More details will follow,” he said. A group of Jamaican farmers wrote to Samuda in August denouncing their treatment at two Ontario farms, which they likened to “systemic slavery.” Media ReleaseMinister of Labor Appoints Exploratory Briefing Team for Canada — MLSS Jamaica (@JamaicaMlss) September 1, 2022 The workers, who were not named for fear of retribution, said they were in Canada as part of the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), a decades-old program that allows Canadian employers to hire temporary migrant workers from Mexico and 11 Caribbean countries for fill the gaps in the country’s rural labor market. Foreign workers brought to Canada through the SAWP can hold jobs for up to eight months a year, and many people have been coming to the country for decades under the program. “As it stands today, [SAWP] it is systematic slavery,” the farmers said in their letter, which came just days before Samuda came to Canada to tour farms employing Jamaican workers. “We work eight months for minimum wage and can’t survive for the four months back home. SAWP is exploitation at a seismic level. Our employers treat us as if we have no feelings, as if we are not human. We are robots to them. They don’t care about us,” the workers said. But after his trip, Samuda said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera last week that he noticed “no signs of mistreatment” at the Ontario farms he visited. “We have not observed any evidence of ill-treatment,” the minister said, stressing that the SAWP is “absolutely necessary for thousands of Jamaican families, many rural communities and the entire [country of] Jamaica”. Between 50,000 and 60,000 foreign farm workers come to Canada annually on temporary work permits. They work in a variety of roles, from planting and harvesting fruit and vegetables, to processing meat. But for years, human rights groups have reported a number of issues with SAWP and other migrant work programs. Advocates said a major problem is that temporary foreign workers are tied to their Canadian employers, meaning they are effectively not allowed to work for anyone else. Foreign workers reported living in overcrowded, substandard housing, and many said they feared punishment – ​​such as deportation or being barred from returning to Canada for the next season – if they raised concerns with their bosses. In a statement Thursday, the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, an advocacy group of which Jamaican farmers are members, said workers “are ready to discuss the letter” sent to Samuda last month. The group said the workers are also ready to speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser to reiterate their call for permanent residency for all temporary foreign workers, refugees, students, undocumented people and others in Canada . Workers and their advocates have said permanent immigration status is the best way to ensure their rights will be protected. Asked if Ottawa planned to give temporary migrant farmers a path to permanent residency, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) told Al Jazeera last month that the government was exploring ways to help foreign nationals transition from the temporary to permanent status. Minister Samuda – Jamaican farmer members of @MWACCanada are ready to discuss the letter we wrote. Email us at [email protected] We’re ready to do the same for Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau and Immigration Minister @SeanFraserMP to show the urgency for #StatusforAll — Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (@MWACCanada) September 1, 2022

title: “Jamaica Sends Team To Canada To Investigate Farm Labor Conditions Agricultural News Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-27” author: “Hector Trump”

In a statement shared on social media on Thursday, Jamaica’s Minister of Labor and Social Security Karl Samuda said a six-person team would “travel to Canada to monitor businesses and talk to farm workers and provide a report to the Minister”. The brief statement did not provide additional information, such as which farms the team members will visit or when the trip to Canada will take place. “More details will follow,” he said. A group of Jamaican farmers wrote to Samuda in August denouncing their treatment at two Ontario farms, which they likened to “systemic slavery.” Media ReleaseMinister of Labor Appoints Exploratory Briefing Team for Canada — MLSS Jamaica (@JamaicaMlss) September 1, 2022 The workers, who were not named for fear of retribution, said they were in Canada as part of the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), a decades-old program that allows Canadian employers to hire temporary migrant workers from Mexico and 11 Caribbean countries for fill the gaps in the country’s rural labor market. Foreign workers brought to Canada through the SAWP can hold jobs for up to eight months a year, and many people have been coming to the country for decades under the program. “As it stands today, [SAWP] it is systematic slavery,” the farmers said in their letter, which came just days before Samuda came to Canada to tour farms employing Jamaican workers. “We work eight months for minimum wage and can’t survive for the four months back home. SAWP is exploitation at a seismic level. Our employers treat us as if we have no feelings, as if we are not human. We are robots to them. They don’t care about us,” the workers said. But after his trip, Samuda said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera last week that he noticed “no signs of mistreatment” at the Ontario farms he visited. “We have not observed any evidence of ill-treatment,” the minister said, stressing that the SAWP is “absolutely necessary for thousands of Jamaican families, many rural communities and the entire [country of] Jamaica”. Between 50,000 and 60,000 foreign farm workers come to Canada annually on temporary work permits. They work in a variety of roles, from planting and harvesting fruit and vegetables, to processing meat. But for years, human rights groups have reported a number of issues with SAWP and other migrant work programs. Advocates said a major problem is that temporary foreign workers are tied to their Canadian employers, meaning they are effectively not allowed to work for anyone else. Foreign workers reported living in overcrowded, substandard housing, and many said they feared punishment – ​​such as deportation or being barred from returning to Canada for the next season – if they raised concerns with their bosses. In a statement Thursday, the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, an advocacy group of which Jamaican farmers are members, said workers “are ready to discuss the letter” sent to Samuda last month. The group said the workers are also ready to speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser to reiterate their call for permanent residency for all temporary foreign workers, refugees, students, undocumented people and others in Canada . Workers and their advocates have said permanent immigration status is the best way to ensure their rights will be protected. Asked if Ottawa planned to give temporary migrant farmers a path to permanent residency, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) told Al Jazeera last month that the government was exploring ways to help foreign nationals transition from the temporary to permanent status. Minister Samuda – Jamaican farmer members of @MWACCanada are ready to discuss the letter we wrote. Email us at [email protected] We’re ready to do the same for Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau and Immigration Minister @SeanFraserMP to show the urgency for #StatusforAll — Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (@MWACCanada) September 1, 2022

title: “Jamaica Sends Team To Canada To Investigate Farm Labor Conditions Agricultural News Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-17” author: “Kyle Acosta”

In a statement shared on social media on Thursday, Jamaica’s Minister of Labor and Social Security Karl Samuda said a six-person team would “travel to Canada to monitor businesses and talk to farm workers and provide a report to the Minister”. The brief statement did not provide additional information, such as which farms the team members will visit or when the trip to Canada will take place. “More details will follow,” he said. A group of Jamaican farmers wrote to Samuda in August denouncing their treatment at two Ontario farms, which they likened to “systemic slavery.” Media ReleaseMinister of Labor Appoints Exploratory Briefing Team for Canada — MLSS Jamaica (@JamaicaMlss) September 1, 2022 The workers, who were not named for fear of retribution, said they were in Canada as part of the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), a decades-old program that allows Canadian employers to hire temporary migrant workers from Mexico and 11 Caribbean countries for fill the gaps in the country’s rural labor market. Foreign workers brought to Canada through the SAWP can hold jobs for up to eight months a year, and many people have been coming to the country for decades under the program. “As it stands today, [SAWP] it is systematic slavery,” the farmers said in their letter, which came just days before Samuda came to Canada to tour farms employing Jamaican workers. “We work eight months for minimum wage and can’t survive for the four months back home. SAWP is exploitation at a seismic level. Our employers treat us as if we have no feelings, as if we are not human. We are robots to them. They don’t care about us,” the workers said. But after his trip, Samuda said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera last week that he noticed “no signs of mistreatment” at the Ontario farms he visited. “We have not observed any evidence of ill-treatment,” the minister said, stressing that the SAWP is “absolutely necessary for thousands of Jamaican families, many rural communities and the entire [country of] Jamaica”. Between 50,000 and 60,000 foreign farm workers come to Canada annually on temporary work permits. They work in a variety of roles, from planting and harvesting fruit and vegetables, to processing meat. But for years, human rights groups have reported a number of issues with SAWP and other migrant work programs. Advocates said a major problem is that temporary foreign workers are tied to their Canadian employers, meaning they are effectively not allowed to work for anyone else. Foreign workers reported living in overcrowded, substandard housing, and many said they feared punishment – ​​such as deportation or being barred from returning to Canada for the next season – if they raised concerns with their bosses. In a statement Thursday, the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, an advocacy group of which Jamaican farmers are members, said workers “are ready to discuss the letter” sent to Samuda last month. The group said the workers are also ready to speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser to reiterate their call for permanent residency for all temporary foreign workers, refugees, students, undocumented people and others in Canada . Workers and their advocates have said permanent immigration status is the best way to ensure their rights will be protected. Asked if Ottawa planned to give temporary migrant farmers a path to permanent residency, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) told Al Jazeera last month that the government was exploring ways to help foreign nationals transition from the temporary to permanent status. Minister Samuda – Jamaican farmer members of @MWACCanada are ready to discuss the letter we wrote. Email us at [email protected] We’re ready to do the same for Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau and Immigration Minister @SeanFraserMP to show the urgency for #StatusforAll — Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (@MWACCanada) September 1, 2022

title: “Jamaica Sends Team To Canada To Investigate Farm Labor Conditions Agricultural News Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-30” author: “Irene Griffies”

In a statement shared on social media on Thursday, Jamaica’s Minister of Labor and Social Security Karl Samuda said a six-person team would “travel to Canada to monitor businesses and talk to farm workers and provide a report to the Minister”. The brief statement did not provide additional information, such as which farms the team members will visit or when the trip to Canada will take place. “More details will follow,” he said. A group of Jamaican farmers wrote to Samuda in August denouncing their treatment at two Ontario farms, which they likened to “systemic slavery.” Media ReleaseMinister of Labor Appoints Exploratory Briefing Team for Canada — MLSS Jamaica (@JamaicaMlss) September 1, 2022 The workers, who were not named for fear of retribution, said they were in Canada as part of the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), a decades-old program that allows Canadian employers to hire temporary migrant workers from Mexico and 11 Caribbean countries for fill the gaps in the country’s rural labor market. Foreign workers brought to Canada through the SAWP can hold jobs for up to eight months a year, and many people have been coming to the country for decades under the program. “As it stands today, [SAWP] it is systematic slavery,” the farmers said in their letter, which came just days before Samuda came to Canada to tour farms employing Jamaican workers. “We work eight months for minimum wage and can’t survive for the four months back home. SAWP is exploitation at a seismic level. Our employers treat us as if we have no feelings, as if we are not human. We are robots to them. They don’t care about us,” the workers said. But after his trip, Samuda said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera last week that he noticed “no signs of mistreatment” at the Ontario farms he visited. “We have not observed any evidence of ill-treatment,” the minister said, stressing that the SAWP is “absolutely necessary for thousands of Jamaican families, many rural communities and the entire [country of] Jamaica”. Between 50,000 and 60,000 foreign farm workers come to Canada annually on temporary work permits. They work in a variety of roles, from planting and harvesting fruit and vegetables, to processing meat. But for years, human rights groups have reported a number of issues with SAWP and other migrant work programs. Advocates said a major problem is that temporary foreign workers are tied to their Canadian employers, meaning they are effectively not allowed to work for anyone else. Foreign workers reported living in overcrowded, substandard housing, and many said they feared punishment – ​​such as deportation or being barred from returning to Canada for the next season – if they raised concerns with their bosses. In a statement Thursday, the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, an advocacy group of which Jamaican farmers are members, said workers “are ready to discuss the letter” sent to Samuda last month. The group said the workers are also ready to speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser to reiterate their call for permanent residency for all temporary foreign workers, refugees, students, undocumented people and others in Canada . Workers and their advocates have said permanent immigration status is the best way to ensure their rights will be protected. Asked if Ottawa planned to give temporary migrant farmers a path to permanent residency, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) told Al Jazeera last month that the government was exploring ways to help foreign nationals transition from the temporary to permanent status. Minister Samuda – Jamaican farmer members of @MWACCanada are ready to discuss the letter we wrote. Email us at [email protected] We’re ready to do the same for Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau and Immigration Minister @SeanFraserMP to show the urgency for #StatusforAll — Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (@MWACCanada) September 1, 2022