[Editor's note: On Monday, 10 migrant workers from Peru and Nicaragua employed at an Ontario poultry farm and one Canadian truck driver were killed in a horrific highway collision. The tragic accident once again brings many questions about Canada's guest labourers to the fore: Who are they, and what are their lives like? What protections do we afford them? And what is gained, and lost, during their time in this country?
With its high concentration of the kind of farming that requires hands-on care -- fruit and fresh veggies instead of fields of grain -- British Columbia agriculture relies on such temporary workers. Many are migrant guest workers coming from poorer countries to do the hardest jobs on B.C. farms. Similar seasonal workers in the United States tell tales of near slavery. Are workers here getting the same dirty deal?
Supported by a reader-funded Tyee Fellowship, reporter Justin Langille went out in the fields this past summer to find out. In this series, names and some details are altered to ensure anonymity. With files from Cindy Hugo.]
Before the summer sun rises above the side roads of Delta, brown eyes open. It is exactly 4:50 a.m. No alarm is necessary: Ernesto's internal clock is well trained by the daily routine of a farm labourer's life.
Ernesto is always the first to wake in the small bungalow he shares with eight co-workers. He stretches his 27-year-old, five-foot-eight frame and sits up. Across the bungalow's small living room, now a makeshift bedroom, Alberto and Carmine slumber still. They won't stir until Ernesto has visited the bathroom and made his way to the kitchen.
Every year, these nine married fathers in their mid-20s or 30s (a few reaching middle age) reunite here. From the snowbird-frequented state of Jalisco to the volatile Oaxaca region and in between, they leave communities across Mexico to seize opportunity in this province.
They quit jobs as construction workers and souvenir hawkers to work for a guaranteed wage and a set amount of time on B.C. farms. A few are agricultural workers at home or landowners themselves; farmers with aspirations and land to cultivate, just like their Canadian employers.
Everyone else in the house is awakened without fail by the sound of Ernesto's blender spinning together a banana milkshake. Soon, the rest of the men sleeping in bedrooms down the hall and in the basement will be up and taking turns in the only bathroom. They crowd the kitchen, chatting about the day and the weather, gathering together sandwich lunches made the previous night.
IDENTIFYING MIGRANT WORKERS: A NOTE ON THE SERIES.
Migrant farm workers who travel from Mexico and South America (and other parts of the world) to work in B.C. every year are the focus of this series. Creating a series of portraits to accompany the stories seemed logical at first, but anonymity quickly became an issue. Most workers only agreed to speak with The Tyee on the condition that they wouldn't be identified. We agreed to this concession, as their thoughts, ideas and opinions are paramount to the stories.
The request from workers to protect their identities and shield their involvement in our reporting from employers (or their own countries) speaks to a lack of knowledge about their basic rights while in Canada. In lieu of impending blacklisting hearings at the B.C. Labour Relations Board, the need for anonymity while speaking on record points to a potentially very real threat for those allying with certain power brokers while working here.
Ultimately, we respected workers' wishes to have their images and identities remain their own. It's a right that anyone with a story to tell in a politically volatile time should be granted by a reporter, photographer and those they work for. -- JL
At six, a van pulls up to the door and all but Ernesto pile inside. A five-minute ride delivers the crew to the same few greenhouses where they have spent most of their waking hours since February cultivating tomatoes.
Ernesto is the exception, traveling and working alone. His diligent work ethic over several seasons has earned him an independent position, managing a separate crew harvesting tomatoes. He hops on a dusty black mountain bike, and begins pumping the pedals down the worn dirt driveway just as Delta's commuters begin to emerge from the night on their way to jobs in Vancouver or Richmond.
Cheap and convenient
Every year, thousands of migrant farm workers like Ernesto and his colleagues leave their homes in distant and generally poorer parts of the world to come to work in Okanagan orchards or Fraser Valley farms. They play a pivotal role in British Columbia's food supply and farm business: providing a dependable source of on-demand, economically priced and willing labour to do the heavy lifting.
This isn't entirely new. For decades, newly-landed immigrant men and women, mainly from South Asia, did the "stoop labour" to keep B.C. fields and orchards blooming, with students from Quebec often chipping in to pick fruit during high season.
However, in the early 2000s, just as the increasingly-globalized food economy became more competitive, B.C. farmers found that many of the workers they depended on were retiring or starting their own farms. Quebecers were coming in fewer numbers, and farmers couldn't depend on an untrained local workforce to show up at the end of the driveway each morning. They felt the need for dependable, yet flexible and cost-efficient, solutions.
In response, some farmers turned to long-standing federal programs designed to allow employers who cannot fill jobs with Canadians, to look abroad for labour or skills.
Beginning in 2002, a few farmers took advantage of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) -- the same program that allows employers to hire temporary nannies and construction workers -- to bring in field workers from Guatemala and elsewhere.
More focused relief soon followed. The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), co-managed by Ottawa's human resources and immigration arms, was developed from a pilot program that first brought Jamaicans to Ontario farms in 1966. Later extended to other provinces, SAWP arrived in B.C. in 2004, allowing farmers who couldn't find willing Canadian field labour to hire from Mexico or one of several eligible Caribbean states.
In B.C., 31,800 citizens and permanent residents form the majority of the agricultural workforce. But with 3,540 approved positions for temporary foreign workers, this province quickly became the second highest employer of SAWP workers in 2010, edging past Quebec behind the perennial leader, Ontario.
When Craigslist fails
Here's how it works.
Before seeking help from abroad, employers must first advertise available jobs at home -- in newspaper classifieds or on Craigslist. If they can prove they've had no bites, they may apply to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) for a "labour market opinion" -- essentially a statement that they can't find a Canadian for the job, but in effect a ticket to import the help they need.
If a migrant worker was employed at a B.C. farm last year and went back to Mexico or Guatemala with a good review, they might be asked back by their employer next season, making them a named worker. If they're new, they have to meet minimum requirements, set out by the Mexican Secretariat of Labour and Social Well-Being and the State Employment Service, when they fill out their application.
Canada's "Seasonal Worker" designation is open to men and women aged 22 to 45 with agricultural work experience living in rural areas of designated countries. A minimum grade three education gets a worker in, but more than three years of high school excludes them. Married applicants are preferred, but single workers with dependants are allowed to apply.
Entry requirements as "Temporary Foreign Workers" are less clear. According to HRSDC, workers must satisfy applicable immigration laws and be of legal working age in the province they're going to; employers must provide officials with a signed contract, pay round trip flight costs, ensure medical coverage until provincial coverage kicks in and ensure quality working and living conditions, among other things.
In Guatemala, applicants first deal with the vetting process of the International Migration Organization (IMO), the Geneva-based international organization that provides recruiting and screening services for the TFWP in Guatemela. Applying to work in Canada requires both physical and psychological assessment and, claimed Jose, an Aldergrove greenhouse worker new to working in B.C., a background check that includes inquiries into a candidate's involvement with radical political factions.
Once a worker's application is approved in their own country, an employment contract is signed and Canadian immigration officials prepare a work visa. The B.C. farmer flies the temporary workers to Vancouver, often meeting them personally at the airport.
The first SAWP crews arrive in January or February to prepare greenhouses and land for the growing season. Others don't arrive until high season starts in May or June. Everyone can stay for up to eight months, though some may be here for only a few weeks during harvest. Those contracted through TFWP may stay for up to two years.
Since most employers provide on-farm housing, workers often drive straight to the acreage where they will spend most of the coming months. There they will usually work six days a week, with the exception of Sunday afternoon trips to church or grocery stores. Most are here to make as much money as they can and are happy to work every day if they're allowed. A group of Ladner workers The Tyee spoke to said working less than six days can be a source of anxiety: the more free time they have, the more hard-earned money they spend in Canada instead of at home.