Migrant laborers Canada’s Montréal- A United Nations expert has cautioned that Canada’s temporary foreign worker programs are a “breeding ground” for contemporary versions of slavery, nearly a year after Jamaican farmworkers in Ontario province reported mistreatment.
Tomoya Obokata, the UN’s special rapporteur on new forms of slavery, expressed his dismay on Wednesday, saying that he was “deeply disturbed by the accounts of exploitation and abuse shared” with him by migrant workers during a two-week fact-finding visit to Canada. UN professional
“Work permit regimes that are specific to an employer, such as some Temporary Foreign Worker Programs (TFWPs), put migrant workers at risk of modern-day slavery because they prevent them from reporting mistreatment without fear of deportation,” stated Obokata.
His remarks follow a letter that a group of Jamaican farmworkers wrote to the labor minister of that nation in August of last year, comparing their treatment on two farms in Ontario to “systematic slavery.”
They cried, “We are punished for not working fast enough and treated like mules.”
“Without the right protection, we are exposed to hazardous pesticides, and our supervisors verbally abuse and swear at us.” They threaten to send us home, damage our personal belongings, and physically intimidate us.
Rights activists have long urged the Canadian government to address structural problems with its programs for temporary foreign workers, claiming that workers are left vulnerable to mistreatment and have few options for seeking justice.
Every year, between 50,000 and 60,000 foreign workers in agriculture enter Canada on temporary work permits and operate in a variety of fields, such as meat processing and fruit and vegetable cultivation and harvesting.
Up to eight months of employment are permitted to foreign workers hired under the so-called Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), which permits firms in Canada to recruit temporary migrant laborers from Mexico and eleven Caribbean countries.