Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - June 2008
Each year thousands of migrant workers enter Canada to work in the various primary sectors. Though the practice is hardly new or unusual, Adriana Paz, who is an advocate for migrant workers, argues in an article for Global Research that not enough is being done to protect these people’s rights and prevent exploitation. This is particularly true of those migrant workers who end up in the farming industry.
Most migrant workers enter Canada through either the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) or the Temporary Foreign Workers program. Both programs are federally operated.
The migrant worker who comes to Canada is often underpaid. Despite vast shortages in the farming sector, wages remain extremely low – a trend that goes against the free-market and is creates the appearance that corporate interests are the priority.
Furthermore, many foreign labourers are forced to work long shifts with little-to-no time off for weekends or holidays. It is not uncommon for them to see deductions from their paychecks going toward Canadian social programs that they, as foreign citizens, have no ability to access.
While many of these concerns are not new, a shift in policy at the federal level is now causing concerns within the community of migrant workers and their advocates. The government has announced plans to expand Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker program. Their public justification is that this will provide relief to those regions most hard-pressed by the country’s labour shortage.
However, some argue that the answer to Canada’s labour problem may not be temporary workers. They assert that this country needs to be attracting newcomers who are able to establish themselves as productive citizens in this society. The temporary program as it stands now, in many cases, does not do that.
Many of the workers who are selected as temporary labour on Canada’s farms are selected, in fact, due to their lack of qualifications that would lead them to becoming self-sufficient citizens if they stayed in the country permanently. Paz states that, for example, many Mexican workers are chosen for the SAWP program because of their lack of education as well as having no ties to Canada (or having very strong family ties to their home country).
For the situation to improve, the Canadian government must reexamine the Temporary Worker Program so as to ensure that it is not abused by the wealthy upper-class and also so that it attracts the kind of labour that can propel this country toward a healthy future and lead them towards permanent residency.
Source: Globalresearch.ca
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9425
