migrant workers

A study by UBC Centre for Climate Justice and Radical Action showed housing reforms are urgently needed for temporary foreign workers

The family of a Guatemalan farm worker crushed to death trying to repair a flat tire on his employer’s car says they are disappointed Quebec’s labour tribunal denied them compensation.

Jamaica’s labour minister has appointed a fact-finding team to investigate the working conditions of seasonal farm workers in Canada after initially dismissing Jamaican workers’ claims of abuse in September.

Higher food prices have pushed some of the more than 60,000 temporary farm workers who come to Canada each year to skimp on their own meals so they can make sure their relatives at home are able to afford food.

A landmark ruling by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario found the province’s police force violated the rights of 54 migrant workers during a DNA collection sweep in 2013.

Undocumented workers in Canada fear that getting vaccinated could mean being arrested if someone reports them to police or immigration authorities because of their lack of proper identification, say advocates.

Changes to federal quarantine requirements for temporary foreign workers do nothing to protect them from COVID-19, advocates said Wednesday, calling for the workers to be granted permanent resident status as a way to increase their rights.

More than 9,000 temporary foreign workers come to B.C. each year from countries such as Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras. Without them, the agriculture industry would struggle to function.

The more than 9,000 temporary foreign workers in B.C. are essential to the function of the agriculture industry — almost 6,000 plant crops and do other farm work, usually for minimum wage.

Migrant workers and other non-permanent residents — many of whom have been working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic — took to the streets in cities across Canada on Saturday, July 4, 2020, calling on Ottawa to grant them greater rights and protections.

Migrant rights advocate in B.C. says the federal government should step up investigations following complaints of inadequate food and housing.

Many workers without proper paperwork cannot access income supports, despite continuing to help Canada during the coronavirus pandemic.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada want to see farmers hire unemployed Canadians to fill jobs that migrant workers usually take. But the reality is that most Canadians don’t want to work in orchards, says the BC Fruit Growers' Association.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet is raising concern about temporary foreign workers arriving in Canada to work on farms, saying he believes the quarantine rules for these workers are inadequate.

The federal and provincial governments are facing a "potential disaster" if more protections and social-distancing guidelines aren't extended to migrant agricultural workers, advocates say.