Permanently Temporary? Agricultural Migrant Workers and Their Integration in Canada

Abstract

SummaryEvery year, 30,000 agricultural migrant workers arrive in Canada as part of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program and the Low Skill Pilot Project. Although the TFWP is intended to address short-term labour demands, most of these workers return to the same communities year after year, sometimes for more than 25 years. As a result, growing numbers of migrant farm workers are permanently temporary.The increased presence of temporary workers will most certainly have an impact on Canadian communities and workplaces for years to come. Is there a way to conceptualize integration in the context of these migration patterns? How does the TFWP fit into Canada's multicultural landscape and its goals of integration and social cohesion? In this study, Jenna Hennebry draws on experience with agricultural workers to address some of these questions.The author uses empirical data, interviews and research on the situation in Ontario, the province with the largest number of agricultural migrants, to examine the degree of integration of migrant farm workers. She finds that their inclusion in the communities where they live and work is poor, despite laudable efforts by nongovernmental organizations, community groups and unions - notably the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada union, which has sponsored some unique transnational initiatives.Building on this analysis, Hennebry discusses new ways of conceptualizing and evaluating integration as the concept applies to temporary labour migration. She proposes the Labour Migrant Integration Scale, which she developed for this study, as a tool for evaluating the results of temporary labour migration programs with respect to factors such as human and labour rights, access to social and medical services, and social/community engagement and belonging. Despite Canada's long experience in agricultural labour migration, our programs do not measure up. Temporary migrants face significant impediments to labour market and social integration, including work permits that are tied to employers, weak enforcement of contracts, language barriers and social isolation, especially for the large share of these workers who live in employer-provided housing.Hennebry ends with recommendations for improving policy and practice in the management of temporary labour migration in agriculture, including greater autonomy for workers in choosing where they work and live, regulation of the recruitment process, wider use of information sessions on health and safety, and access to certain settlement services such as basic language training. Recognizing the interjurisdictional challenges and transnational nuances of temporary migration, she also calls for more rigorous application of existing laws and regulations.ResumeTous les ans, quelque 30 000 travailleurs agricoles migrants arrivent au Canada dans le cadre du Programme des travailleurs agricoles saisonniers et du projet pilote concernant les travailleurs peu qualifies, deux volets du Programme des travailleurs etrangers temporaires (PTET). Et bien que le PTET vise a combler la demande de main-d'oeuvre a court terme, la plupart de ces travailleurs reviennent chaque annee dans les memes collectivites du pays, parfois pendant plus de 25 ans. Resultat : de plus en plus d'entre eux restent indefiniment temporaires.Or cette presence grandissante de travailleurs temporaires aura sans doute des repercussions a long terme sur nos collectivites et nos milieux de travail. Est-il possible de conceptualiser l'integration dans le cadre de ces schemas de migration ? Comment le PTET s'insere-t-il dans notre paysage multiculturel fonde sur les objectifs d'integration et de cohesion sociale ? Jenna Hennebry tente de repondre a quelques-unes de ces questions a partir de l'experience des travailleurs agricoles.S'appuyant sur des donnees empiriques, des entrevues et des etudes sur la situation des travailleurs agricoles migrants de l'Ontario, province qui en accueille le plus grand nombre au pays, l'auteure constate leur faible integration aux collectivites ou ils vivent et travaillent, malgre les louables efforts d'organisations non gouvernementales, de groupes communautaires et de syndicats, notamment celui des Travailleurs et travailleuses unis de l'alimentation et du commerce Canada qui a parraine des initiatives transnationales uniques. …