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Working in Canada a long-term commitment for many migrant farm workers
When you ask Ontario fruit and vegetable farmers about the international workers they employ, they often mention that many of those workers have been coming to work here for years, even decades. It’s that opportunity to work in Canada, through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) and the agriculture stream of the federal Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program...
Industry campaign highlights migrant workers’ stories
Each year, over 40,000 migrant workers come to Canada legally to work on farms. Now, a new initiative that’s putting the workers front and centre is shining a spotlight on their stories. More than a Migrant Worker is a website and media campaign supported by the Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Growers’ Association in partnership with several commodity groups.
Greenhouse Cup Soccer Tournament
What a weekend it was for greenhouse workers in the Leamington area. The inaugural Greenhouse Cup Tournament put on by the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) with support from the Migrant Worker Community Program proved to be an awesome event full of friendly competition and appreciation. The soccer tournament presented a great opportunity to bring […]
A better life is why we come to Canada, say migrant farm workers
There are thousands of migrant workers working on Canadian fruit and vegetable farms. They come from many different countries and some stay only for the season before going home for the winter, whereas others stay year-round. Regardless of their circumstances, though, there’s one thing they all have in common: their motivation for working in Canada is to build a better life for themselves and for their families back home.
Program ensures migrant farm workers have same rights, privileges as Canadian workers
It was 2008, the first time Myron Martin came to Canada to work on a Niagara Region tender fruit farm. He’d done some farming in Jamaica, so joining the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) made sense for him – and he’s been returning to the same farm every year since then.
More opportunities for their families bring migrant farm workers to Canada
The drive to build a better future for his family has been bringing migrant worker Raymond O’Connor to Canada every year for almost a decade. Because of his job on an apple orchard in Norfolk County, the Jamaican construction worker has been able to send his kids to school, build a home for his family, and pay for medical care.
Pandemic highlighted the importance of Niagara’s migrant farm workers
When the world shut down in March 2020, Canada quickly realized it couldn’t shut travel down completely. Only days after the borders were closed, the government reversed course for one group of people: migrant farm workers. Despite fears over a new and unknown virus, the labour those workers provided was too important.
Canada is welcoming and offers opportunities for a better life, say migrant workers
Since 2015, Fernando Nieto Rodrigues has been leaving his wife and three children in Mexico every year to work on Canadian fruit and vegetable farms. For the past four years, he’s been at a vegetable greenhouse near Windsor, and although he misses his family, he’s proud that he’s able to provide them with a better life.
Migrant worker programs a win-win for workers and farmers
Jorge Mario Lopez is like most fathers. He is focused on his family and committed to doing all that he can to provide for his wife, two daughters and three sons. The Guatemalan is also one of more than 40,000 migrant workers who come to Canada legally every year to work on farms.
Women in agriculture face challenges that are both universal and unfamiliar to the rest of us
Migrant workers are extremely important to Canada’s food security and economy. In the September 2021 issue of Chatelaine, meet Felena Pereira, a migrant farm worker from Simcoe, Ontario. Felena has been coming to Schuyler Farms for the past eight years and is now on her way to becoming a Canadian citizen.
Farm moms always work from home
At 5:30 am, the day stretches out like a cat. No such lounging luxury exists for the farm manager of Suncrest Orchards, Simcoe, Ontario. Amanda Dooney’s bare feet have hit the floor. “I’m the farm mom,” explains Dooney, with two teenagers and 18 temporary foreign workers (TFWs) who are her “Jamaican family” when the work force is full strength.
Fruit and vegetable farmers push back on reports of poor worker housing
Ontario’s fruit and vegetable growers are pushing back on recent allegations of poor housing standards and lax inspections around employer-provided housing for seasonal agricultural workers. Workers who come to Ontario through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) to work on fruit and vegetable farms have access to housing from their employers.