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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.
Celebrating community success with the Greenhouse worker Vaccination Education – Community Collaboration in Motionreenhouse worker Vaccination Education
The Workplace Wellness for Agri-Food Workers Task force, a collaboration of 16 community partners, are highlighting the success of COVID-19 education and vaccination of temporary foreign workers in our region.
Celebrating community success with the Greenhouse worker Vaccination Education
Leamington, ON – The Workplace Wellness for Agri-Food Workers Task force, a collaboration of 16 community partners, are highlighting the success of COVID-19 education and vaccination of temporary foreign workers in our region. Recognizing that Temporary Foreign Workers are a very important part of the Windsor-Essex community, the core of this collaboration was formed pre-pandemic […]
A new resource for educators about Temporary Foreign Workers
This new Educators' Resource will help shed light on why men and women come to Canada as temporary foreign workers and how they live and work on Canadian farms.