I’ve been coming to Canada for 17 years from Jamaica. I used to work on an apple farm and then a greenhouse. I’ve been on this farm for 12 years. I like the grapes.
My family back home are farmers. I live near to the Blue Mountains. We grow coffee. I grew up in farming. Some Canadian coffees are nice but we have the real stuff.
I had some people back in Jamaica tell me about the seasonal agricultural worker program and they asked if I wanted to try it. I said yes. I do farming back home and I heard that it was farming here and I wanted to try it.
What’s different about Canada? We have no snow in Jamaica! When I first saw snow, I wondered what was going on because I’d never seen this before. I’d just seen snow on television and stuff like that. But I came to experience it so it was good. Each year I come in February and go home in September or October. Back home, I still farm – growing sweet potatoes, yams, cocoas, pumpkins and stuff like that. I also drive a taxi. I like to keep working and keep going.
I have a common law wife and three kids. My daughter is 22 and my sons are 17 and 10. I talk to them every minute and every second that I can. Pay checks here help my family. It made me have a house. It made me have my car. It does everything for me so I respect my job.