In the summer of 2007 JUSTICE@work launched the Migrant Worker project. Throughout the summer and fall of 2007 JUSTICE@work provided weekly drop in sessions at the UFCW Migrant Worker Support Centre in Bradford in order to assist migrant workers with their legal issues.
Outreach and legal services to migrant workers are key to ensuring access to justice to the most vulnerable in our communities.
Migrant farm workers are employed at farms in Ontario in a way that would be illegal if applied to Canadian workers. They are excluded from many Employment Standards Act protections and have inadequate access to health care both in Canada and in their countries of origin - for example they are often exposed to pesticides without satisfactory protection or treatment upon the development of health problems.
These workers can be arbitrarily repatriated and subsequently excluded from returning to Canada to work as part of the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) thereafter. These injustices are compounded by the circumstances in which they work. Migrant workers often face language barriers, live on the farms and rely on their employer for transportation, accommodation, and continued work in the program. Consequently when abuses occur workers are afraid to say anything for fear of being repatriated and/or excluded from the program in future years.
The SAWP program is a national shame - in reality it allows a form of cheap and easily exploitable labour to occur without adequate protections for workers. This is why we are involved with workers in the Bradford - Holland Marsh area.
JUSTICE@work presentation to SPINLAW Conference March 15, 2008