Plus ça Change? – A Comparative Analysis of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program and the Pilot Foreign Worker Program for Farm Workers in Quebec

Sophia J Lowe

doi:10.32920/ryerson.14646333

Abstract

For the last 40 years, migrant farm workers from the Caribbean and Mexico have been recruited to work temporarily on Canadian farms under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). In 2002, the pilot Foreign Worker Program (FWP) for low skilled migrant workers was initiated in the province of Quebec and under this program began the recruitment of Guatemalan migrant farm workers. Since the program's start, the number of Guatemalan migrants has nearly tripled and there seems to be a decline in the number of workers hired under the SAWP in Quebec. This paper examines the FWP's development, set-up, consequences and operation alongside the SAWP and shows how the Canadian state is expanding the number of flexibility and temporary worker programs. This paper draws attention to the neo-liberal context of migrant farm labour in Canada, pointing to the ways in which Canada's federal policies governing seasonal agricultural migrants and athe agricultural labour market are exploitative and racist.

Highlights

In an era of globalization and neo-liberal1 expansion, temporary work programs have been initiated in Canada as a way to secure labour and reduce permanent settlement of immigrants
This paper examines the pilot Foreign Worker Program (FWP), which is recruiting Guatemalan farm workers to Quebec, and its relation to the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) and SAWP workers
As migrant workers2 from the Global South3 come to Canada under temporary worker programs, their contracts are structured so that they are bound to a single employer and they have almost no freedom of mobility in Canada and no right to citizenship or the rights that come with citizenship (Sharma, 2006)

Summary

Introduction

In an era of globalization and neo-liberal1 expansion, temporary work programs have been initiated in Canada as a way to secure labour and reduce permanent settlement of immigrants. The pilot Foreign Worker Program (FWP) was initiated by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) in 2002 and expanded to enable employers to recruit migrant farm workers from Guatemala to work in the Quebec agricultural industry.

Results

Conclusion