A United Nations report that found Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program “serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery” is insulting and completely untrue, say two growers who employ migrant workers in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
“I found what was in the paper extremely offensive,” said Palatine Fruit and Roses owner Eva Schmitz, referring to a story in the Aug. 15 issue of The Lake Report that outlined details from a report by Tomoya Obokata, the UN’s rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery.
In Obokata’s report he stated “Canada should end labour migration arrangements that foster exploitation by creating dependency situations that tie workers to their employers and give employers control (over) workers’ housing, health care and migration status.”
Such programs “institutionalize asymmetries of power that favour employers and prevent workers from exercising their rights,” Obokata said.
Schmitz was almost beside herself with anger when interviewed by The Lake Report on Aug. 20, refusing to be silent in the face of assertions made by Obokata.
“That just pushed me over the top because I absolutely do not want to be associated with anything that has to do with racism and slavery,” she said, adding that the migrant workers she employs are treated with respect and by the rule of Canadian law.
“If you hire someone and you pay the cost to move them and give them free lodging, that is part of a contract,” she said, referring to a legal clause that states migrant workers can only be employed by the boss who signed their work visas.
“You don’t want that person to take the flight (to Canada) and then go to your neighbour for a few dollars more. This is absolute employment practice in Canada. There is nothing wrong with that.”
Schmitz employs seven workers from the Caribbean at Palatine.
Each one of them enjoys many of the social benefits that are afforded to Canadian citizens, she said.
“The only thing they do not get is employment insurance,” said Schmitz.
“If you are a Canadian and go to Jamaica in the winter you are also not getting employment insurance because you are out of the country,” she added.
The difference, however, is that Canadian citizens have the option to stay in Canada to preserve their right to collect EI while migrant workers do not have that ability once their contract is over.
They must leave the country, but can’t collect EI once they’re home.
That is one reason advocacy groups like the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change have long been calling for the Canadian government to award migrant workers permanent resident status.
Scott MacSween, who operates MacSween Farms in NOTL, also took exception to the UN report.
He believes that the migrant worker program, as it is operated in NOTL, is a win-win-win situation for employers, workers and consumers.
“The reason they have all come here is because we are getting that 15 to 20 per cent unemployed from their home country. And thank goodness our government allows them to come up here. Otherwise we wouldn’t have an industry, because Canadians won’t work in the orchards.”
And speaking on behalf of other employers he knows, MacSween said everyone feels like their employees are family and treat them that way.
That level of respect and appreciation was confirmed by a number of MacSween workers who were interviewed separately and without warning when The Lake Report showed up at their place of residence unannounced.
All of the men interviewed repeatedly emphasized how good a boss MacSween is. One of the men, Denver Cunningham, told an interesting story that reflects not only respect, but trust.
“Scotty is a good boss,” said Cunningham. “Sometimes when we’re in Jamaica and guys might run short on cash, they can call on him and he will compensate them.”
