Dear editor:

When I and maybe others read The Lake Report’s story, “New migrant worker crisis line not the solution, advocate says,  Aug. 8) our minds naturally went to the migrant farm workers in our area.

The program for our migrant farm workers has been going on for more than 55 years. However, now the program also apparently includes migrant workers in different industries: restaurants, fast-food chains, hotels, etc.

Therefore, when Kit Andres speaks of the foreign worker program, is Andres including all migrant workers or only specifically about our farmworkers?

Let me advocate against this. If our farmworkers were given permanent residency, we might no longer be assured that we could bring our tender fruit and vegetable crops to harvest.

The workers would be able to leave our employ and find a job elsewhere. That is the main reason this program began in the first place. Farmers could no longer find reliable help to see the crop through from start to finish.

Migrant farm workers are not slaves to their employers. They sign a yearly contract and are free to decline a position before the start of the following year.

They can request to go to a different employer or they can decide to stay in their home country. It might also be difficult if migrant farmworkers are granted permanent residency.

The worker would no longer have a rent-free, utility-free place to live, they would require transportation to and from their place of employment and in almost all cases would be unemployed after completion of the year’s farm work.

They would still have access to their Ontario Health card (as they do now), the worker and most likely the family being brought with them would now not have access to a drug or dental plan.

Currently they are insured through Cowan Insurance, which is far cheaper than what it costs self-employed farmers to buy into. 

As for migrant workers being mistreated, if Kit or anyone else has knowledge of this, they must report it to the appropriate liaison department.

It is sad, but true that mistreatment may occur, however it can and does happen in many workplaces that have nothing to do with migrant workers.

Our workers come here in order to give their families a better life back in their home country. It is a sacrifice for them to be away from their families, but do our armed forces not sacrifice the same for all Canadians’ benefit?

It is a privilege for us that sacrifices are made by our migrant workers as well as our military. 

One thing I tried to accomplish years ago was to have the government lift the restriction on deducting EI from these workers as they could not collect if out of Canada while not working.

It could be a bonus for them not to have EI deductions.

Overall, I think that whenever articles appear denouncing the problems faced by migrant workers, it should be specifically stated what type of migrant worker is being spoken about as, for the most part, Niagara uses only the migrant farm worker program and it is excellent. 

Susan Pohorly
NOTL