The brief statement does not contain any additional information, such as which farms the team members will visit or when the trip to Canada will take place. “Additional details will come later,” the post reads.
In August, a group of Jamaican farm workers wrote to Samudah condemning their treatment on two farms in Ontario, which they compared to “systematic slavery”.
Jamaica has appointed a fact-finding team to investigate the working conditions of Jamaicans working on Canadian farms after Ontario workers said last month they were facing “seismic-level exploitation.”
The workers said they are in Canada under the Seasonal Farm Workers Program (SAWP), which allows Canadian employers to hire temporary migrant workers from Mexico and 11 Caribbean countries to fill gaps in the country’s agricultural labor market.
Foreign workers brought to Canada under the SAWP program can have jobs for up to eight months a year, and many people have been coming to the country for decades under the program.
“In its current form, [SAWP] is systematic slavery,” said the letter from farmers, which arrived just days before Samuda traveled to Canada to tour farms employing Jamaican workers.
But after his trip, Samuda said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera last week that he saw “no evidence of abuse” at the Ontario farms he visited.
“We have not found any signs of abuse,” the minister said, stressing that the SAWP program is “absolutely needed by thousands of Jamaican families, many rural communities and the entire [country] of Jamaica.”
Between 50,000 and 60,000 foreign agricultural workers come to Canada each year on temporary work permits. They work in a variety of roles, from planting and harvesting fruits and vegetables to processing meat.
According to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) yearly enforcement report, the US has deported 271,000 people to 192…
The Biden-Harris administration now approved $4.28 billion in student debt cancellation for several 54,000 public servants across the nation. This…
Today is celebrated as the “International Human Solidarity Day” around the world. ‘December 20’ of every year has been recognised…
Tech giant Google is continuing its layoff spree this year, too. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai recently announced in an…
The United Nations human rights office plans to send a small team of its officers to Syria for the first…
After months of hard bargaining with the labor unions, Volkswagen has emerged close to striking a major deal with German…
This website uses cookies.
Read More