Migrant workers not expendable

It’s not a good look for Canada.

Not only do we have agricultural jobs that are so hard and pay so little that we have to bring in thousands of migrant workers, but when we do bring them in, we can’t even provide safe workplaces.

Every year, 60,000 temporary foreign workers come to this country to work in the Canadian agricultural sector. They’re absolutely necessary — so much so that, even during the current COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government had to exempt the workers from travel bans.

Migrant farm workers are employed in every province in Canada. In 2018, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island were ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in the number of such workers, according to Statistics Canada — and the work they do was quickly recognized as essential to the Canadian food supply chain.

The plan was that workers would have a two-week isolation period and then be able to begin the hard physical work they do every year: planting, tending and harvesting crops. It’s a kind of back-breaking work for low pay many Canadians won’t do and, frankly, don’t even have the skills to do properly or at the speed required.

But cramped and dirty accommodations at some operations — along with strict production quotas, scarce personal protective equipment and no sick leave — has meant that workers who have picked up COVID-19 here are spreading it quickly though farms. There are currently outbreaks in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. Physical distancing is nearly impossible when workers are in 40-person bunkhouses or are living four to a room. (To be absolutely clear, not all workers face such circumstances — bad apple employers tarnish everyone’s reputations.)

How bad is it? Well, bad enough that the Mexican government has temporarily stopped sending workers to Canada until health and safety conditions are improved for farm workers. Think about that: another country is concerned that our country is too dangerous a place for its citizens to live and work. At the moment, that means roughly 5,000 workers and the work they do are in limbo.

The federal government is certainly aware there is a problem: “We recognize there is more to do to protect temporary foreign workers in this country,” Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough’s office said in a statement emailed to the Globe and Mail. “The reported cases of inappropriate behaviours and unsafe working conditions are completely unacceptable.”

Problem is, even inspections of farming accommodations have been disrupted by COVID-19 fears. In most instances, for example, inspections are now being done virtually, instead of having inspectors actually visit farm facilities.

It is completely unacceptable.

It involves everything from the food we all eat to the national reputation we enjoy.

We should have been taking action long before the Mexican government had to.