Seasonal worker program thrives

The Okanagan Weekend

The pace of arrivals under the foreign farmworker program, critical to Okanagan agriculture, is on par with previous years despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, officials say.

And the processing of applicant paperwork has been expedited to ensure more foreign farm workers arrive when farmers need the help, say federal officials say.

Almost 22,000 workers from Mexico, Jamaica, and Guatemala had arrived in Canada by the end of April. That compares to the 23,000 workers that had been projected to arrive before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We expect about 7,000 more temporary foreign workers to arrive in May,” Oliver Anderson, a spokesman for Agriculture and

Agri-Food email.

The government has fast-tracked work permit applications from the foreign workers so the process is completed in one week, instead of the three weeks that has been the case in the past, Anderson said.

Canadian farmers will be able to employ the foreign workers for less than the normal sixmonth minimum period, Anderson said.

These measures, he said, were in addition to the $50 million already pledged by Ottawa to help farmers cover the costs of bringing in foreign workers.

Among other things, that money goes toward special housing for foreign farmworkers for a period of 14 days, required under the Quarantine Act, before they can begin their seasonal employment in Canada.

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About 4,500 Mexicans and Jamaicans came to the Okanagan last year to work on Valley farms, performing the kind of demanding agricultural labour which Canadians have increasingly shunned.

When the federal government announced $225 million in assistance for Canadian agricultural operations earlier this week, the BC Fruit Growers Association complained the fruit sector was not able to access any of the money.

But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has indicated further help for agriculture is on the way

With proposed changes to crop insurance terms, growers may be able to file claims for any losses sustained because of the pandemic, but the details of this proposal are still being worked out.