Foreign content in our local cherries

Editor: Spring has sprung and before we know it summer will be here. One of the best things about summer, the fresh local, fruit. What would summer be without it? Big, delicious B.C. cherries will be in season. It’s a summer staple that everyone loves.

Have you ever thought about where your local cherries came from? These days it seems like everyone wants to do the right thing, to make ethical choices when it comes to shopping. We buy fair-trade coffee, but why not cherries?

Have you ever thought of who picks your local cherries? A lot of the growers hire temporary foreign workers. These workers receive all of their tax back and are not contributing to our system. These workers are not hired because of a lack of local workers. They are hired because they are easy to control. They are bussed around and the employer chooses how long they work each day. They don’t have family or distractions here and are available to work all day everyday. These workers get their tax back and do not contribute to our social system. They sometimes have to work 16 hour days and when they get hurt they are sent home. They are just a number.

These employers only have to prove that they posted a job advertisement. They then say that locals did not apply for the job. If you look at online job sites, you can see that hundreds of people have viewed these jobs. Some of the jobs that are listed have had 604 views. It is hard to believe that out of these hundreds of people, not one applied.

Why do these employers not have to go through an independent company who advertises the positions and monitors the applicants?

What about the fast-food restaurants that continue to hire foreign workers over locals? We need to make a stand and start supporting the businesses who hire locals and put money back into our community. Next time you go for your daily coffee or pick up some cherries or local fruit, do the right thing and support the companies that support our local economy. Michele Blanchard, Kelowna