MARIJUANA JOBS IN LIMBO FOR MIGRANT WORKERS
Solutions sought regarding Mexico, Jamaica restrictions
Mexican and Jamaican workers who have come to Canada for decades to work in greenhouses may not be allowed to work in the cannabis industry.
The expanding cannabis industry in Leamington may require hundreds of workers but growing marijuana is illegal in Mexico. Mexican consul Alberto Bernal Acero in Leamington said Tuesday it would be “awkward” for Mexican workers in a government program to be working in that industry.
The consulate needs to know the legal implications for the workers who are allowed to stay in Canada a maximum of eight months under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program. Acero is now working with Canadian authorities and different parts of the Mexican government. “We have no official position at this time on this matter since we need first to clarify among ourselves about what’s going to happen,” he said.
Since May, Acero has heard growers ask about the issue although there haven’t been official requests for workers.
He estimates the industry could need several hundred workers for the greenhouse marijuana crop. “We are aware that there’s a new industry, the new branch of the agricultural industry that’s flourishing and becoming very, very strong. Huge investments have been done in this particular region of Leamington and Kingsville,” he said.
“It’s something that’s raising to high levels to consider this seriously about what shall be the official position of the Mexican government regarding this since we are already receiving some requests from farmers.” Acero doesn’t want Mexican workers left out of a growing industry that could help them support their families back in Mexico but he said it’s a grey area. “It’s something we need to figure out. It’s very complex.”
The topic will be discussed at an October or November meeting in Mexico with Canadian officials during an annual review of the program. There are 3,600 Mexican workers in the Leamington area who are part of the roughly 26,000 workers from Mexico across Canada in the program, with most working in Ontario and Quebec, Acero said.
There are also more than 9,000 Jamaican workers in Canada employed through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program. Although some assumed Jamaica would jump on the marijuana bandwagon, Carlton Anderson, the chief liaison officer at the Jamaican Liaison Service in North York, said that wasn’t so. He’s waiting to see how the Canadian and Jamaican governments handle the issue. He said if one country allows it, the other will likely follow because they don’t want to miss out on work opportunities. Employers and Jamaican workers have approached the office and are waiting to hear if workers will be allowed to be employed in the cannabis greenhouses, Anderson said Tuesday. Alexander Logie, the senior vice-president of business development at Natura Naturals Inc., said the Leamington greenhouse expects to need workers under the program as it expands. He said it’s a demanding physical job in the heat so it is usually a challenge to find labourers here.
Logie said he’s not too concerned since the greenhouse that used to grow tomatoes and cucumbers before transitioning to marijuana hasn’t relied on Mexican workers but did have Jamaican workers. Some Canadian executives in the cannabis industry have reported problems crossing the border into the United States, so the potential concern for workers doesn’t surprise Logie. A spokesman from Leamington’s Aphria Inc. couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.
Oct. 17 is the date recreational marijuana is expected to become legal across Canada.