By Daniel Tseghay On December 16th, the Rising Up Against Unjust Recruitment coalition launched their campaign to highlight the mistreatment of migrant workers at the hands of third-party recruiters and a BC government that fails to enact policies to protect them. Members of the coalition point out that charging people money to find a job Continue readingRising up against unjust recruitment in B.C.
migrant workers
By CJ Chanco “Expel the barbarians!” a lone man shouts as a group of picketers turn a corner around Laurier Avenue. “Hey, hey, hey white supremacists out now,” they yell back. Slowly the ranks of the protesters grow, as passers-by look on in curiosity and representatives from a number of national union offices join them. Continue readingSolidarity, uncertainty and hope as Harvesting Freedom reaches Ottawa
By CJ Chanco Farmworkers and migrant rights activists have reached the midpoint of a month-long caravan they call Harvesting Freedom. Calling for permanent legal status for the tens of thousands of farmworkers across the country, they began their march in Windsor and Leamington, aiming to reach Ottawa by October. At the heart of the campaign Continue readingHarvesting Freedom: Farmworkers march to Ottawa
In Episode Three, RankandFile.ca’s West Coast Correspondent Daniel Tseghay interviews Hessed Torres of Migrante BC and Raul Gatica of the Migrant Workers’ Dignity Association about how Canada treats its migrant workers through its different temporary foreign worker programs and the challenges they face working in Canada as some of the most precarious workers within Canada’s Continue readingR&F.ca Podcast Episode 3 – Migrant Workers in Canada
By Alia Karim Since 1966, workers of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) have left their families to toil on farms and greenhouses up to twelve hours per day, six to seven days a week, in order to supply the fruits and vegetables Canadians enjoy. As many as 110,000 low-skilled migrant workers come to Canada Continue readingFilm Review: Migrant Dreams
By Daniel Tseghay In January of 2014, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) launched a pilot initiative called Project Guardian which would search for and detain migrant caregivers in British Columbia and the Yukon who work under the table, without a work permit. When the West Coast Domestic Workers’ Association filed an Access to Information Continue readingMigrant Caregivers: An Invisible Workforce
By Daniel Tseghay On March 29th, nine national, regional and provincial umbrellas of settlement organizations released Migrant workers: precarious and unsupported: A Canada-wide Study on Access to Services for Migrant Workers. The 73-pages report detailed the challenges migrant workers, in either the Temporary Foreign Worker Program or the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, in accessing settlement Continue readingThe hierarchy of settlement services
By Samantha Ponting On Feb. 17, the federal government announced in mainstream media that it will conduct a full-scale review of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). The Coalition for Migrant Worker Rights Canada (CMWRC) is calling on the Liberal government to reveal details of the review process, and prioritize the voices of migrant workers. Continue readingLiberals announce review of Temporary Foreign Worker Program, migrant coalition calls for consultation
By John W. Warnock Southwestern Ontario is the historic home of Canadian tomato growers. The bulk of the crop goes to processing, and since 1909 the dominant corporation had been H. J. Heinz, a food giant based in Pittsburgh. But in 2013 the Heinz Corporation was bought by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (26 per cent) Continue readingGrowing tomatoes in the era of free trade
By Daniel Tseghay A new study, released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), provides an in-depth look into the conditions of exploitation facing BC migrant workers, and makes substantive recommendations for federal and provincial policy change. The report, “Citizenship and Precarious Labour in Canadian Agriculture.” published by Gerardo Otero and Kerry Preibisch, is Continue readingStudy puts BC migrant work under a microscope
By Karl Flecker Daniel is suffering from a repetitive strain injury. Working at Costco, stocking shelves, moving large boxes of everything he never eats, he jokes, is not what he planned to do with his European based training in logistics management. New to Canada, he realized a survival job was likely necessary until his credentials Continue readingNew country, new job – new risks
By Daniel Tseghay In the year of Vancouver’s incorporation as a city in 1886, industrial unionists formed a local branch of the Knights of Labor. The union, which sponsored the Asiatic Exclusion League, played a prominent role in the riot that erupted the following year. Three hundred white workers expressed their animosity towards the Chinese Continue readingA history of migrant work in BC: Labour’s choice between exclusion and solidarity