Is Canada Really That Nice?

Internationally, Canada is perceived as a model state that is incredibly welcoming of foreign nationalities and immigrants. Yet researching the plight of foreign temporary agricultural migrant workers in Canada made me realise that Canada still faces issues of prejudice and discrimination against certain groups of people. The exploitative and coercive practices of Canadian migrant worker programs, as well as the racialisation of migrant workers within these programs and local communities leaves a lot to be desired.

What are temporary migrant agricultural workers?

Temporary migrant agricultural workers live in Canada for up to 8 months (depending on their contract), working in agricultural sectors including tobacco, vegetables and fruit (Bridi, 2013; Hennebry, 2008). The migrant workers come mainly from Mexico and the Caribbean states, notably Jamaica, and return to those countries once their contracts are over (Preibisch, 2004). The migrant workers are desired in Canada to help do jobs on farms that Canadian labourers refuse while the migrant workers are willing to come to Canada to earn wages higher than they would receive in their home country (Preibisch and Grez, 2010).

How are migrant agricultural workers exploited?

Mechanisms of control are used by the Canadian capitalist (at governmental, provincial, country and employer level) to  ensure a vulnerable and thus flexible labour supply (Bridi, 2013). Mechanisms of control include the fact that migrant workers are not legally able to unionise; employers threaten repatriation to the home country following poor work performance or creating "trouble" due to challenging the abuse of work and living rights; and employers attempt to limit the socialising and integration of migrant workers within Canadian communities in order to both leave the migrant workers with fewer social connections that could help with exercise of rights and to limit the number of friendly relations with Canadians that may influence migrant workers to stay in Canada after their contract ends (Bridi, 2013; Preibisch and Otero, 2014). 

Why does this exploitation continue?

Exploitation continues because of the racialisation and “othering” of the migrant worker (Preibisch, 2004). Racialization is evident in behaviour directed towards migrant workers by members of rural Canadian societies such as: crossing the street to avoid contact with black Caribbean workers; making racist comments or jokes; and even cases of violence and attack. Negative stereotyping of male Jamaican workers as threatening womanizers, or female Mexican workers as questionable mothers or sexually available, dehumanise the migrant worker and produce them as the “other” (Preibisch, 2004; Preibisch and Grez, 2010). By racializing and producing the migrant worker as the “other”, the migrant workers are excluded from the imagined rural Canadian community, thus legitimising exploitative and coercive labour practices as the migrants are not seen as equal to the Canadian citizens, and thus are not worthy of the rights that Canadian citizens enjoy (Bauder, 2005). Exploitation is not challenged because the migrant worker is the “other”, meaning exploitation continues.

Anything positive?

There have been some attempts to improve migrant worker experiences in Canada and challenge the exploitative conditions they face. In particular, migrant worker-Canadian citizen friendships formed in places such as church, in stores and in places of recreation are crucial links for assisting migrant workers in processes like money transfers, access to healthcare, legal help and emergencies (Preibisch, 2004). Community groups and civil organizations provide socially inclusive spaces for interaction and they also help with organising English lessons, legal workshops and advocating for migrants who do not speak up for fear of repatriation (Bauder, 2005). 

Conclusions

There is no doubt that temporary agricultural migrant workers in Canada are not granted the same worker and living rights afforded to permanent citizens of Canada. In particular, change at the local level would be instrumental. For example, promoting local awareness of the hardships endured by the migrant workers could help activate Canadian citizens to challenge destructive government discourses and legislation; the government would then be pressured into updating legislation and ensuring more worker rights as the civilian population becomes more watchful and critical.

Canada needs to challenge the coercive and exploitative relationships discussed above if it wants to continue along its path of creating successful multiculturalism and forging a role model country identity. Having said this, Canada still has a relatively successful model of  multiculturalism which will be explored in more depth in a future post about the role of multiculturalism in the Canadian identity.