Thank you. I translate all the time, so I understand; I'm sorry.
We are here to recommend that the standing committee take forward the issue of giving temporary migrant workers permanent resident status, as their temporary status really provides the foundation for the exploitation and abuse they often face. Obviously it's not by all employers, but we cannot leave it to employers to decide whether they're good or bad employers. We have to make sure it's taken care of at another level.
SAWP workers have a strong attachment as labour and contribute greatly to the economy of our country. Over 80% of these workers come back year after year, since the agriculture sector, as acknowledged by the CIC, along with the caregiver sector are experiencing a recurring or growing labour shortage. That can be debated, obviously.
SAWP is one of the oldest temporary foreign worker programs in the country, since 1966 employing workers under skill level D. It is well known for having some of the most restrictive work permits that prevent workers from exercising basic rights and freedoms that are considered fundamental for all Canadians, according to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Workers under contract have the same rights as Canadian workers, I should add.
These restrictions include the following: lack of equitable access to permanent residency in spite of having a substantial Canadian work history; lack of labour mobility, as they are tied to one single employer; lack of freedom of mobility, as they have to live under the employer's chosen accommodation, who often restrict and control their right to receive visitors, in violation of their basic civil rights; lack of appeal mechanisms, forcing many workers to remain silent out of fear of being expelled from the program; exclusion and discrimination from provincial employment standards and public medical health coverage; and lack of enforcement and monitoring of labour practices, health and safety, and housing conditions.
We are disappointed and discouraged not only in regard to the inaction of the federal government on critical issues of the program--absence of compliance, monitoring, enforcement, access to full rights, and permanent residency--but also because through new federal government initiatives such as the proposed Canadian experience class, workers' vulnerability to employer abuse will be intensified if the assessment process is slanted towards a positive employer reference. We are opposed to this disturbing trend of accelerating employers' access to temporary foreign workers without meaningful initiatives put forward to address the structural flaws with the already existing program such as the SAWP and LCP.
We urge the standing committee to push to extend the right to regularization to workers currently employed under the SAWP, and retroactively for workers previously employed under the program. Many of these workers have been coming to Canada for 15 to 20 years, yet the point system does not enable them any opportunity to gain permanent status in Canada. These new proposals coming forth keep excluding and denying these workers basic rights and citizenship.
Also, we ask for provisions for family reunification to allow migrant workers' families to apply for residency, and to end the repatriations, especially in the absence of appeal mechanisms. As the SAWP contract is an employer-sponsored one, workers are repatriated basically for standing up for their rights.
Workers' temporary status is the foundation for much of the exploitation and abuse that exists under these guest worker programs. This ranges from withholding needed and requested documentation from them, such as their passports and records of employment, to worker accidents and illnesses that have resulted in permanent disabilities and numerous deaths. Even when workers have access to the financial and legal resources to defend their rights, their temporary status leaves them vulnerable, as the case of the RAV line workers leaves very clear. And most migrant workers do not have access to any financial or legal resources to fight their cases.
I, as well as other Justicia organizers in B.C. and Ontario, have been witness to many tragic cases. I hope these cases will highlight some of the pitfalls of these programs and enlighten the standing committee to push for regularization and permanent resident status for foreign workers, instead of relegating them to a temporary status that leaves them vulnerable to employer exploitation and abuse.
In December 2005 I was with Javier, a SAWP worker, before, during, and after he had his second full stroke, which was provoked by a workplace accident, something that may have been prevented or minimized had he had access to a CAT scan after his first stroke only days earlier. But because he was a temporary worker, B.C. still had not given him MSP provincial health coverage, so he did not get the appropriate medical attention he needed. His employer, Purewal Blueberry Farms in Pitt Meadows, was prepared to send him back as he was, after the first stroke, partially paralyzed at that moment. Only because we stayed with him was he able to get medical attention. However, he is now back in Mexico, permanently disabled for life, without the proper medical attention or financial support.
I just recently returned from Mexico, where I met many SAWP workers and their families, among them two widows of two former workers--one who died a few years ago and one who died earlier this year, whom I was sadly fortunate enough to meet in December before he died.
Alicia is a widow whose husband had chemicals spill on him at work in an Ontario greenhouse. The employer would not even allow him to take a shower after the spill, much less take him for needed medical follow-up. Based on this chemical spill, he had complications from which he later died. Alicia receives no compensation from either the Mexican or Canadian government for this. What is her alternative in this case--to come to Canada through the program that resulted in the death of her husband? She now has to take care of their son alone with no support.
Maribel is the widow of Alberto, who died earlier this year, leaving his wife and three very young children. While a SAWP worker in Ontario, Alberto was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and although he received a lot of community support, he and his family are not receiving the governmental support they deserve. I remember talking to Alberto's brothers, many of whom have also come to Canada through the program, about how, in fact, this could happen to them. It was certainly not very heartening to tell that to the family who recently lost one of their members when they are participating in the same program. And there are many cases like this.
Finally, I would like to end by emphasizing again the importance of this standing committee's taking up the issue of permanent resident status for migrant workers, rather than the temporary status they currently have. Do we really want to be a country that, by having these temporary programs that bring in workers for decades without ever allowing them to become residents, contributes to family disintegration and intense marital, family, and community problems as a result? Imagine being away from your family and your community for eight months every year for 15 to 20 years. This is the life of a migrant farm worker in the SAWP.
We recommend that Canada finally sign on to and ratify the UN convention on migrant workers, and we recommend that you take many of the recommendations in the Arthurs report on federal labour standards as a starting point for some changes to improve the conditions and lives of migrant workers. The Arthurs report identifies farm and domestic workers as among the most vulnerable, and being foreign workers only increases their vulnerability. We agree with the Arthurs report that we must consider how to ensure that all workers can live in conditions we consider decent, and that is the question central to all public policy debates. What we advocate for is just that: decency, justice, dignity, and families and communities having access to their full rights, which in the case of foreign workers here in Canada includes having access to permanent residency, and ultimately citizenship, if they so choose.
I do not want to see more Javiers, Albertos, Alicias, Maribels, and children without fathers, but if the government does not change the underlying foundation that leaves these workers vulnerable to exploitation, that is exactly what it is supporting.
Thank you.
