Thank you very much.
Good afternoon. Bonjour.
I'll be very quick, because I don't think I have a lot of time here.
I've worked for the Centre for Spanish Speaking People for the past 30 years. I want to express its opposition to the creation and expansion of any more guest worker or temporary worker programs. The reason is based on our experience working with the predecessor programs that are in place right now: the temporary farm workers; the seasonal farm workers program; and the domestic program, the live-in caregivers program.
Although those workers are in guest worker programs, in our experience that is something of a misnomer. They should be called ghost workers programs. The reason why I say that is because once those people come into Canada, they become legal non-entities. They don't appear anywhere. There are a number of exceptions in the labour laws of Ontario and other provinces, for instance, where farm workers are not covered. Even in those areas where they are, enforcement of those rights, and protection under the act, is practically impossible.
As an example, Alberto mentioned that I had represented the first farm worker to ever obtain employment insurance benefits in Canada, and that was parental and pregnancy benefits. Farm workers--even though they pay into the plan--are not entitled to regular benefits once they become unemployed and go home.
I am an obstinate person, and I think that is why we got the benefits. I don't think that's an understatement. In fact, the HRDC office--even though those workers were entitled to those benefits--still treated them as non-existent by the very nature of their temporary status in Canada.
Another example is that even though farm workers pay under our pension plan, they are not entitled to old age security. Even though many of them have been coming to Canada for over twenty years, they're not considered residents of Canada, but merely present. You see people who have devoted their working lives to Canada, and yet they go home and they get a meager retirement pension with no old age security for them.
With respect to the mandate of the committee, this is lateral, but I think it's important to point out injustices whenever you have an opportunity to do so.
I thank you for your time.