Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for providing us with the opportunity today to speak before this committee.
Justicia for Migrant Workers is an activist group based in Toronto that has been organizing with migrant workers, particularly farm workers, for the last 20 years.
To begin with, we would be remiss not to recognize the deaths of 215 indigenous children who died as a result of failed, flawed and racist national residential school policies. It is critical that we take responsibility as a nation for the deaths of thousands of indigenous children in residential schools, as well as the ongoing genocide that continues. We cannot separate or detach any conversation related to migration and immigration without understanding the history of this nation.
Furthermore, we cannot have an honest and thorough conversation about immigration within rural communities without acknowledging that, for over 54 years, Canada has maintained and recently expanded a system of indentured labour known as the seasonal agricultural worker program and the temporary foreign worker program overall, which enriches rural employers. It's a myth to say that these women and men who have toiled for generations are temporary labour. It's a permanent feature of rural communities that addresses employer needs and simultaneously dehumanizes and disposes of workers when no longer necessary.
This week alone, dozens of workers were terminated and returned home to their home countries. Several workers were sent home and repatriated for standing up against workplace injustices, including deplorable housing and dangerous transportation. Other workers complain about living in rodent-infested dwellings where up to 19 workers live in one accommodation with only two working toilets. Ten workers have died this year, with several of these workers dying during the quarantine period, which means under government watch. This is not a tragedy or an exception. A crisis will continue to persist until we address the systemic underpinnings of Canada's temporary foreign worker program, a system that perpetuates an asymmetrical power imbalance tilted in favour of employers.
This comes at a time when the agricultural industry export value has increased by approximately 14% over the same period last year and the number of TFWs in the agriculture sector has increased. Calls for the expansion of these programs, programs that are racist and institutional systemic practices, are unacceptable. It's a fundamental failure of government policy when people live and work in communities without the ability to engage in civic, social and political participation.
COVID highlights this as migrants, both temporary foreign workers and undocumented workers, were viewed as vectors of this disease, and local political rural officials demanded increased action to further surveil and criminalize migrants through increased enforcement by Canadian border services and local police agencies. Recently, migrants have been subjected to intimidation in rural Ontario where “White Lives Matter” posters have been placed, targeting specifically migrant farm workers.
Racism is multifaceted and multidimensional. Power is central to understanding how it manifests both in rural communities and in the operations of Canada's TFW program. A program that values Black and Brown workers only for their labour while denying their humanity is a blight on all of us. It's imperative that we get to the heart of this issue: tied work permits, the employer-driven nature of this program and the power imbalance where workers are disposed of.
For 20 years now, J4MW has been demanding systemic changes, something that have successive governments have failed to address. The recently announced funding for work permits for vulnerable workers and the pathways to permanent residency program is inadequate, as both programs have failed to address the deep-rooted injustices that exist for all workers.
As you develop immigration plans for the future, it's necessary that you heed our advice and that from both current and former workers. Canada cannot hide behind the mask or veneer of multiculturalism while perpetuating a system of apartheid. People across Canada and across the globe are keeping a watchful eye on our next steps.
There are four changes we want to close with.
The first is ending unilateral repatriations and debarment for workers. We cannot claim that there is a labour shortage while there are hundreds if not thousands of workers who can no longer work in Canada.
The second is equal access to social entitlements. Workers pay into our EI system, and they pay into our pension, but they don't have equal access.
The third is permanent status upon arrival. As I have been saying, we gave this beforehand to the Dutch and the Polish. Only when the colour of the skin of the workers changed did we change our immigration policies to say that they were no longer welcome as equals.
The final one is the right to organize so that we shift the power imbalance that exists in this industry.
Those are my comments. I look forward to questions and discussion during the answer period.
Thank you very much.