Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for welcoming the Réseau d'aide aux travailleuses et travailleurs migrants agricoles du Québec, or RATTMAQ. I apologize for my colleague, who should be arriving shortly. He left Sherbrooke, where he had another activity, this morning. This is our peak season, when we support workers who are returning to their homes.
RATTMAQ is a network of various associations in several regions of Quebec. They include human rights, pastoral and parish organizations that have joined our network to support workers and advocate for their rights. We are a registered non-profit, an independent human rights organization funded by Quebec's Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration.
We unfortunately did not have the time to prepare a summary or notes, but we will be submitting a brief to you in the next few weeks. It will be a summary of the briefs that we have submitted to the Quebec government on immigration planning in which we address the specific issue of temporary foreign workers and, more specifically, the closed work permits issue.
As noted by the representative of Fondation des entreprises en recrutement de main-d'œuvre agricole étrangère, or FERME, closed work permits are a problem for access to permanent residence for the people we represent. Like Tomoya Obokata, the UN special rapporteur, we believe it creates a serious human rights problem. Some rights are recognized in our charters, acts and even the trade agreements that Canada has signed, particularly with Mexico. Foreign workers unfortunately live with a sword of Damocles over their heads, since their employer alone can decide at any moment to send them back to their country. This raises a human rights issue because workers cannot defend their rights in these circumstances.
In Quebec, we are also studying a sectoral work permit together with the minister. We haven't taken a firm position on the issue, but we would not want major employer conglomerates to control this issue or for there to be no equivalent for the defence of human rights. Not all employers mistreat their employees, but some cases have made the headlines in Quebec. This is serious. Problematic cases must absolutely be eliminated. Furthermore, the Union des producteurs agricoles in Quebec acknowledges that, if we pay attention to these cases and resolve them, that will encourage better competition in the market for farmers and producers in the food processing industry.
Our services are entirely free of charge. We are funded by civil society and Quebec's Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration.
Economically speaking, we agree that we must promote access to permanent residence and even citizenship, given that these workers are already in our regions and that the fact that we have people in the regions is already a challenge for us in Quebec. These workers are already in the regions and have learned French. Not all of them are here for only eight months. Some have been here for many years and have not seen their families or watched their children grow up. We think this system must be reviewed in order to facilitate both the situation of workers and that of agricultural producers, who are currently suffering.
Our watchword is obviously respect for decent work. According to the International Labour Organisation, decent work is based on four pillars. First, international standards must apply, including the right of association, which has also been limited in Quebec in recent years. Second, there has to be access to social protection, such as insurance plans. However, access to employment insurance is very complicated for the people we represent. The other two pillars of decent work are non-discrimination and social dialogue.
If we fail to introduce mechanisms for exercising the right to collective labour relations, we will keep going round in circles because individual workers are unable to defend themselves. If everything was going well, RATTMAQ would not exist. We currently support and represent some 20,000 workers in all phases of their process of entering Quebec society.
My colleague Michel Pilon has just arrived. He is responsible for legal issues brought before the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail and other bodies.
I believe I have used up the five minutes that were available to me.
We will now be pleased to answer your questions.