Citizenship and Immigration committee  We just have to point out that there is a big difference for temporary workers in all industries, in agriculture or others, between their rights under the law and their actual rights. Most of those rights depend on the worker. It is up to the worker to make a complaint or express a desire to unionize.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Her research dealt with migrant workers in general. That is something I have seen among home help workers. The Jewish General Hospital has even set up a working group on cancer in women. It has something to do with stress and the fact that these people have temporary status. They have trouble accessing preventive health care and they are seen once the diseases are more advanced.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Historically, it's interesting to look at the StatsCan longitudinal study on immigration that came out last year, which showed that the immigrants who came in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, who were from a broader range of educational background, did better in terms of integration.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's important to look at that difference. In the mid-1990s there was a lot of debate about why this had changed. Some would say that it was a reaction to the recession that happened at the beginning of the 1990s and some concern that they hadn't lowered the rate of immigration at that time, and also I think partly just preconceptions about what....

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm not sure of the exact year.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  This is why a lot of people are asking whether there really is a labour shortage in Canada to fill these kinds of jobs, or is it the conditions of the jobs that are blocking people here who are unemployed from taking them up. I was at the National Metropolis Conference this weekend, and there were people from HRSDC and CIC who were saying that the temporary foreign worker program only responds to employer demand, that there's no government plan behind it, and that there is a feeling on the part of employers that temporary foreign workers are quick--the people come in, they do what they ask them to do, and when they are no longer needed, they're gone.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. It is very important that both parties agree on the fact that the permanent residence criteria in many cases exclude people who ordinarily do this kind of unspecialized work. We are talking about working conditions and the status of agricultural workers. Employers most for the most part behave properly, but when they don't, the fact that the workers are seasonal and they really want to be hired back the next year keeps them from filing complaints.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We have done interviews with agricultural workers. The fact that their status is temporary and is tied directly to the employer affects the level of confidence they have for taking the risk of trying to unionize. As well, most provinces in Canada set up legal barriers to unionizing, particularly for seasonal agricultural workers.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Good afternoon, everyone. It's my pleasure to be here today. I'm going to be focusing my comments on the temporary foreign worker program. I'm here in my capacity as a researcher today. My comments are based on eight years of research done in collaboration with other university-based researchers and in cooperation with community organizations that give services to migrant workers.