Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would say that having a longer term would certainly have helped with this. Over this COVID period, on and off, lots of different offices in sending countries or in the commissions in those countries have been closed. Processing applications and processing work permits and those kinds of things have been very problematic.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think that primary ag would certainly appreciate it. There are many industries, such as dairy and beef and grains and all of those things, that need people who would come in year round, or very close to that, and a program like that would certainly help them. When we're bringing people in for merely four to eight months, it may not be as good for us, although if it were a program that is something like what ag stream is now, whereby they could go home and come back while still on the same permit, it would certainly help.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It depends on what provinces want to do. Certainly the provinces that have stepped up and said they would do the tests make life easier for those of us who are the employers in those places. There are employers who have said they are willing to hire a company to come to do the test.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We keep getting new techniques to interact with Switch. It has come down to their allowing some provinces to do the testing, rather than Switch. Particularly western provinces are doing this. B.C. already had their workers in quarantine. I believe Manitoba for sure, and Saskatchewan and Alberta, I believe, are all doing provincial tests and supplying the results to the federal government.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, that's exactly true. I'll give you an example. Last year, with COVID-19, our workers came from Mexico and Jamaica, but they were late. We grow asparagus, which means they arrived partially into our season, and my estimate is that we lost $350,000 to $400,000 in income. That had a huge impact on the viability of my farm.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, I certainly can. Immigration is very important labour for our country, but the reality is that we are out in the rural areas, where there isn't public transportation, and very often immigrants are going into the large centres where there are vibrant immigrant communities that support them and can give them all the supports they need.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Verification through the current integrity audit system could ensure standards are upheld to maintain status in the program. This type of model could also feed into simplifying the LMIA and other processes for employers over the long term. In closing, thank you once again for the opportunity to speak with you.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much for the opportunity to address the committee today. I have a title there, but in my day job I am a vegetable and fruit grower in Manitoba. That means I have to live with all of these rules on an ongoing basis. Agriculture stands ready to be an integral part of the economic recovery of Canada as we emerge into the post-pandemic era.

Agriculture committee  With great difficulty....

Agriculture committee  Yes, I would say there are a lot of shared stressors. They're in our industry as well. If you go to the grocery store, you have no idea that we're not growing broccoli in Canada in February. It's always there. All of those crops are there. The Canadian public really doesn't have a concept of the seasonality of our crops and how industrious we have to be during the time period they're there.

Agriculture committee  The same is also true for us. We do not have a line item that says “mental health”. It is something we deal with through our labour committee and on a volunteer basis. We talk with people. We try to make sure it's an item that is out there in front of our members, to make sure they're thinking about themselves and trying to do self-care and to be aware.

Agriculture committee  Communication, for us, is one way to do it, and having a common platform to communicate could potentially help. Certainly, one of the stressors we have is the difference between the public perception of what a farm is and the reality of what a farm is, including how we treat our animals, our land, our water supplies, and all of the resources we use, including the people we have as employees, because they are very important to us as well.

Agriculture committee  That is a very good question. Whether it's someone who has come from the farm, or whether it is simply another set of parameters and courses that counsellors need to learn, they need to actually go out and meet farmers. Go for a tour. Farmers are very happy to have someone come out to their farms and see what's going on.

Agriculture committee  We've had an ag labour-front round table this year that has been working hard on this issue. From our perspective, one of the government's issues—and they are working at breaking it down—is the different silos that people who deal with our program appear to be in. We go through various departments, such as ESDC and IRCC, and things have to be handed from one side to the other.

Agriculture committee  One of the things we're working on at the Canadian Horticultural Council, and through ESDC, is coming up with a national housing standard for the employees we're bringing in through SAWP and through some of the other programs. The difficulty is that every province and municipality has a different standard.