{"id":13503,"date":"2020-04-14T13:10:05","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T12:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/?p=13503"},"modified":"2020-04-23T16:33:24","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T15:33:24","slug":"covid-19-canada-advocates-warn-of-disaster-if-migrant-workers-arent-protected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/covid-19-canada-advocates-warn-of-disaster-if-migrant-workers-arent-protected\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Robinson – COVID-19 Canada: Advocates warn of ‘disaster’ if migrant workers aren’t protected"},"content":{"rendered":"
THE CANADIAN PRESS<\/span><\/div>\n
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Updated: April 5, 2020<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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VANCOUVER \u2014 The federal and provincial governments are facing a \u201cpotential disaster\u201d if more protections and social-distancing guidelines aren\u2019t extended to migrant agricultural workers, advocates say.<\/p>\n

The warning comes days after 14 migrant workers at a Kelowna, B.C., nursery tested positive for COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The workers all live in on-site housing, and the Interior Health said there was enough space for each resident to safely self-isolate.<\/p>\n

Bylands Nursery, which employs the workers, said in a statement posted on its website that it has been \u201crecognized as one of the best employers of temporary foreign workers in B.C.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were 13,252 positions for temporary foreign workers approved in B.C. in last year, but the Migrant Workers\u2019 Centre said the actual number of workers could be much higher.<\/p>\n

Anelyse Weiler, a University of Toronto PhD candidate whose research focuses on migrant agricultural workers, said not enough is being done to protect the vulnerable workers during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government needs to ensure they are receiving solid information, that their rights are enforced, that they are receiving income during self-isolation and there are solid logistics in place to self-quarantine,\u201d she said. \u201cIf not, we\u2019re looking at a potential disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2017, over 59,000 temporary foreign workers were hired to work in the Canadian agriculture industry and still more than 15,000 jobs remaining unfilled.<\/p>\n

Mary Robinson, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, said foreign workers are a steady and reliable stream of labour.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re incredibly important, particularly for horticulture.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

As British Columbians self-isolate and businesses face steep fines for not abiding by social distancing declarations, migrant advocates say farms and farmers are being allowed to self-regulate and ensure the provincial guidelines are followed, which is causing concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is assuming the public will abide by the public-health orders but we\u2019re saying that\u2019s not sufficient to protect workers,\u201d said Natalie Drolet, the executive director of the Migrant Workers\u2019 Centre.<\/p>\n

The same inspections that can lead to business shutdowns in major cities is not being seen at farms in the Fraser Valley or the Okanagan, she added.<\/p>\n

But Robinson said the industry is doing a good job of working hand-in-hand with various levels of government.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe producers are more than interested in making sure they do it right,\u201d she said about following government guidelines on isolation and distancing. \u201cThese people are coming into a producer\u2019s workspace and in a lot of situations, where they live. It\u2019s incredibly important from the producers\u2019 side to make sure people are well.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

British Columbia\u2019s government waived the waiting period for medical coverage for temporary foreign workers this past week, allowing health coverage for COVID-19 claims.<\/p>\n

But Byron Cruz, a member of Sanctuary Health, a group which delivers aid and legal advice to migrants, said the actions aren\u2019t enough to protect workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the government to make enforceable rules, not guidelines,\u201d said Cruz.<\/p>\n

While farmers are responsible for looking after their workers, Cruz said government guidelines don\u2019t include food supplies for workers.<\/p>\n

As a result, Sanctuary Health is co-ordinating food deliveries to workers across the Lower Mainland and Kelowna.<\/p>\n

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on April 5, 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the article on The London Free Press<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE CANADIAN PRESS Updated: April 5, 2020 VANCOUVER \u2014 The federal and provincial governments are facing a \u201cpotential disaster\u201d if more protections and social-distancing guidelines aren\u2019t extended to migrant agricultural<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13504,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-13503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-room","tag-38"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}