Jamaican farmworkers decry ‘seismic-level exploitation’ in Canada

Rights groups have documented allegations of exploitation and abuse of temporary foreign workers in Canada's multibillion-dollar agricultural industry for years, but the COVID-19 pandemic put a fresh spotlight on the problem [File: Shannon VanRaes/Reuters]

Montreal, Canada – Jamaican agricultural workers say they face conditions akin to “systematic slavery” on Canadian farms, as they call on Jamaica to address systemic problems in a decades-old, migrant labour programme in Canada.

In a letter sent to Jamaica’s minister of labour and social security earlier this month, workers affiliated with rights group Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC) said they have been “treated like mules” on two farms in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province.