Liaison says Canada farm claims unfounded; calls critics publicity seekers

Jamaica’s chief liaison service officer in Canada, Kenneth Phillips, has rebuffed claims of mistreatment by farmworkers in the North American country, calling their reports “misguided” and “unfounded”.

That staunch defence corroborates Labour and Social Security Minister Karl Samuda’s repudiation of similar allegations of slave-like working conditions that have stoked a firestorm.

The Government commissioned a fact-finding team on Thursday to investigate the working conditions of Jamaican farmworkers in Canada.

In a Gleaner interview on Thursday, Phillips argued that “no system is perfect” but said that the allegations are unsubstantiated.

Furthermore, he said that there have been no official complaints to his office except for workers reporting verbal abuse by employers, which has been addressed.

Approximately 10,000 Jamaicans are part of the seasonal programme, which began in 1966, and are spread across 655 farms in 10 provinces.

About 80 per cent are returning workers.

“There might be instances that we would consider not acceptable, but to say in general that you’re going to indict a programme for a few isolated cases, it’s not right,” said Phillips, who has been involved in the programme for more than 30 years.

However, his position has been challenged by Rudolph Johnson, a 60-year-old former worker who was seriously injured on the job in 2016 and sent back to the island.

Johnson was on his fifth stint with the seasonal agricultural programme after beginning in 2011, when he fell from an overturned tractor, breaking his knee and injuring his back.

The father of one told The Gleaner in an interview on Thursday that only last year he began receiving loss of earnings from the Ontario-based Workplace and Safety Insurance Board (WSIB).

Johnson also said that it was not until 2021 that he underwent surgery after a local bone specialist to whom he was referred by his employers allegedly communicated incorrectly to them that he had not suffered any injuries and was okay based on X-ray results.

The Gleaner will not identify the doctor.

“I go through a rough, rough passage – pain and suffering, sleepless nights, no money to go to doctor,” Johnson recalled.

“If mi even find money to go doctor, no money for medication. No money to buy food. A just them things deh mi go through.”

Phillips insisted that critics who have labelled the programme modern-day slavery are publicity-seeking lobbyists.

“The programme is voluntary and we have workers coming on the programme for 42 years. ... So, are they so inclined to want to accept all of that for 30-odd years, 20-odd years?” he questioned.

Phillips said that liaison officers are hands-on and actively campaigning for workers.

Officers visit farms unannounced, Phillips said, to get a first-hand perspective on how workers are treated.

He said where there are complaints, investigations are immediately conducted.

Additionally, he said accommodations are only approved after officers are satisfied that they are suited for workers and that all receive health and life insurance. Medical expenses are covered where necessary, he said.

But Johnson, who lives in Old Harbour, said after struggling to cope, he contacted his family doctor in the St Catherine community who ordered an MRI.

He said that it took him two years to undergo the MRI because neither he nor his family could come up with the money.

The MRI reportedly revealed that he had suffered a damaged ligament in his right knee for which he needed physiotherapy and surgery.

Johnson said he contacted local legal aid, who connected him with a legal aid firm in Canada, which wrote to his former employers notifying them of his condition.

He was then sent to the Tony Thwaites Wing of the University Hospital of the West Indies for treatment.

An X-ray done on his knee confirmed the damaged ligament. Corrective surgery was recommended.

He underwent surgery in December last year. The procedure was covered by the WSIB.

“The liaison officer them don’t help. When me meet in the accident, the first thing my officer said to me is, ‘You can’t sue this lady. This lady don’t do you nothing’. Before she tell me about my accident and what going to take place that’s what she telling me,” said Johnson.

He claimed that workers who complain about conditions are not selected to return to the programme, so many often remain silent.

Johnson said that he is part of a group of more than 15 Jamaicans who have been injured while working on the programme. The men were connected by the legal aid firm.

The Canadian government has said that it values the programme, which is an integral part of the country’s food supply chain and how agriculture is managed.

In a Gleaner interview on Thursday, Canada’s High Commissioner Emina Tudakovic noted that migrant worker rights are just as important as all others.

“So, we take it seriously if there are allegations or if there are concerns raised about employment practices,” she said, adding that Canada has a fairly tight labour framework.

She said that Economic Skills Development Canada is a federal agency that governs the labour market and its programmes by ensuring that employers honour contracts and, where not respected, they lose the right to have workers and operate in certain industries.

Tudakovic said that a tip line also exists for workers to anonymously report challenges.

She said workers can also call and have their work permits removed from an employer and obtain an open work permit that gives access to other industries.

“My understanding is that there have been no official complaints. Certainly, not that I know of, but with that said, if you do complain there is a principle of anonymity in order to protect the workers.

“We’re following this closely and I know that the ministry is following it closely as well,” she said.

editorial@gleanerjm.com