Fewer J’cans take part in Canadian overseas employment programme
Published:Friday | July 26, 2024 | 12:08 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
The number of Jamaicans who travelled to Canada as part of the overseas employment programme in 2023 declined by five per cent to 9,587 persons as weather challenges and the negative publicity surrounding the farm work programme persisted.
More specifically, the number of Jamaicans employed in the Canadian Farm and Factory programme declined by 5.3 per cent, from 9,435 to 8,961 persons.
The figures were contained in the Planning Institute of Jamaica’s Economic and Social Survey Jamaica 2023 report, which said that several factors contributed to the decline, including inclement weather that damaged crops and led to the cancellation of “worker orders” by employers.
Further, the report said negative publicity surrounding the programme’s working conditions may have deterred potential participants, further affecting the overall participation numbers.
Yesterday, Canada-based Injured Workers Action for Justice (IWAJ), in response to the report, stated: “The migrant farmworkers participating in the farm work programmes have shared their own experiences and perspectives. These include poor living and working conditions, abuse and harassment from employers, injuries and deaths, lack of proper healthcare, and retaliation against workers who speak up about problems. These injured migrant farmworkers have been speaking out about their real, lived experiences, not just ‘negative publicity’.”
IWAJ is a grassroots organisation of injured workers and their families that fights for fair compensation and respect from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).
WORKERS’ ISSUES IGNORED
The group added: “This is a systemic issue based on racism, exploitation, indentured labour, and discrimination. The Canadian and Jamaican governments have failed to adequately address the problems faced by workers on the programme. Instead of improving the programme to make it more sustainable for the workers, the governments ignore the workers’ concerns. Our group has written open letters calling on the Ontario government and WSIB to hold accountability and to take concrete steps to improve the programme and protect the workers.”
A firestorm developed in 2022 around the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme (SAWP) in which thousands of Jamaicans participate annually.
In an open letter to then Minister of Labour and Social Security Karl Samuda, several Jamaican farm workers in the Niagara Region of the North American country pleaded for his intervention in the face of what they described as “systemic slavery” on two farms.
The Government subsequently commissioned a fact-finding team to look into the programme, which found that most of the Jamaican workers were satisfied with their working and living conditions.
LETHARGIC RESPONSE
Still, a non-profit legal clinic (Industrial Accident Victims Group of Ontario) in Ontario, Canada, criticised the Jamaican Government over what it said was its lethargic response in helping injured farm workers get compensation from its Canadian counterpart.
The Government rebuffed the claim.
The report also noted that similarly, the Canadian Low Skilled Worker Programme had a reduction of 0.2 per cent to 626 Jamaicans last year.
However, it said that despite these reductions, the majority of participants (63.4 per cent) in the overseas employment programme were employed in Canada.
Both male and female participation declined across all programmes.
There were no participants in the Canadian Skilled Worker and Hospitality programmes.
The report said that the overseas employment programme continued to have a gender disparity, with males accounting for 91.8 per cent of participants. Males also comprised the majority of participants in the United States Farm Work (98.4 per cent); the Canadian Farm and Factory Programmes (94.8 per cent); and the Canadian Low Skill Programme (89.9 per cent). However, females accounted for 52.2 per cent of the participants in the US Hospitality programme.
The report said there was a downward movement in the combined number of participants in both US programmes by 0.3 per cent to 5,544 persons.
It said that this was due to a reduction in the number of participants in the US Hospitality Programmes, which declined by 14.2 per cent to 1,238 persons.
Conversely, the number of participants in the US Farm Work Programme grew by 4.6 per cent to 4,306 Jamaicans due to a 4.8 per cent increase in male participants in this programme.
The report said the increase in the number of participants in the US Farm Programme could be a result of the ministry’s initiative to partner with more recruitment agents in late 2022.
“These agents liaise with employers and communicate labour needs to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security,” it said.
The overseas employment programme is the primary labour-migration initiative of the Jamaican Government. It places qualified Jamaicans in employment in the United States and Canada.