Publications

New research finds migrant workers in Nova Scotia face discrimination, overcrowded housing and wage theft but are also supported by their sending state in addressing mistreatment and changing jobs.

Falling Short: Troubles with the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program in Nova Scotia is the third community report released by the Migrant Workers in the Canadian Maritimes Partnership Using desk research and 15 interviews with migrant workers, Falling Short found that:

• State oversight of recruitment practices leads to better conditions for the workers
• Inadequate, unsuitable, and overcrowded housing violates regulations
• Occupational conditions in Nova Scotia leave much to be desired
• A clean bill of health is on the boss
• The snowball effects of COVID-19 include expensive testing, quarantines, and discrimination

New research reveals precarious occupational and living conditions for seafood processing migrant workers in New Brunswick.

Unfree Labour: COVID-19 and Migrant Workers in the Seafood Industry in New Brunswick is the second report in a series of research projects by the Migrant Workers in the Canadian Maritimes partnership. Using desk research and 15 interviews with migrant workers to explore how COVID-19 has affected their health and safety, Unfree Labour found temporary foreign workers in New Brunswick to experience:

• Exploitative and poorly regulated recruitment practices
• Unsuitable, expensive and crowded housing
• Precarious, unpredictable, and dangerous labour conditions
• Limited access to health care
• Xenophobia and unfair treatment at work and in the community

COVID-19 has exacerbated migrant workers’ conditions and enforced distinctions on national lines - COMPAS - compas.ox.ac.uk

TFW research has showed how COVID-19 has exacerbated national differences between migrants and the Candian population.

New research reveals inadequate housing, overcrowding during the COVID-19 pandemic for Temporary Foreign Workers in P.E.I.

Safe at Work, Unsafe at Home: COVID-19 and Temporary Foreign Workers in Prince Edward Island is the first report in a series of research projects by the Migrant Workers in the Canadian Maritimes partnership. Using desk research and 15 interviews with migrant workers to explore how COVID-19 has affected their health and safety, Safe at Work, Unsafe at Home reveals:

• Housing and workplace violations
• Unscrupulous staffing practices
• Overcrowded and inadequate housing conditions
• Lack of health coverage and medical insurance
• Increased surveillance related to COVID-19 and decreased personal freedoms

Migrant Workers’ Safety Concerns Should be a Pandemic Priority / verfassungsblog.de

More than a year into the pandemic, the right of farms and meat processing plants in the West to continue to operate productively is more important than the safety of Eastern Europeans workers who risk getting infected.

Profits trump COVID-19 protections for migrant seafood workers in Atlantic Canada / theconversation.com

The health and well-being of temporary foreign workers in the seafood industry in Atlantic Canada are disregarded in favour of business and economic concerns.

"From disposable to indispensable: providing foreign migrant workers with a pathway to permanent residency" / hilltimes.com

Canada could go one step further and grant all overseas workers permanent resident status.

"New Brunswick debate on migrant workers leaves a lot to be desired" / rabble.ca

Either migrant workers should have access to permanent residency so they can benefit from the same rights as the resident population, or the TFW program should be scrapped altogether.

"COVID-19 and Disposable Migrant Workers" / verfassungsblog.de

If people are good enough to work they should be good enough to be cared for.

"Foreign workers should be eligible to apply for permanent residence prior to or upon arrival to Canada" / rabble.ca

On Thanksgiving we gather with family and friends and often we acknowledge the delicious bounty that's before us. But what about the temporary foreign workers who tend to and harvest this food?

"Changing Hands: Temporary Foreign Workers in Prince Edward Island" / cooperinstitute.ca

This community research report published by Cooper Institute in 2012 identifies the various federal programs governing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and how these are manifested in PEI