Despite growing criticism about working conditions, pay and other aspects of the Canada/Caribbean Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme (SAWP), it is being hailed as the gold standard of temporary worker programmes.
That endorsement came on Tuesday from Ken Forth, president of the Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services (FARMS) – a private sector-run organisation that facilitates and coordinates the processing of requests for foreign seasonal agricultural workers.
Addressing the opening day of the Annual Review Meeting of SAWP, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, he said that over the years, the programme had maintained a “gold standard”.
“Without a doubt, there are naysayers to the programme…. There is a faction of naysayers whose sole idea is to cancel these programmes. Why do they do it? Because there are just those poor souls that can’t do anything productive in their lives, that have to tear people down either personally or to make themselves feel good,” Forth contended.
“The SAWP programme is different than any other programme because we annually review it. No temporary worker programme in Canada is annually reviewed. This is important; if anything happens in the year prior, we address it here. This programme improves the lives of workers and employers, small communities in Canada, in Canada as a whole, and in your countries too. [It] is the gold standard of temporary worker programmes.”
The SAWP allows employers to hire temporary foreign workers in the agriculture sector when Canadians and permanent residents are not available.
Forth pointed out that temporary workers are protected by a litany of laws in Canada, and there is also oversight from a liaison service which includes representatives from participating Caribbean states.
“It’s a whole system that actually works and has been honed for over 50 years, and I just wish more people would acknowledge it’s a great programme,” he said. “There are thousands of people who have [participated] in the SAWP programme over the years that their children and grandchildren have university degrees as a result, partially, of being on this programme.”
Forth said there was a fear growing among stakeholders that due to pressure from a vocal minority, the programme could be merged under one umbrella with other temporary worker programmes operating in Canada. He said that would result in a drastic reduction in the number of Caribbean workers being sent to Canada annually.
“If it ever ends up in one big humungous programme – somewhere down the road some minister in Canada could say we are going to cut it in half – then agriculture could be cut in that net,” he cautioned.
Meanwhile, Minister of Labour, Social Security and Third Sector, Colin Jordan, backed Forth’s assessment of the programme, saying that the legacy is unmatched, given the years of employment it has been able to provide for workers.
“They’ve sent their children to school, they have built homes, they have taken care of elderly relatives, relatives with disabilities, and so we speak to both sides benefiting so that we show that this SAWP has been genuinely a mutually beneficial programme,” he said.
“I think what has emerged out of all that has gone on, speaks to the fact that we have a very strong and resilient programme. It was forged, as we can say, in a crucible of challenge and some very interesting dynamics. What we have gathered here to speak to this week and to assess and to chart the way forward, really we are gathered on the shoulders of persons who have done significant work.” (SB)
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