Press release: Migrant farm workers left behind in Nova Scotia’s immigration programs
Photo: No one is illegal – Halifax/Kjipuktuk volunteers hold a banner at the Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market calling for full and permanent immigration status for all migrants (August 22, 2020)
Halifax/Kjipuktuk (March 1, 2022) - On February 18, 2022, Nova Scotia’s Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration announced that the province had “welcomed 9,020 permanent residents in 2021, a record-breaking number that surpassed the previous high by 19 per cent.” However, according to the migrant support organization No one is illegal – Halifax/Kjipuktuk (NOII-Hfx), many migrants are excluded from permanent residency, leaving them in a vulnerable situation.
NOII-Hfx’s Migrant Workers Program engages in outreach, education and mutual aid support with Temporary Foreign Workers throughout Nova Scotia. The majority are workers in the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP), who are permitted to work in Canada for up to 8 months of the year depending on employer needs. Each year, approximately 1,500 migrant workers come to work on Nova Scotia farms, predominantly from Mexico and Jamaica.
“Many migrant farm workers come to live and work in Nova Scotia year after year. They are our community members and essential workers in our food system. Like other low-waged migrants from racialized communities, they are systematically excluded from accessing permanent residence. For example, there is no direct route from the SAWP to permanent residency, and low-waged migrant workers often face many other barriers in the immigration system,” said Stacey Gomez of NOII-Hfx’s Migrant Workers Program.
According to a poll conducted by NOII-Hfx in August 2021, access to permanent residence is a key priority for migrant workers in the province. Migrant workers are echoing nationwide calls for full and permanent immigration status for all migrants in Canada. In the interim, they are calling for a provincial immigration program that is accessible to migrant farm workers.
Gomez explained: “Permanent residence would mean not having to leave their families behind to come to work here, having the ability to exercise the same labour and human rights as Canadians without the threat of being sent back to their home country by their employer, as well as access to public services such as health care.”
“I have been travelling on the program for about 15 years, so Canada is basically my second home. I am a family man and to leave my wife and kids every year is very hard, but I know it’s something I have to do,” said one Jamaican migrant farmworker in the SAWP.
He added: “I work very, very hard every day when I am in Nova Scotia, and all I want is better treatment, more respect, more benefits and for the government to offer help to those who wish to migrate here because Canada is a family country and I strongly believe in my family and I want them here with me.”
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Media contact
Stacey Gomez
No one is illegal – Halifax/Kjipuktuk, Migrant Workers Program
(902) 329 – 9595
