Advocates with Status: A Snapshot of Three NGOs in the Canadian Migrant Agricultural Workers’ Movement

This chapter explores the myriad of ways that Canadians use their status in Ontario to advance the labour agenda, and impact the lived experiences for migrant agricultural workers. It focuses on the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Programme (SAWP). The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' website lists the main agriculture in Ontario in 2016. The major fruit crops were grapes, apples, peaches and strawberries. There are two primary concerns that appear again and again within the advocacy movement regarding SAWP: membership status in Canada and inadequate health and safety standards. SAWP workers are entitled to health care but are often reliant on the farm operator to access that care. There are three groups operating in Ontario who are examples of working with, not for, this group of workers that have been marginalized and exploited through legislation and economics; they are the United Food and Commercial Workers Union; Justice for Migrant Workers; and the Migrant Workers Alliance.