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In response to labour shortages across various sectors, including agriculture, the Government of Canada created the Temporary Labour Program, one stream of which is the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP). Mexico is currently the major partnering country, which runs the matching Programa de Trabajadores Agrícolas Temporales (PTAT) which accounts for 43.8% of all migrant seasonal farm labourers in Canada (SRE, 2022). With the increasing number of migrant workers in Canada, there are growing concerns about their labour and living conditions. Loo (2014) and other authors contend that to improve international labour programs so as to better serve foreign workers, it is critical to learn migrant workers’ perspectives by having their voices heard. There are, however, challenges to speaking with foreign farm workers, including language differences, rural locations, long workdays, living constraints, and fear of speaking out. Most research on migrant workers has been conducted in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, which have the highest provincial numbers. Conversely, there has been little research examining migrant workers’ experiences in the province of Alberta. My qualitative, participatory research contributes to the literature by exploring the perspectives of Mexican seasonal agriculture workers who have participated in the PTAT in Alberta. I used a focused ethnographic approach and methods of PhotoVoice and semi-structured interviews to learn about their motivations for enrolling in the PTAT and their experiences of working in the agriculture sector in this provincial context. Participants' narratives and photographic images provided information about: their motives for enrolling in the PTAT; how they navigated the application process; their lived experiences while working on farms and other agriculture businesses in Alberta; the impacts on their health and well-being; and, their perspectives on their role in Canada’s agri-food system. I also explored workers’ perspectives on being part of this international labour program during the COVID-19 pandemic and how this influenced the different stages of their experiences, both in Mexico and Canada. As part of the investigation of participants’ perspectives on health and well-being, I asked them about their access to health services and healthy and culturally appropriate food, and opportunities they had to experience community life in Alberta. Many of the findings from this research align with previous studies illuminating the vulnerable and challenging working and living conditions of migrant agricultural workers in Canada. Novel insights gained through this participatory research with Mexican migrant agriculture workers in Alberta focus on the application process and institutional context in Mexico, workers’ perspectives on their health and well-being, and their narratives and photographic images about their lived experiences in Alberta during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Throughout Canada, the need for care provision services is on the rise. The number of people willing and able to provide these care services is insufficient to address the growing need for care. Care work is provided by a mix of paid workers and unpaid family members. The majority of both these groups of care workers are women. Care work has long been undervalued as feminized labour, resulting in insufficient government support for family caregivers, and persistent labour issues within paid care sectors. In this thesis, I explore two distinct sets of Canadian federal policies related to care provision – Employment Insurance (EI) benefits for unpaid family caregivers, and the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker Pilot Programs, which facilitate the immigration of private in-home caregivers to Canada – in order to discover whether they are underpinned by a shared set of similar assumptions about the nature of care work, who is best suited to perform it, and how it should be provided. In examining the assumptions about care that underpin and shape these policies related to care provision in Canada, I identify a number of consistent gendered themes about care and care providers and analyze their impact on policy outcomes.

Politics has often been conceptualized as a conflict between political parties that represent the economic interests of different groups in society. This conception of politics has, however, been considerably weakened by the economic and social transformations of the last decades and by the rise of post-materialist values among newer generations of electors. Indeed, the vote of manual workers for left-wing parties has declined significantly in recent decades as did the impact of left-wing parties on social spending. At the same time, the issue of low-wage work has become prominent in the partisan debates of several countries such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom following the mobilization of low-paid workers, unions and community associations. Low-wage workers who mainly work in the service sector have often precarious work and living conditions following decades of labor markets deregulation and are highly dependent on governmental policies to insure decent living and work conditions. One of these policies, the minimum wage, has been at the center of the electoral campaigns of many left-wing parties in recent years. However, the issue of low-wage work has rarely been studied in political science. This thesis seeks to explain the partisan dynamics surrounding the issue of low-wage work. My main argument is that low-wage workers tend to vote for left-wing parties in accordance with their economic interests, especially in countries with a weak degree of corporatism such as the United States and the United Kingdom. In those countries, left-wing parties have strong incentives to make pledges related to low-wage work like increasing the minimum wage in their electoral manifesto, because unions are unable to negotiate decent working conditions for the majority of workers. Indeed, in countries with weak corporatism, low-wage workers are very dependent on governmental interventions to ensure minimum working standards and improve their living conditions. In countries with strong corporatism, however, unions negotiate collective agreements that ensure minimum working conditions for the majority of workers, workers with weaker bargaining power are thus less dependent on government policies to insure decent working conditions. Therefore, left-wing parties should be able to consolidate their vote among low-wage workers in countries with a weak degree of corporatism. Once in power, left-wing parties should also increase the minimum wage and the direct cash transfers to low-income families more than governments led by right-wing parties, especially when corporatism is weak. The emphasis on policies targeted to low-wage workers by left-wing parties in countries with a weak degree of corporatism could also limit the capacity of radical parties to attract the vote of low-wage workers. This thesis is composed of 4 articles, one on electoral pledges related to low-wage work, one on the vote of low-wage workers, one on the impact of left-wing parties on minimum wages and one on the impact of left-wing parties on direct cash transfers received by low-income families. These four articles demonstrate the relevance of a materialist conception of politics and the role of institutions regulating the labor market on partisan dynamics.

Partial-load college faculty simultaneously occupy insider/outsider positions in their respective higher education institutions. How do they perceive the relationship between their employment status and their work as educators? In recent scholarship, it has been argued that part-time faculty occupy liminal positions as simultaneous professionals and precarious labourers in higher education. None of the literature attends to how part-time college faculty (a cohort that makes up 70%+ of Ontario’s college faculty) who specifically aspire to full-time teaching positions think about their work and professional identities, much less in the context of the province of Ontario, Canada. Through semi-structured and open-ended interviews with ten partial-load college faculty who aspire to full-time teaching positions across three colleges in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), this study asks faculty to reflect upon the relationship between their conditions of employment and their work as educators. How partial-load college faculty think about their work and professional identities has direct import for what continues to be the foundational mission, purview, and day-to-day activities of colleges – teaching and learning. Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, and Cain’s (1998) identity theory provides the framework for enabling a nuanced analyses as to how partial-load college faculty think about, make sense of, and narrate their experiences in the liminal space of precarious professionals. The results of this study show that partial-load faculty are largely excluded from the pedagogical communities of their departments and institutions and that every aspect of their work as educators (curriculum development, professional development, and relationships with colleagues) is negotiated and filtered through their precarious status. This research sheds light on the centrality of partial-load college faculty on the enactment of curriculum in colleges as well as explores how various stakeholders can make meaningful change to address the professional goals and curricular inclusion of this significant teaching cohort.

Community unionism is still contested in the literature, and its presence across various industries and union formations is often not concretely described. This thesis engages in an examination of community unionism within the literature and assesses its potential presence in Toronto’s Labour Community Services, an organization which provides administrative and organizational support to labour unions and community groups in the Greater Toronto Area. Interviews with LCS organizers and staff members and other Toronto labour activists are assessed against common depictions of community unionism within the literature to determine if LCS is engaged in community unionism, or perhaps some other organizational strategies or philosophies. Interviews demonstrated a clear commitment to community building and deepened ties between the labour movement and various formations of community across Toronto and surrounding regions. Interviews also reveal the state of union-community resources, the barriers commonly experienced in this form of organizing, and how organizers and staff members perceive their role in the broader labour movement. Interviews with key informants reveal a series of strategies and choices which shape how Labour Community Services operates. Ultimately, Labour Community Services does not engage in community unionism as a whole practice, but rather utilizes several strategies and operative choices that share common ground with community unionism. A byproduct of these strategic choices is the creation of forms of community unionism between both the labour unions and community groups that LCS frequently works with.

Since its founding as a province, Saskatchewan has been depicted by the academic literature as possessing a political culture that was distinctly collectivist, dirigiste, protectionist, and polarized, largely owed to the historical political dominance of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the New Democratic Party (NDP) in the province. Such narratives have outlived the political fortunes of both the CCF and NDP, and have, until this point, persisted despite the rise of the right-wing Saskatchewan Party. This thesis aims to fill a scholarly gap, through considering the influence of prolonged Saskatchewan Party governance on the province’s politics and assessing the current state of Saskatchewan’s political culture. Specifically, I ask the following question: what is the dominant political culture strand in Saskatchewan Party-era Saskatchewan? Through a series of online focus group activities involving people from across the province, I assess and substantiate the influence of political culture pillars, such as collectivism, laissez-faire, heartland, and adversarialism, in shaping Saskatchewan’s provincial identity and contemporary political culture. This study demonstrates that Saskatchewan’s political culture has changed. Specifically, this thesis finds Saskatchewan’s contemporary political culture to be ‘blended’, containing components of both traditional and alternative political culture strands, although displaying a slight preference for the neoliberal and conservative alternative political culture. The findings suggest that the current Saskatchewan political culture has departed from its collectivist and hinterland traditions in favour of individualism and heartland. Meanwhile, the political orientations towards the provincial government’s role in the society and the economy (dirigisme or laissez-faire) or the attitudes Saskatchewanians possess towards political actors and the political system (adversarialism or pragmatism) are considerably more varied and lack ideological consistence. Ultimately, this study highlights the influence of political party shifts in serving as mechanisms and reflections of political culture change and provides an overview of Saskatchewan’s contemporary political culture under prolonged Saskatchewan Party governance. A concluding discussion highlights the value and significance of this research and suggests area of future exploration about Saskatchewan provincial politics and political culture.

Bereavement scholarship predominantly explores psychological aspects of grief, which neglects the role of social, economic, and political factors that shape the space allotted to accommodate these experiences. The current Canadian social context offers minimal space to honour bereavement as a part of the human condition. Aiming to respond to calls for enhancing bereavement care, this dissertation explores bereavement accommodation for workers in precarious employment in Ontario, Canada. Drawing on critical qualitative research and feminist ethics, this study employs policy analysis and in-depth interviews to generate multi-scalar knowledge on the everyday experiences of bereaved workers in precarious employment. I argue that there are discrepancies between how bereavement is represented in the social context and the everyday experiences of bereaved workers. The current representation portrays bereavement as a short-term, workplace disruption, neglecting grief and many forms of practical and emotional labour in bereavement. Participants expressed they were uninformed and unprepared for grief and bereavement labour, and that navigating the current context created tension, stress, exhaustion, isolation, and stigma. I argue we need a collective, ontological reckoning with our sense of autonomy, recognizing and honouring our interdependence in life and death. I argue that bereavement is a neglected public health issue driven by socio-political forces that devalue relationality, stigmatize emotions, and render bereavement an individual responsibility. This thesis makes broad recommendations for a public health approach to bereavement care, including enhancing grief literacy, creating more responsive care pathways and strategies for addressing individual and collective grief, and establishing safeguards for precarious workers.

In late December 2019, a new and emerging coronavirus came out of Wuhan, China. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, widely known as “COVID-19” (WHO, 2022), significantly impacted nearly every aspect of human life on Earth. This study, referred to throughout the thesis as a “project,” examined the intersection of collective bargaining agreements and COVID-19 in unionised environments in the public sector of Canada. --From Executive Summary

The Oshawa 1937 strike against General Motors was a major turning point in Canadian labour history. This thesis explores the factors that led to its success, including the historical background of working class struggle; the economic and political context of the times; prior organizing by Communists; the engagement of rank-and-file GM workers and the remarkable stewards’ body they established; and the support and leadership of the UAW International union. The influence of Communists meant that the strike incorporated many features of what might now be called rank-and-file unionism: industrial unionism, democratic engagement of rank-and-file workers, militancy on the shop floor, building solidarity within the workforce and in the community, international solidarity, and rejecting cooperation with corporations. The contending forces of workers, corporations, and rabidly anti-union governments that clashed in Oshawa in 1937 are largely the same ones we see in the battles going on in North America today. Thus, understanding the factors that led to the success of the Oshawa strikers can provide valuable lessons to those seeking to revive today’s labour movement.

This study examines the framing of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) within the context of Canadian political discourse. Through a qualitative content analysis of parliamentary speeches spanning from 2006 to 2022, it investigates how TFWs and the TFWP have been framed by members of three federal political parties: Conservatives, Liberals and the NDP. With an aim to understand influences on framing strategies, the analysis considers significant events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and a change in government. The findings highlight the significance of party ideology in shaping perspectives on TFWs and the TFWP, with all three parties recognizing the necessity of this group and program in achieving Canada’s economic goals. At the same time, despite their increasing significance in the economy, the study highlights the conditional inclusion of TFWs in Canada. Policymakers adapt their frames based on perceived contribution of these workers and their alignment with Canadian interests. This research illuminates the crucial role of framing in shaping policy outcomes regarding TFWs and the TFWP.

My dissertation analyzes the relationship between public health and settler colonialism, employing age and ability as key categories of analysis. I argue that settler colonialism and public health were constitutive of one another. Public health policy weaves together notions about land, race, labour, age, and ability, to structure and stratify societies. Public health relied on white supremacist tropes to justify the state's attempts to subjugate and dispossess the Anishinaabeg in Northern Ontario. The idea of a "public" was critical and contested in the intersection of policy and the emerging social science of public health. Settler standards of public imagined a "public" that was white, male, middle-class, and adult, with a body that could be made healthy through individual effort. Settler ideas about Indigenous Peoples shaped the "public" as a racialized and age-stratified concept in Canadian public health and health policy. In this dissertation, I seek to highlight how material and symbolic age, and material and symbolic children, figured in settler-colonial processes of state formation in the context of public health policies. I examine how bureaucrats and institutions in the public and voluntary sectors constructed and portrayed Indigenous and settler health, measuring each against a middle-class standard of "public" health. To do this, I set forth four interconnected arguments. First, settler colonialism and settler public health policy were mutually constitutive. Second, disability existed alongside and entangled with age as a key framing for settler public health policies. Third, these public health policies drew from a bifurcated notion of the "public," resulting in policies focused on protection and surveillance based on racialized lines. Finally, these framings of disability, age, and the "public" had clear material impacts in Northern Ontario's settler-colonial context, enabling settlement while dispossessing Indigenous Peoples.

This dissertation compares the work and life of secondary public-school teachers in Ontario with different labour contracts during a time of crisis. The COVID public health crisis along with neoliberalism, the defunding of public education, and a climate crisis have all influenced governmental policies and the labour process of public secondary teachers in Ontario. The influences that different contracts can have on the labour process of teachers, how they feel towards their union, and the impacts on their individual health and household wellbeing before and during the first year of the COVID pandemic is the focus of this dissertation. To help explore these contexts and the influences on the life and labour of public secondary teachers in Ontario with different contracts, I have used research from studies in Labour Process Theory, precarious work, and educational labour to inform my analysis. Along with those areas of discourse, I have also used insights from research into Critical Realism and Thematic Analysis to think through and discuss the differences between the teachers I interviewed and connect their experiences with work, their union, and their individual health and household well-being to larger systems, structures, and histories. The interviews conducted revealed three points of interest: that precarious labour contracts can function as a disciplinary device, that larger contexts outside the contract shaped how the contract was experienced, and that teachers’ unions can act as a source of solidarity and security during a crisis and when there are certain associations with its purpose. This exploratory research aims to open up future areas of research into educational labour and differences between the experiences of educators with different contracts.