Insights and Stories on Temporary Foreign Workers

Jun. 25, 2020 at 5:08 pm CDT

Ottawa/Toronto | Reuters — Canada’s top public health official said on Thursday she plans to seek more information from Ontario about the province’s plan to allow some COVID-19 positive people with no symptoms to return to their jobs — a risky policy, according to workers’ advocates and some doctors. Ontario, […]

By Allison Martell, Kelsey Johnson

Jun. 22, 2020 at 3:34 am CDT

Mexico City | Reuters — Mexico will resume sending temporary farmworkers to Canada after the two countries reached an agreement on improved safety protections for labourers on Canadian farms during the coronavirus pandemic, the Mexican government said Sunday. Mexico said last Tuesday it would pause sending workers to farms with […]

By Reuters

Jun. 9, 2020 at 8:32 pm CDT

Toronto/Ottawa | Reuters — Ontario has started testing about 8,000 migrant farm workers for COVID-19 in a hard-hit rural region of the province after two young workers died and the coronavirus was found on at least 17 farms, according to the local public health authority. The Ontario outbreak has centred […]

By Allison Martell, Kelsey Johnson

Jun. 1, 2020 at 3:21 am CDT

Ottawa — Federal officials hope a new pilot program will help stabilize ongoing labour issues in certain sectors of the agri-food value chain, while also providing citizenship to some foreign workers. Critics, however, contend more support is needed. “This pilot will help to ensure that farmers and processors have the […]

By D.C. Fraser

Jun. 1, 2020 at 1:55 am CDT

Ottawa — Members of Parliament sitting on the committee dealing with agricultural issues continue to hear concerns over the federal government’s response to COVID-19. During the Commons standing committee on agriculture and agri-food’s online meeting Wednesday, representatives of the Canadian Mushrooms Growers’ Association raised “grave concerns” over the support CMGA […]

By D.C. Fraser