Charles Jr, Coore-Lobban firm on safety for farm workers

The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme (SAWP) between Canada and Jamaica is being hailed as one of the most successful and longest-running labour mobility programmes in the world.

Known more commonly as the Farm Work Programme, the SAWP has seen tens of thousands of Jamaican men heading to Canada over its 60 years of existence.

However, over the years the programme has faced criticism, with concerns raised about how migrant workers are treated.

In tandem with the government-regulated SAWP, there is also the Temporary Foreign Workers Programme (TFWP), which is run by private employers.

Pressure came to bear on both the SAWP and the TFWP earlier this year when Amnesty International released a report, conducted between February 2023 and June 2024, claiming migrant workers suffered human-rights abuses under the programmes.

Nearly a year later, though, Jamaica’s High Commissioner to Canada Marsha Coore-Lobban is standing firmly behind the programme, insisting that it has not identified any widespread abuse.

“Every year you will see an article come out [with] one or two voicing some level of concern, mostly from some migrant groups or so. I have had the privilege, one, of engaging the first year when I came in 2023. That was in September,” Coore-Lobban told The Gleaner during a recent interview.

“I went on the annual review meeting that they have ... between the government entities and all the stakeholders that are part of the SAWP.”

Labour Minister Pearnel Charles Jr told The Gleaner that beyond the economic gains, the programme stands as a model of bilateral cooperation.

“For Jamaica, the SAWP has provided tens of thousands of workers with stable, lawful employment, skills development, and sustained income that supports families, communities, and local economies. Remittances from the programme have contributed significantly to household resilience, education, housing, small business investment, and Jamaica’s GDP.

“For Canada, Jamaican workers have been a reliable and consistent source of labour on which the Canadian agricultural sector has relied on for agricultural productivity, efficiency, and food security.”

Charles Jr and Coore-Lobban also pointed to improvements to the programme under their watch, including the strengthening of the Jamaica Liaison Office.

“Since assuming office, we have focused on strengthening worker protection, improving programme oversight and modernising our administrative processes. This includes job-readiness training, enhanced pre-departure orientation for workers, closer collaboration with the Canadian government, Canadian agricultural industry partners, employers and community-based groups in Canada. We have also taken a more proactive approach to monitoring working and living conditions,” the labour minister said.

Liaison Office

Coore-Lobban told The Gleaner the Jamaica Liaison Office has done great work to ensure the needs of the workers are met.

“Our Jamaica Liaison Office which is in Toronto, we have nearly 18 to 20 persons working under that office to make sure that they are monitoring, that they are seeing to the welfare of the workers, and that we ensure that what we agreed at these annual meetings are in effect,” she said.

“In addition to our liaison, you have representatives from the IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) here; you have from employers themselves; you have from ESDC (Employment and Social Development Canada), which is, again, the different arm of government. IRCC and ESDC deal with the immigration aspects as well as the social and labour components of it, and they sit down and go through all of what is required, the standard obligations that are there,, and [determine] if there is need for further review or assessment.”

IRCC is the Canadian government department responsible for immigration and citizenship services, while the ESDC is the government body that works to improve the standard of living and quality of life of people in Canada.

Safeguards and responsiveness

Charles Jr also insisted that economic opportunity must never come at the expense of dignity, safety or human rights:

“We take any concerns about the treatment of our workers extremely seriously. The issues raised by Amnesty International prompted renewed engagement with Canadian authorities, the workers and employers, as well as a review of our own systems. While challenges remain, as they do in any large transnational labour programme, I am satisfied that concrete steps have been taken to improve safeguards and responsiveness.

“The Jamaican Liaison Service is better equipped today to identify, investigate and escalate complaints. Officers have been retrained to be more visible, more accessible and more empowered to intervene on behalf of workers. We continue to reinforce reporting mechanisms, protect workers from retaliation, and ensure that disputes or abuses are addressed swiftly and fairly.”

Coore-Lobban, who is based in Ottawa, told The Gleaner she has also visited a few farms since her posting.

“You had persons who have been coming on the programme for 49 years, 39 years, 43 years; and you have the employers, and you hear them talk about it because they actually acknowledge those who had been there for 30 years and more serving, coming for that long. And persons were able to share, and you heard about the generations of working with the grandfather, [and] now the son, whatever, and becoming family. You have employers who go down and spend holidays with their workers,” she said.

“So, sometimes it’s the lens of what the expectations are and what you think should be, but if you are looking at it through a more balanced lens, you are not going to be able to get everything you want, depending on where you are.”

Both the public and private programmes offer temporary, seasonal work (up to eight months) to nationals of Jamaica and other regional countries to gain employment in specific crop sectors like fruits, vegetables, and grains, with employers tasked with providing housing and transportation.

The SAWP is operated and is regulated by the Canadian government, while the TWFP is operated by private farm owners.

karen.madden@gleanerjm.com