Jamaica’s Farm Work Programme Fact-Finding Team Returns from Canada
By: , November 2, 2022
Photo: Mickella Anderson
Caribbean Employers’ Confederation President, Wayne Chen (left), interacts with a Jamaican agricultural worker in the production area of a rutabaga farm in Canada. A special factfinding team from Jamaica travelled to Canada to analyse the status of locals participating in that country’s seasonal agricultural workers programme.
Photo: Mickella Anderson
Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions President, Helene Davis-Whyte (left), interviews a Jamaican agricultural worker on a tobacco farm in Canada. Mrs. Davis-Whyte chairs a special team of Jamaican factfinders who probed the status of locals participating in Canada’s seasonal agricultural workers programme.
Photo: Mickella Anderson
Caribbean Employers’ Confederation President, Wayne Chen (centre), walks towards a group of Jamaican workers on an apple farm in Canada. Mr. Chen was a part of a team of Jamaican factfinders travelling to Canada to assess the status of locals participating in that country’s seasonal agricultural workers programme.The Full Story
All the members of Jamaica’s fact-finding team, appointed to assess the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme in Canada, have returned.
The last set of individuals to return arrived in the island on October 24, following a two-week visit.
The task force, which was appointed by Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Karl Samuda, visited several Canadian farms to analyse the status of Jamaican workers in order to prepare a report.
President of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), Helene Davis-Whyte, who chairs the seven-member team, told JIS News that a random sampling method was used to select the farms, so as to ensure the validity of the group’s work.
The members had indicated that the farm workers were receptive of the task force and were “very cooperative”.
The team’s report is now being prepared and will be presented in Parliament by Minister Samuda.
Canada’s seasonal agricultural workers programme has been ongoing since 1966. It encompasses approximately 655 farms in 10 Provinces. Some 10,000 Jamaicans participate in the programme.