How do the major political parties plan to support migrant workers who bring the harvest to Canadian tables?

As galore Canadians are looking for much locally made products astatine places similar the supermarket and liquor store, those increasing and harvesting the fruits and vegetables that are sold determination oregon spell into those products are often not Canadian themselves. 

Despite spending astir of their time in Canada, migrant workers successful the cultivation sector have constricted oregon nonexistent pathways to becoming imperishable residents oregon getting an unfastened enactment permit. That besides means they cannot vote. 

"These are indispensable workers who travel to bash indispensable enactment present successful Canada. They bash enactment that Canadians bash not privation to do," said Rev. Antonio Illas, who runs the Migrant Farmworkers Project (MFP) successful the Niagara Region.

"If it weren't for our cultivation workforce, our greenhouses, vegetables, angiosperm industry, vineyards, these industries could not beryllium successful," helium said successful an interrogation translated from Spanish.

Illas said galore workers walk decades doing "backbreaking labour" successful Canada for months astatine a time.

"A idiosyncratic who has travel present for 25, 30 years and who, astatine the extremity of the day, erstwhile they privation to bask their pension, wants to marque this their state … however unfair it is, that they cannot bash it?" helium said.

"In my opinion, to amended the operation of this program, and based connected societal justice, this seasonal farmworker programme indispensable beryllium modified."

Illas said it falls connected Canadian citizens to "watch implicit this susceptible assemblage and fight," due to the fact that they person nary accidental erstwhile it comes to the ballot.

"It's up to us," helium said.

• Read each of CBC Hamilton's coverage of the national predetermination here.

Illas wants to cognize what pathways governmental parties are offering migrant workers toward permanent residency.

He said successful his experience, astir workers don't privation to enactment successful Canada, "but determination is simply a percent that would similar to set their migration presumption and [the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program] does not supply it."

'We indispensable safeguard the dignity of this group'

Through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), Canadian employers tin prosecute and alert successful impermanent overseas workers.

The programme is unfastened to workers from Mexico and respective Caribbean countries (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago).

SAWP started successful 1966 with Jamaican workers and was expanded to the Caribbean until 1974, erstwhile Mexico was included.

"Maybe successful 1966, erstwhile the programme was made, it wasn't an issue, but now, 58 years later, determination are immoderate [workers] who would similar to migrate to Canada and marque this their country," helium said.

The Migrant Farmworkers Project successful Niagara aims to "bring together" workers with volunteers and assemblage members successful the region, said Illas. 

They connection escaped meals, clothes, healthcare and a abstraction for workers to entree the net and link with others.

The task besides locally runs a programme called Plaza Comunitaria (Community Square successful English), which helps Mexican adults decorativeness their simple and secondary education. Illas said they're ever looking for volunteers.

Illas said arsenic it stands, the national authorities sees migrant workers purely arsenic a root of "cheap labour."

"We indispensable safeguard the dignity of this group, and that is wherefore we privation [migrant workers] not to beryllium invisible successful Canadian society," helium said.

Other advocacy groups person been calling for migrant workers to person an entree to imperishable residency for galore years.

"Without imperishable nonmigratory status, migrants are near susceptible to abuse, exploitation, and successful immoderate cases, adjacent death," Karen Cocq, with the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, said astatine a quality league successful B.C. past year.

What the parties are saying

CBC Hamilton reached retired to the major political parties to inquire astir their plans for the program, however they volition enactment cultivation and migrant workers and if they program to marque imperishable residency much accessible for these workers.

The Conservative Party did not respond to CBC's request.

Here's immoderate of what the others said. 

Green Party

Fabrice Lachance Nové, property caput for the Greens, said successful a connection to CBC Hamilton the enactment would "comprehensively reappraisal and overhaul the Temporary Foreign Worker Program," a programme broader than SAWP which lets employers capable impermanent jobs wherever determination are nary Canadian workers available.

The enactment would bash that successful bid to "protect workers from maltreatment and exploitation portion ensuring captious labour needs are met successful agriculture."

"This includes strengthening enforcement of labour protections, just wages, capable housing, and harmless moving conditions for overseas cultivation and different seasonal workers, and code barriers these seasonal workers look to entree societal information nett programs specified arsenic employment security and disablement protections," said the spokesperson.

The enactment would purpose to trim reliance connected the program, grow "employer-driven migration pathways," and guarantee migrant cultivation workers person "fair routes" to imperishable residency. 

They'll besides purpose to "prevent labour trafficking and exploitation by mandating unfastened enactment permits, expanding unannounced workplace inspections, and enforcing strict penalties for abusive employers."

Liberal Party

The enactment did not respond straight astir the programme oregon enactment for workers successful Canada nether SAWP. 

Mohammad Hussain, a spokesperson for the Liberals, said successful a connection Liberal Leader Mark Carney is "taking enactment to physique a beardown system and to enactment much wealth backmost successful the pockets of Canadians."

"By Canada Day we volition region interprovincial commercialized barriers that volition marque it easier for Canadian businesses to commercialized their goods crossed the state and bring down costs," the spokesperson said.

The connection besides said the enactment wants to acceptable "responsible" migration levels "with a absorption connected gathering a beardown system and ensuring that cardinal sectors person the workforce they need."

According to the party's website, they're besides aiming to "make it easy" for Canadians to bargain section products by moving with "agricultural producers," among others. 

New Democratic Party

The NDP provided a connection via the Hamilton East—Stoney Creek MP campaigner Nayla Mithani, who said "our migration strategy should beryllium accountable to Canadians and rooted successful the values of fairness, dignity, and quality rights."

Mithani said the enactment volition destruct closed enactment permits, "an exploitative strategy that denies workers their rights."

"We volition instrumentality a wide and inclusive regularization programme that gives those without presumption a wide pathway to imperishable residency," she said.

"Canada's spot comes from the radical who person made it their location – from the First Nations who person stewarded the onshore for millennia to procreation aft procreation of newcomers who person built their lives here."