Journal Article

Relentless Border Walls: Challenges of Providing Services and Supports to Migrant Agricultural Workers in British Columbia

Cohen, Amy, Caxaj, C. Susana

2021

نظرة عامة

Temporary migrant workers represent a large portion of the labour force of Canada's agricultural industry with over 50,000 entering the country each year. Despite well-documented barriers, there have not been standardized and proactive measures to prevent and quickly respond to positive COVID-19 cases among this group who have experienced some of the largest outbreaks outside of long-term care facilities. We conducted research in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia between 2017-2020, with formal and informal support persons of migrant agricultural workers including members of government agencies, non-profits, and community groups. We found that migrant agricultural workers' access to support and services is constrained by a series of socio-political forces that we have termed \"Relentless Border Walls\". In this paper we define this concept and discuss three key factors that constitute it: onus on workers; paternalism and control; and system-enabled vulnerabilities. Ultimately, these concepts highlight how migrant agricultural workers are made uniquely susceptible to COVID-19 outbreaks, and suggest necessary social and political changes to better address the needs of this population.

• الناشر: Canadian Ethnic Studies Association,Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal
• موضوع: Agribusiness / Agricultural Laborers / Agriculture / Border walls / Borders / British Columbia / Community organizations / Control / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / Demographic aspects / Disease transmission / Eligibility / Employers / Epidemics / Farms / Farmworkers / Foreign Workers / Government (Administrative Body) / Government agencies / Government aid to agriculture / Government finance / Health aspects / Health services / Immigrants / Influence / Labor force / Laws, regulations and rules / Long term health care / Long term hospitals / Management / Medical Services / Migrant labor / Migrant workers / Migrants / Nonprofit organizations / Paternalism / Political change / Politics / Population / Profits / Racial Identification / Racism / Rural communities / Services / Social Status / Social support / Support services / Temporary Employment / Walls / Workers Compensation