By: Thomas I. Likness
EBC Edmonton Bureau

EDMONTON (Eagle News) — Conditions must be improved for temporary foreign workers employed by Canadian agriculture producers but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offers no specifics on how that might be done.

Mexico is forbidding any more temporary workers from travelling to Canada following the death of two Mexican farm workers from COVID-19 in Southern Ontario.

Mexico wants a safety review of Canadian health policies and procedures before 5,000 workers currently waiting to work on Canadian farms will be allowed to come to Canada.

Trudeau admitted there are problems but offered no immediate solutions.

“We know that there are many issues from living conditions, to the fact they’re tied individually to particular companies or employers, to various challenges around labor standards that require looking at,” Trudeau said Tuesday. “We can even look at things like pathways towards citizenship that could give people more rights.”

“We should always take advantage of moments of crisis to reflect on can we change the system to do better — better for Canadians but also better for the people who come here and make sure we stay fed,” he said.

The Canadian agricultural industry employs more than 60 thousand migrant workers every year for seasonal work on farms and in food processing plants.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he wants to see farm workers tested for coronavirus, adding the migrant workers didn’t bring the infection with them.

“They came here, they self-isolated for two weeks, and they’ve picked it up since they’ve been here,” said Ford. “So I don’t want any finger-pointing at these hard-working migrant workers. They’re good people, they mean well and they’re hard workers, too.”

(Eagle News Service)