Temporary Farm Workers - Canada

A 4am Taxi, a KFC, and a Three-Day Trip: How a Worker Escaped an Alberta Farm After Allegations of ‘Abusive’ Conditions

The leak started with a taxi at 4 a.m. and a worker fleeing a rural Alberta farm with little more than the clothes he was wearing. The target was southern Ontario; the driver was a Mennonite truck driver concerned about workplace abuse.

It was the start of a three-day trip from Redcliff to Leamington, one of several cross-country trips by seven migrant workers who escaped from one of western Canada’s largest vegetable growers, alleging mistreatment.

The claims are part of a series of open work permit applications through a federal program for vulnerable workers launched in 2019. While migrant workers’ right to be in Canada is generally tied to a single workplace, the program allows them to find alternative work. .

To date, the government has approved two of those permits for former employees of El Dorado Vegetable Farms; Three more are currently being processed, said Santiago Escobar of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, who provided support through the application process.
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