From UWI Open Campus

On Thursday, April 30, the Canada-Caribbean Institute founded by The University of the West Indies (The UWI) and Brock University will host an online discussion entitled Issues facing seasonal workers in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

To register for this event, please send an email to [email protected] by Wednesday, April 29 (using an institutional email address).  A Zoom link and password will be sent to the provided email address.  Please see the attached media invitation and flyer below with further information.   

Thank you in advance for your kind consideration to register and participate.

To address the plight of migrant farm workers in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canada-Caribbean Institute founded by The University of the West Indies (The UWI) and Brock University will host a free online discussion Thursday, April 30 via Zoom.

The forum will identify areas for research, inform policy on the issue of seasonal work and determine what interventions could be used on the ground to prepare for the adjustments and hardships migrant workers may be facing. It will also shed further light on the importance of these workers to the Canadian economy and the economies of their home nations during a complex time.

Your media house is cordially invited to be part of this virtual forum. Kindly see the details as follows:

Event: Online discussion to aid migrant workers during COVID-19 pandemic (via Zoom)

Date: Thursday, April 30, 2020

Time: 3:30 p.m. EC/ 2:30 p.m. JA

To register: Email [email protected] by Wednesday, April 29, using an institutional email address. Zoom link and password provided via email.

Speakers include:

Dr. Talia Esnard, Deputy Dean-Student Services Support Unit from The UWI St Augustine Campus; Dr. Claudette Patricia Jean Crawford-Brown, Lecturer, Faculty of Social Sciences from The UWI Mona Campus

Dr. Liette Vasseur, Professor of Biological Science and UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability: From Local to Global at Brock University and Dr. Simon Black, Assistant Professor, Labour Studies also from Brock University. It will be moderated by Ambassador Richard Bernal, Professor of Practice, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Global Affairs at The UWI.

Background

While the COVID-19 pandemic has locked down travel around the world, one group that has been allowed travel to Canada from a number of countries is the seasonal farm workers. Nearly 55,000 migrant farm workers enter Canada each year to work on farms, in greenhouses and other agricultural settings across the country in spring, summer and fall. In April this year, farm workers from the Caribbean joined counterparts from other countries to take up jobs in the seasonal farm work programme, even under a plethora of new obstacles and restrictions, including having to sign a waiver releasing their governments of responsibility in the event that they get sick. Once in Canada, the farm workers have to undergo 14 days of quarantine.