Laura Redpath, Senior Gleaner Writer

AS HE shared his story, George became adamant that Canadian employers have no regard for Jamaican farmers who toil on theirfarms for months at a time, sometimes during winter.

The Canadian farm-work programme, which began in the 1960s, has created years of misery for one Jamaican who has been going back and forth between Canada and Jamaica since 1988.

“My experience of coming here is that employment not nice. (Employers) don’t care about you. All they care about is the work you doing for them. When I got injured, the man look pon me an’ say is my fault,” said the Jamaican, whose voice cracked as he spoke from his Toronto home.

More than two decades ago, George repeatedly embarked on a trip that tied him to a farm in Simcoe, Ontario, for seven months.

He recalled being picked up at the airport, along with five other Jamaican men, and shuttled to Simcoe, a southwestern town in the province of Ontario, known for its agriculture.

George shared a house with his peers, and spent 15 hours each day working inside a greenhouse, sowing cucumber seeds “till it get dark”.

“And you know that all eight, nine o’clock at night, the place can still light out,” he said.

Injured by bicycle

For years, George kept this up. Then one day, 20 years after his first trip to Canada, George was hit by a bicycle, hurting his knee and fracturing his shoulder, leaving him injured to this day.

“The boss gave us bicycles as transportation. In the winter or in rain, we had to ride to work.

“Then we find out he wasn’t allowed to give us bicycles, he should have given us vehicles,” George told The Gleaner.

After visiting a doctor, George approached his supervisor with a note saying that he should not be given any manual labour above his shoulder.

However, he was told to sow as the arm not attached to the injured shoulder still worked.

“Him have mi a work wid one hand. Then him tell mi to sweep. Mi start cry,” George recalled.

Time passed and the ‘boss’, as George referred to him, arrived on the farm to ask him how he was doing.

It was during the second hospital visit that the boss showed up with a “pink letter” and told George to go be with his family.

“By then, him cancel everything for mi; mi health card, mi SIN (Social Insurance Number), everything.

“I didn’t come here sick and they want to send me home sick,” he said.

Weak liaison officers

George then criticised liaison officers, saying they tend to take the employers’ word over the farmers.

“You cannot treat human like that. True wi don’t know wi rights, them take advantage of us, and them always remind wi say they can replace wi.”

Research, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on last Monday, shows that many Jamaican migrant workers are subjected to harsh living and working conditions, resulting in chronic ailments, some of which are gastrointestinal in nature, or linked to long-term chemical exposure.

The studies also show that Canadian health-care providers face hurdles in treating migrant workers. These include language barriers, lack of transportation, long workdays and fear of repatriation.

Minister of Labour and Social Security Pearnel Charles has questioned the accuracy of the studies.

According to Charles, the welfare of Jamaican farm workers has never been sacrificed and the workers are in safe hands while they are away from Jamaica.

Name changed to protect identity