Falling Short: Troubles with the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program in Nova Scotia

The report follows the publication of Safe at Work, Unsafe at Home: COVID-19 and Temporary Foreign Workers in Prince Edward Island in 2021 and Unfree Labour: COVID-19 and Migrant Workers in the Seafood Industry in New Brunswick in 2023. [...] Falling Short provides recommendations to both the federal and provincial governments aimed at improving the working and living conditions of the temporary migrant workforce in the province. [...] The SAWP guidelines stipulate that employers are legally allowed to transfer workers from one farm to another if they are approved under the SAWP and have the permission of the worker, the sending country representative, and ESDC (ESDC, 2024b). [...] Sometimes one wanted to cook, others wanted to eat, some had to wait, and then, when were we supposed to do the cleaning? And in the kitchen, we couldn’t wait for everyone to prepare the food. [...] We have to organize, we have to be aware of the time, in the morning and in the afternoon for the bath.