Agricultural workers typically come to Canada with work permits through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program and the Agricultural Stream are the two streams of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program that bring seasonal agricultural workers into Canada.
On April 13, 2020, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced $50M to help farmers, fish harvesters, and all food production and processing employers, put in place the measures necessary to follow the mandatory 14-day quarantine period required of all workers arriving from abroad.
The Federal Government will provide support in the amount of $1,500 for each temporary foreign worker, to employers or those working with them to ensure requirements are fully met.
This program will be available as long as the Quarantine Act order is in force and the isolation protocol is followed.
As labour circumstances are different across regions in Canada, the Government will work with interested provinces and territories in the coming days to ensure this funding is delivered in a manner that meets their needs and best ensures quarantine requirements are met.
Supplementary messages
Given the importance of agricultural workers in the labour market to ensure food security for Canadians, the Government has prioritized processing of work permit applications in this sector in order to facilitate travel for workers to Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Department is working with federal and provincial/territorial partners to coordinate efforts related to managing the arrival of temporary foreign workers including complexities associated with provincial and territorial public health measures.
Agricultural workers continue to arrive on an ongoing basis primarily through flights chartered by employer organizations.
Prioritization of work permit processing for agriculture workers
The Government has put in place facilitation measures for temporary foreign workers that are deemed essential during the pandemic which include agricultural and agri-food workers, truck drivers and health care workers.
These measures ensure that despite reduced overall processing capacity, applications for these occupations are prioritized and processed in a timely manner.
Agricultural workers are not exempted from any usual eligibility requirements that are part of a work permit applications, however, alternative procedures have been put in place to ensure their arrival to Canada is not delayed.
Regulatory changes on employer compliance
To ensure the health and safety of Canadians, regulatory changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations were made to include conditions requiring compliance with the Quarantine Act order for temporary residents and their employers which came into effect on April 20, 2020.
The amendments require temporary residents to comply with Quarantine Act requirements. They also impose a number of requirements on employers, including that they provide the wages set out in the job offer during the period a temporary foreign worker is required to quarantine or isolate themselves upon entry to Canada and to not prevent the temporary resident from following the conditions. For Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program workers entering Canada supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment, their employers must provide accommodations in addition to wages.
Along with these changes, amendments were also made to the employer compliance regime to allow for inspections of employers who have temporary foreign workers required to quarantine themselves to ensure they are paid and not prevented from following the conditions imposed.
Supporting facts and figures
Number of agricultural workers that arrived in March 2020 is lower (3,000) compared to the same month in 2018 (6,000) and 2019 (6,000).
Number of agricultural workers that arrived in April 2020 (11,000) is comparable to the same month in 2018 (11,000) but slightly lower compared to the same month in 2019 (13,000).
Background
The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is an Employment and Social Development program and the Primary Agriculture Stream, which includes the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, is a very important component. Since the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program is key to the Canadian economy generally and the agriculture sector specifically, the program is a government priority. For employers to access Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program their production must be included on the National Commodities List and the activity must be related to on-farm primary agriculture.
The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program began as an international agreement between Canada and Jamaica in 1966 and was later expanded to other Caribbean countries and Mexico. The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program facilitates the temporary migration of Caribbean and Mexican agricultural workers into Canada to meet seasonal agricultural labour needs when there are shortages of available Canadians and permanent residents. The program operates in accordance with Memoranda of Understanding agreements between Canada and participating Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program countries to outline administrative arrangements and responsibilities.
Aside from the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, there are three other options under the Primary Agriculture Stream which can be accessed by employers: the agricultural stream, the low wage stream and the high wage stream. Under the agricultural stream, production must also be included on the National Commodities List and the work must be related to on-farm primary agriculture, however, workers can be from any country. For the low and high wage streams production does not need to be included on the National Commodities List.
