When we think about mass production and the subsequent human exploitation attached to these systems, we rarely imagine North America as a place where these human rights violation occur. However, Canada’s reliance on low-wage migrant work steadily increase as laws which make them vulnerable to abuse remain unchanged. In 2012 there were 338,221 temporary migrant workers in Canada (Curry).

Canada and Ontario have had agricultural labour shortages since the 1900’s (Faraday). In 1966 the Seasonal Workers Program began in Canada with 263 workers from Jamaica. Over the next 10 years Barbados, Trinidad, Mexico and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Christopher-Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) all joined the program (Faraday). The SAWP now brings more than 20,000 migrant workers to Canada each year (23, 900 in 2010). These migrant workers do not have the same legal status and protections as permanent residents and as a result are at higher risks of employment abuse.

Problems with the system:

• Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program creates a renewable cycle of precarious workers
• Employers are given priority in law making. Often control the worker's housing as well as employment
• Employers can deport workers at any time
• Unsafe working conditions
• Unsafe living conditions
• Barriers to building secure Caribbean communities in Canada
• Continued destabilization of Caribbean economies

It is necessary to reframe the idea that these workers are lucky based on the fact that they are paid more in Canada than they would be in their home countries. The condition of these countries cannot be properly understood without considering the history of colonial violence and subjugation which has continued to incapacitate advancement for people of colour. My project seeks to explore and reframe this issue