my talk today with a little thought
experiment I invite you to imagine what
it would be like to be born in a country
in which poverty is rampant you and your
five siblings grow up in a one-room
Shack without running water all of you
are expected to pitch in on a small plot
of communal land growing food to sustain
yourselves with all of you working
you’re able to put food on the table but
you aren’t able to save enough to
improve your housing or other
circumstances you only receive some
elementary school education and your
life prospects are limited you grow up
get married and start your own family
but you have no way to live
independently or to improve life for
your kids you noticed in your village
that some families are starting to
improve their Lots they’re building
larger homes with indoor bathrooms and
kitchens they can afford electronics and
nice clothing their kids don’t have to
drop out of school some even go on to
university you realize that among these
families there’s typically a parent who
has gone abroad for work
although these families spend much of
their lives apart at least they’re able
to better build a better future for
those who stay behind it’s an immense
sacrifice and as the breadwinner for
your family you realize that is one you
will also be expected to make so you
consider the options of where to migrate
the typical choice is the United States
but this is risky first you have to
somehow come up with thousands of
dollars to pay a human smuggler to help
you cross the border with no guarantees
of success then you have to risk your
life crossing a desert or water body
with little food or belongings many
people have died this way and you fear
for your fate
even if you manage to get in you will
then be considered illegal and you’ll
face the constant threat of deportation
under a president who is vowed to crack
down on bad hombres like you and you may
not see your family again for years you
feel overwhelmed by the prospect then
you learn of another option there’s a
program in Canada that would allow you
to work for up to eight months a year
traveling back and forth on an airplane
you’d be legally employed so you’d be
active you’d be able to access certain
protections like health care each year
you’d be able to save a little bit more
to feed and educate your kids and to
build your home you apply to your
government’s Ministry of Labour you go
through an interview and you take part
in a medical exam to ensure that you’re
a healthy and able to handle demanding
work you were thrilled to hear when
you’ve been accepted you attend an
orientation session in which you are
warned to work hard and obey your
employer’s you reminded that there are
thousands of other workers in line ready
to take your place then you wait you
don’t know when you will leave or where
you will go in Canada one day you were
called and you’re told to go to the
airport it’s your first time on an
airplane and when you arrived you’re
taken to a little-known gem of the world
called Brantford Ontario it’s freezing
when you land and you don’t have any
warm clothes you don’t know anyone and
you don’t speak the language you have to
rely on your employer for pretty much
everything from your access to food
housing health care and work it’s
crucial that you maintain a good
relationship with them because their
positive evaluation is what will
determine if you can come back the next
year you discover that the work is
harder than you expected you work 10 to
14 hour days six to seven days a week
often in extreme temperatures with
repetitive bending and lifting and
constant pressure to work faster
sometimes you’re exposed to chemicals
you notice a rash developing and pain
in your back that’s getting worse you
feel overwhelmed with sadness missing
your family you know that you’re
entitled to health care but you haven’t
yet been given a health card and you
don’t want to complain or ask for time
off because you don’t want to stand out
or do anything to risk losing your job
when your symptoms don’t resolve you
realize you need to do something so on
the one night when you and all of your
other co-workers are bused into town to
buy groceries you wait in a long line
I’ve had a walk-in clinic only to be
seen by a doctor who doesn’t speak your
language who doesn’t understand your
issues and who rushes you through the
appointment without your health card
you’ve asked to pay you waited so long
in line that you don’t even have time to
get your groceries before the bus
departs for the farm you just decide
it’s not worth taking healthcare and
you’re resolved to working through your
pain and your rash and your sadness all
of which only get worse so what I just
described is one example of the reality
of about 50,000 men and women who come
from countries like Mexico and Jamaica
to grow the food we eat here in Ontario
and throughout Canada as temporary
foreign agricultural workers these
workers have been coming here year after
year for over half a century here’s one
of the first crews around 1966 yet few
Canadians have ever heard of them and
even fewer have ever interacted with
them they work in one of the most
demanding and dangerous industries in
our country they normally earn minimum
wage and they pay our taxes and into
employment insurance even though they
can never receive the benefits employers
often say that their operations could
not survive without migrant workers
why can’t farms attract enough Canadians
to do these jobs well this is one
example of a real job at seeking workers
for an Ontario farm employers are
required to post ads like this before
they can apply for temporary foreign
workers it reads must be able to work in
a fast-paced environment repetitive
tasks
handling heavy loads attention to detail
sitting standing for extended periods
bending approaching kneeling physically
demanding in hot dusty outdoors and then
cold confined spaces $11 an hour with
experience must work seven days a week
does this sound like your kind of a
dream job I think you can imagine why
there wasn’t a lineup of Canadian
workers seeking this position yet for
many migrant workers this job may be
their best shot at improving lives for
their families migrant workers have
become the invisible backbone of our
local agricultural economies and
communities including this one the red
areas on this map indicate those at the
highest concentration of migrant workers
as you can see the majority of them work
in southern Ontario in the area
surrounding where we are right now these
men and women are our unseen neighbors
how many of you ate a fruit or a
vegetable today good well I hope you did
they’re good for you if you did you
tasted the product of their labor we are
all connected to migrant workers so for
the past 12 years I’ve had the privilege
of conducting research with migrant
workers and their families here in
Ontario as well as in Mexico and Jamaica
I traced the health issues that they
experienced and the barriers that they
often encounter to accessing healthcare
workers compensation and other
protections now many aspects of what I
discovered shocked and saddened me but
one of the most frustrating was the
workers inability to access the health
care system to which they are legally
entitled when they needed it my
colleagues and I and various community
and labor groups have written about this
situation in numerous articles and
reports we’ve met with politicians and
we’ve testified to parliamentary
committees despite the risks many
migrant workers have also spoken out
they’ve started petitions they’ve held
rallies to protest for better rights yet
even with this ample evidence of the
problems facing migrant workers little
has changed
when our government didn’t act we
started to look for community-based
solutions I learned of a group called
the occupational health clinics for
Ontario workers or ocal now these are
clinics that specialize in occupational
health and they’re multidisciplinary
teams when all Kyle learned that the
problems facing migrant workers they hit
the ground running to provide
specialized places where workers could
receive free care with the assistance of
translators at times and can places
convenient to them like at shopping
malls or worker support centers or even
soccer matches which it turns out is
very handy if you happen to get a soccer
ball to the head so at first these
efforts were very informal with a doctor
nurse and translator showing up in
communities and seeing if any workers
needed alt and it didn’t take long
before many clients were interested in
seeing receiving the services now after
learning of the occupational health
needs facing workers oka also started
hosting information based prevention
workshop sometimes in partnership with
employers who allowed them onto their
firms but these were all very exciting
developments but the capacity of these
efforts to meet all the needs of migrant
workers was limited we needed more hands
on deck so in partnership with some
Laurier colleagues and some community
groups we founded the migrant worker
health project with aim to educate other
healthcare providers about the issues
and encourage them to make their
services more accessible we made a
website and printed resources and we
gave presentations around the province
now sharing the information was helpful
but it didn’t solve the problem many
clinicians indicated they would love to
do more but they didn’t have the
resources it’s hard to convince people
to spend money on a population that has
no voting power we were starting to get
used to disappointment but then we met
with Donna crips
the CEO of the Hamilton Niagara haldeman
Brant local health integration network
now that’s the mouthful so we’ll just
call it the Lyn now when I told Donna
about the challenges facing migrant
workers she seemed genuinely concerned
and so she invited us to give a
presentation to her and some staff at
the Linn office shortly after the Lyn
announced
would be provided for specialized
clinics for migrant workers this was
great but just having the funding wasn’t
enough we also needed dedicated people
to provide the services so two community
health centers or CHCs
quests in Niagara and Grand River right
here in Brantford rose to the challenge
to make services accessible for workers
they really had to think outside of the
typical box of healthcare provision
hours had to be on evenings and weekends
which isn’t when doctors normally love
to work they have defined
spanish-speaking translators and they
had to find locations that were
convenient to workers to overcome the
transportation barriers so each Center
examined the resources and contexts in
their own communities and determine the
best way to make it work the Grand River
CHC partnered with the Simcoe superstore
to provide evening clinics right inside
the grocery store where workers were
shopping anyway so they could pick up
their potatoes and their prescriptions
all in one spot now that’s convenience
they also offer clinics in Delhi and
here in Bradford out of this lovely
converted vehicle they recruited
committed local physicians and those
from neighboring communities who drive
in and provide the services on the
weekends my husband is one of them and I
didn’t give him much choice in the
matter but he says it’s one of the most
rewarding experiences he’s had as a
doctor a dedicated community pharmacist
works late to ensure that workers can
access their prescriptions right after
seeing the doctor staff and volunteers
work tirelessly to promote the clinics
provide interpretation services and
assist workers with follow-up in Niagra
Quest operates their clinics out of two
sites one out of a rented walk-in clinic
and the other in partnership with the
church quest has also expanded its
activities into the community offering
primary health care services as well as
health information workshops on topics
like diabetes and healthy eating a
community vents and on firms medical
nursing and Spanish students and faculty
from McMaster and Brock University’s
staff these clinics on a volunteer basis
gaining invaluable learning experiences
in the process
collectively these clinics have now seen
thousands of clients and in surveys a
hundred percent of clients reported
satisfaction and a hundred percent said
they had enough time with their provider
I imagine it would be quite hard to
replicate those kinds of satisfaction
rates anywhere else in our healthcare
system community volunteer groups in
both regions with support from these
clinics also host annual health resource
and information fairs hundreds of
workers attend these events where they
receive information and support as well
as enjoy free food entertainment and
gain a sense of inclusion local
residents also regularly host social
events for workers volunteers discuss
the value of these initiatives not only
for the workers but also for the
community members many of whom have
formed long lasting friendships with
workers some of whom have even been
lucky enough to visit workers in their
tropical homes during her much less
desirable winters so these communities
have gone to great lengths to support
the health of migrant workers
recognizing that health depends much
more than on the physical condition but
also on a sense of belonging and feeling
cared for it’s truly been a
transformation in front of my eyes from
virtually no support to the groundswell
that it is today
and it’s all because of the dedicated
efforts of individuals who saw the
problem and wanted to do their part to
help but let me be clear these clinics
have not solved all of the problems
facing migrant workers far from it
despite decades of working here Canada
still does not welcome them as
immigrants they still face long and
painful family separations sometimes for
years or decades in a row they’re still
largely socially segregated and many
experienced racism the program leaves
workers very vulnerable and they’re
dependent largely on the goodwill of
their employer this varies widely many
do report negative housing and working
environments even the power of the
clinicians to enact change and workers
lives is limited by the fact that many
workers are too afraid to seek job
modifications to improve their ha
for fear of losing their jobs instead
they want interventions like medicines
and stretching exercises that won’t
raise the eyebrows of their employers
when women become pregnant in the
program they often hide their
pregnancies forgoing prenatal care for
fear of losing those jobs when workers
are seriously injured or when they die
their families are normally left with
little to no support as Canadians we
have a lot of thinking to do about the
way we treat the most vulnerable in our
society and there is still much work to
be done
yet the clinic’s have made a major
difference to address one aspect of
workers well-being wild there in Canada
which is providing a truly accessible
form of health care that had otherwise
been absent as one migrant worker told
me at these clinics I actually feel for
the first time as though Canadian people
care about me and I no longer have to
choose between worrying about losing my
job and accessing the health care I need
and the clinic they benefit not only the
workers but also the employers who can
depend on healthy workforces the workers
families who rely on the health of their
breadwinner and loved one they reduce
pressure on our hospital emergency
departments and really they benefit all
of us who can enjoy healthy local food
there are positive ripple effects all
over the community so the key message I
want to leave you with today is that
society’s problems can be solved little
by little by the strong and dedicated
efforts in our communities everyone
involved in these clinics are inspiring
examples of what can happen when we care
about each other and when we work
together rather than in silos they are
testament to the power of collaborative
creative community efforts to solve
complex problems and no one person could
have achieved all of this on their own
it only works because so many people
offer what they can the pharmacist who
stays late the doctor who drives in on a
weekend the employer who offers a health
workshop on their firm
the health administrator who decided to
fund the clinic’s
the business owner who donated space and
the many community members who offer to
translate or give rides to workers the
clinic’s are some of these parts and
without each of them working together
they could not succeed the clinic’s also
worked so well because they are driven
by people who genuinely care about the
neighbors among us the unrecognized
people whose dedicated work allows our
agricultural economies to thrive migrant
workers make enormous sacrifices to be
here and they contribute essential work
in our communities the least we can do
is support them to return home to their
families safe and healthy as individuals
as communities and as a country we still
have a long way to go to ensure that the
migrant workers who live among us are
treated with the dignity and respect
they deserve I invite you to join us in
whatever way you can towards that goal
thank you
[Music] [Applause]