As the season nears its end for many temporary foreign farmers, Junior and Alex said they fear the financial ramifications their families could face if it is their last. “The farm has a tendency to not ask you back when you speak out at work,” Junior said. According to the workers, a fellow farmer who spoke out about work conditions to an official with the Ministry of Employment and Social Development last year was not called back.

All I ever hear about the Temporary Foreign Worker program is that workers get abused as live-in nannies/caregivers/farm labourers, as in this case. I’ll have to watch and see if CTV (or another media outlet) follows up this time but it’s been a while since I last heard about it. They’ll just keep silencing the people who speak up if there isn’t sufficient public pressure to stop this.