Farmland near Redcliff, AB.
Farmland near Redcliff, AB. Credit: Rural Health Professions Action Plan / Wikimedia Commons Credit: Rural Health Professions Action Plan / Wikimedia Commons

Labour shortages in Alberta’s rural areas have always been an ongoing problem—specifically in the province’s agriculture sector where the labour demand is expected to grow within the next decade. The Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program is an option to help relieve this shortage. Employers can apply to fill their job vacancies if there are no Canadian workers available for the position and TFWs can fulfill the vacancy while working towards permanent residency.

While this may seem like a win-win situation, there’s a glaring issue that was identified in the Temporary Foreign Workers in the Prairie Region Policy Research, a research endeavour jointly commissioned by the Alberta Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies (AAISA) and the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS)—prairie regions, like rural Alberta, lack immigrant-serving service provider organizations (SPO).

SPOs are needed to help migrant workers settle in Canada—this includes information on how to set them up with their health card or SIN number, helping them understand their worker rights and much more.

Lynn, a former TFW who is now waiting on her permanent residency application, recalled the little resources and support services available to her when she worked in a remote community in rural Alberta. Due to Lynn’s precarious immigration status, rabble has agreed to protect her identity through the use of      a pseudonym.

“They promised me an opportunity to get a better future. At the same time to get an opportunity to get a permanent residence [in Canada]. But when I went here as a TFW, they did not inform us or make us aware of any supports,” said Lynn.

With no information on her worker rights, Lynn was subjected to verbal harassment from her coworkers, while her employer repeatedly violated her contract. The 40-hour work week that she was promised, was never fulfilled and on a low wage job with part-time hours, the surmounting living costs weighed heavily on her—but with nowhere to reach out to, Lynn’s mental health suffered.

Additionally, Lynn was working on a closed work permit which by law, prevented her from seeking new employment—she was legally bound to her employer and feared that speaking up could harm her opportunity for permanent residency.

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“You can’t complain because you are scared of getting terminated. Those are the things that was happened during my time. My mouth was shut because I was scared to get fired. I really didn’t know where to seek support,” said Lynn.

The TFW program has subjected many migrant workers, like Lynn, to workplace abuse and unsafe working conditions. Oftentimes, TFWs are trapped in these work situations. In rural Alberta, there are gaps of services and program delivery. While rural Alberta needs workers, TFWs need SPOs so they can understand their rights as workers and are not forced into an unfair or unsafe work environment.

Few supports in rural communities for TFWs

Agriculture is a prominent industry across Canadian rural communities, but the growing labour gap      threatens the sector’s potential growth and profitability. Alberta, for instance, had 2,800 unfilled agriculture jobs in 2017 which resulted in the industry losing $821 million in revenue.

TFWs have been contributing to Canada’s agriculture labour force for years. From 2015 to 2019, there was a 52 per cent increase of TFWs working in agriculture. In 2021, there were 61,735 TFWs who entered Canada’s agriculture industry, alleviating labour shortages.

Then when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the role of TFWs in agriculture sectors was further emphasized—during a time of global crisis, they were essential workers at all levels of Canada’s food supply chain.

“That’s when Canada realized the importance of [temporary] foreign workers … because a lot of foreign workers were working in the food chain industry, in the agriculture industry, in the agrifood industry—a lot of the operations stopped,” said Jessica Juen, Program Coordinator at CCIS.

But the pandemic also highlighted the vulnerabilities TFWs faced. While TFWs answered the call to fulfill agriculture job vacancies in rural Alberta, immigrant serving SPOs in these regions were scarce and inaccessible. 

“It’s very evident that support for the temporary foreign workers—especially those farm workers—they’re really working in remote areas in Alberta. There is not a strong [presence of] migrants advocates or migrant serving agencies that they can access,” said Jay Zapata, secretary general of Migrante Alberta in an interview with rabble.     

Migrante Alberta is a non-profit advocacy group for migrant workers, focusing on lobbying and campaigning for their rights. It is part of the national umbrella organization, Migrante Canada.

According to the Alberta government’s Ministry of Trade, Immigration and Multiculturalism, supporting TFWs is crucial to Alberta’s rural economic recovery. There are a number of support services available across the province and are separated into three main streams: Settlement and Community Support Services, Language Assessment and Referral Services, and English as an Additional Language Drop-in Services.

“Supports in these streams include orientation and information; referrals; translation and interpretation; and outreach for making community connections to ensure newcomers are aware of settlement and integration supports,” read a statement from the Ministry of Trade, Immigration and Multiculturalism.

But it’s clear that these support services are not reaching TFWs as intended. These service gaps are described as SPO “deserts” and are especially apparent in rural Alberta. The TFW Prairie Region Project found that for the reporting period from January 4 to December 2021, out of the 4,929 approved TFW positions in Southern Alberta, only 918 workers were served by SPOs.

In Central and Northern Alberta, SPO reach is much lower—out of the 6,106 approved TFW positions, only 496 clients accessed SPOs. In particular, Northern Alberta had insufficient organizational capacity and presence of SPOs. 

“COVID-19 did not create the challenges and did not create those deserts. There were already [SPO] deserts before that. COVID-19 really underlined more the challenges of [temporary] foreign workers,” said Juen.

Other than access to much needed settlement information, Juen and Zapata found that migrant workers needed mental health support. Currently there are no mental health services specific to migrant workers.

TFWs could feel disconnected from their cultural communities when they enter a new country. Along with adjusting to their new environment and the stress of navigating a complex immigration system, TFWs experience isolation.

“Mental health support is really a missing piece in the lives of migrant workers—and then when COVID hit it really doubled the issues of isolation. It heightened that isolation piece,” said Zapata. “That’s why mental health is so important, and we haven’t seen it come a long way.”

Addressing immigrant-serving SPO “deserts”

It’s evident that TFWs are essential to supporting Alberta’s economy, this was made blatantly clear during the pandemic. The scarcity of support services and information on settlement and worker rights, leave TFWs in precarious workplace situations and nowhere to turn to.

“Temporary foreign workers have been key in Alberta’s rural economic recovery. Their skills and hard work are extremely valuable to rural communities. Supporting these workers is paramount to their success and Alberta’s success,” read the statement from Garrett Koehler, press secretary of Alberta’s Ministry of Trade, Immigration and Multiculturalism.

“We will continue to be focused on supporting these workers, and we will stay connected with key partners to find ways to address gaps in support services,” the statement continued.

However, fixing these SPO “deserts” would require a coordinated approach from stakeholders at all levels including employers, SPOs, provincial and federal governments and many other organizational agencies.

While the solution is complex, addressing settlement needs and providing TFWs with their worker rights is a good place to start. Both Juen and Zapata suggested reaching TFWs either in their home country before they arrive in Canada or right when they land at the airport.

“One of the conversations that is taking place right now with one of the consulates is where we will provide online information sessions while the foreign workers are in their country of origin. And if this becomes successful, then we can mirror it to other consulates,” said Juen. “The idea is that we can provide maybe four two-hour online sessions to provide information about life in Canada—and that will talk about what’s the weather like, getting their SIN number, or getting their health card and about the rights and responsibilities.”

There is also the recommendation of funding—SPOs in rural areas currently lack the organizational capacity to reach TFWs. A stream of funding from governments to SPOs is necessary to address this service gap. Zapata added that existing SPOs like CCIS, Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association and Migrante Alberta would benefit from additional funding, especially since they are trusted organizations for TFWs.

“Work on this. Work with them so that they could be utilized more. I see them empowering the community as well … If we involve these associations, if we involve these organizations in these causes, they would be in a good position in advocating and promoting the welfare of migrant workers,” said Zapata.

Kiah Lucero smiling and holding a camera.

Kiah Lucero

Kiah Lucero is a multimedia journalist based out of Calgary, Alta. Back in April 2020, she completed her Bachelor of Communication, majoring in journalism from Mount Royal University. Her published work...