From UWI Open Campus

On Thursday, April 30, the Canada-Caribbean Institute founded by The University of the West Indies (The UWI) and Brock University will host an online discussion entitled Issues facing seasonal workers in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

To register for this event, please send an email to pvcglobal@uwimona.edu.jm by Wednesday, April 29 (using an institutional email address).  A Zoom link and password will be sent to the provided email address.  Please see the attached media invitation and flyer below with further information.   

Thank you in advance for your kind consideration to register and participate.

To
address the plight of migrant farm workers in Canada during the
COVID-19 pandemic, the Canada-Caribbean
Institute founded by The University of the West Indies (The UWI)
and Brock University will host a free online discussion Thursday,
April 30 via Zoom.

The forum will
identify areas for research, inform policy on the issue of seasonal
work and determine what interventions could be used on the ground to
prepare for the adjustments and hardships migrant workers may be
facing. It will also shed further light on the importance of these
workers to the Canadian economy and the economies of their home
nations during a complex time.

Your media house is
cordially invited to be part of this virtual forum. Kindly see the
details as follows:

Event: Online
discussion to aid migrant workers during COVID-19 pandemic (via Zoom)

Date: Thursday,
April 30, 2020

Time: 3:30
p.m. EC/ 2:30 p.m. JA

To register: Email pvcglobal@uwimona.edu.jm by Wednesday, April 29, using an institutional email address. Zoom link and password provided via email.

Speakers include:

Dr. Talia Esnard,
Deputy Dean-Student Services Support Unit from The UWI St Augustine
Campus; Dr. Claudette Patricia Jean Crawford-Brown, Lecturer, Faculty
of Social Sciences from The UWI Mona Campus

Dr. Liette Vasseur,
Professor of Biological Science and UNESCO Chair in Community
Sustainability:
From Local to Global at Brock University and Dr. Simon Black,
Assistant Professor, Labour Studies also from Brock University. It
will be moderated by Ambassador Richard Bernal, Professor of
Practice, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Global Affairs at The UWI.

Background

While the COVID-19
pandemic has locked down travel around the world, one group that has
been allowed travel to Canada from a number of countries is the
seasonal farm workers. Nearly 55,000 migrant farm workers enter
Canada each year to work on farms, in greenhouses and other
agricultural settings across the country in spring, summer and fall.
In April this year, farm workers from the Caribbean joined
counterparts from other countries to take up jobs in the
seasonal farm work programme, even under a plethora of new obstacles
and restrictions, including having to sign a waiver releasing
their governments of responsibility in the event that they get sick.
Once in Canada, the farm workers have to undergo 14 days of
quarantine.