Every year thousands of migrants come to work in Canada. From harvesting the food in our stores to caring for the elderly, these workers form a vital part of the economy. Yet despite being critical, they often face harsh conditions, isolation, abuse, injury and even death as a result of immigration policies designed to leave them powerless.
Documentary filmmaker and OCAD University professor Min Sook Lee has been documenting the voices of migrant farm workers in Canada for two decades. What she has to say about the treatment of these workers during COVID-19 shatters any remaining myths about “Canada the Good.” How do we treat the workers who put food on our tables?
For a full transcript of this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, go here.
Every week, we highlight articles that drill down into the topics we discuss in the episode.
This week:
Fay Faraday explains the history and racist policies that define Canada’s immigration programs.
Peter Vandergeest, Melissa Marschke and Peter Duker highlight the treatment of migrant workers elsewhere in the world and the lessons Canada should learn.
And in case you missed it:
Migrant workers face further social isolation and mental health challenges during coronavirus pandemic (April 2020)
Canada’s Emergency Response Benefit does nothing for migrant workers (May 2020)
Coronavirus: Canada stigmatizes, jeopardizes essential migrant workers (June 2020)
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This podcast is produced by The Conversation with a grant from the Global Journalism Innovation Lab, made possible by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
It is hosted and produced by Vinita Srivastava. The producer is Nahid Buie. Production help from Ibrahim Daair, Anowa Quarcoo, Latifa Abdin, Vicky Mochama, Nehal El-Hadi. Sound engineer: Reza Dahya. Audience development: Lisa Varano.
Theme music by Zaki Ibrahim. Logo by Zoe Jazz. Saniya Rashid is our research assistant supported by MITACS. Our CEO is Scott White. Thanks to Jennifer Moroz for her advice. Launch team: Imriel Morgan/Content is Queen.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
