A study by Dalhousie University says temporary foreign workers who came to Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic to fill roles in the seafood and agriculture sectors endured low pay, long hours, overcrowded housing and limited access to health care. Workers do maintenance at an asparagus farming facility near Vittoria, Ont., in Norfolk County, on Wednesday, June 3, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
FREDERICTON – A study by Dalhousie University says temporary foreign workers in New Brunswick’s seafood industry during the COVID-19 pandemic suffered gruelling and sometimes dangerous conditions.
The study, called “Unfree Labour: COVID-19 and Migrant Workers in the Seafood Industry in New Brunswick,” says workers endured low pay, long hours, overcrowded housing and limited access to health care.
Lead author Raluca Bejan, an assistant professor of social work at Dalhousie, says she interviewed 15 foreign workers who arrived in New Brunswick after the start of the pandemic in 2020.
The study, which will be published on the online platform for Migrant Workers in the Canadian Maritimes, says that while workers paid recruitment fees of up to $2,000, they earned $13 per hour and made $300 a week.
Bejan says workers described problems such as overcrowded, dirty housing with limited space to refrigerate and cook food, no internet access, low water pressure, and insufficient heating.
She says workers were afraid to report employer abuse – which included deportation threats – adding that they were widely unaware of the support and resources available to them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 1, 2023.
