Temporarily “Essential”: Canadian News Media Coverage of Migrant Agricultural Workers during the COVID-19 Era

Abstract

This thesis analyzes news media representations of the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) to consider how the program and its workers are framed among stakeholder groups with particular attention to the COVID-19 pandemic. Representations of the SAWP and its workers in the media generally acknowledge many inequalities with the program that maintain their susceptibility to exploitation and abuse, such as dilapidated living conditions, pressure to meet unrealistic and dangerous labour demands, an unequal tie to the employer, and being continually denied a formal path to permanent residency. In some cases, the media also perpetuates exclusionary language in the framing of migrant workers, especially during the pandemic. This thesis contends that the greater news media focus on the SAWP during the pandemic and its role in highlighting these structural inequalities could lead to positive theoretical and material effects on migrant workers through increased public awareness and policy reform to the program.