Falling Short: Troubles with the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program in Nova Scotia

Abstract

Falling Short: Troubles with the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program in Nova Scotia is the third community report released by the Migrant Workers in the Canadian Maritimes Partnership (tfwmaritimes.ca). The report follows the publication of Safe at Work, Unsafe at Home: COVID-19 and Temporary Foreign Workers in Prince Edward Island in 2021 and Unfree Labour: COVID-19 and Migrant Workers in the Seafood Industry in New Brunswick in 2023.

Falling Short is based on desk research and worker interviews. Data was obtained from freedom of information requests to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and Nova Scotia’s regulatory bodies responsible for work safety, employment standards, and housing. An additional 15 interviews with migrant workers in Nova Scotia employed under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) were also conducted. Fourteen of these workers were employed under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) stream of the TFWP, and one worker was employed under the low-wage stream of the TFWP.

Falling Short found that in Nova Scotia, migrant workers frequently encounter a lack of regulatory implementation. Rules exist, but governments are failing to adequately enforce them to create a safe and dignified work environment for migrant workers.

Falling Short provides recommendations to both the federal and provincial governments aimed at improving the working and living conditions of the temporary migrant workforce in the province.