The author of a book that looks into the lives of migrant workers was in Chatham to discuss the issues migrant workers face, as well as his own experience.
Gabriel Allahdua, author of Harvesting Freedom: The Life of a Migrant Worker, gave a presentation on Monday in Studio One of the Culture Centre.
Allahdua, a father of two who now resides in Toronto, has shown a passion for the lack of regulations surrounding migrant workers. He even detailed how trees, grass, and pets are treated better.
The St. Lucia native came to Canada as a migrant worker in 2012 and participated in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program until 2015, when he left to get Canadian status.
Allahdua said he worked at a greenhouse in Leamington from sunrise to sundown, Sunday to Sunday.
“It was 62 of us in the bunk house and there were 16 burners, not 16 stoves, but 16 burners. There was always competition to get to the stove, to the wash, and not enough,” he said. “In my room, there were eight of us. So, no privacy, one washroom for eight guys. There were two telephones in my bungalow, and we could not receive calls from our family or from outside.”
Allahdua added that to meet his employer's goals and stay in the ‘green’, he would begin work 30 minutes early, forgo washroom breaks, and even work during lunch periods.
The previous migrant worker detailed how being stuck on these farms felt isolating.
“You live on the farmer's property, so you're not connected to society," he said. "So you're kept away from information. And Canada is very, very bureaucratic; you need people in the system. You need people in the community to help you integrate, to enlighten you, and empower you. They do not tell you these things, and by keeping you on the farm, that is one way of keeping the secret going, right? The employer controls our housing. The employer controls our status. If we fall sick, we have to wait on the employer to take us to access health care. Is that a human being in Canada?”
Through his presentation, he expressed his dream that the Canadian and Provincial governments will really facilitate agricultural employers’ access and retention.
Currently, migrant workers are tied to their employers with a Canadian Visa, meaning they are unable to speak up out of fear of reprisals and deportation.
“We are tied to the employer; you cannot leave an abusive employer, and at the same time, in the face of the law, you are denied basic things, and you are excluded from labour standards. What is that? That's the formula for exploitation,” Allahdua explained.
He hopes that there will be improvements to migrant worker salaries, work schedules, and work conditions.
Allahdua is now a leading activist in the migrant justice movement in Canada, working as an organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers and as an outreach worker through The Neighbourhood Organizations.
During a question period after his talk in Chatham, his presentation was praised as more informative than a university class, which Allahdua says is the most powerful feedback he has ever received.
He signed a library copy of his book, which is available to borrow through the Chatham-Kent Public Library.
His next talk is at Simon Fraser University on Wednesday, before he heads to Ottawa for a few events at Parliament Hill.
