Opinion: Local food lovers, pay attention to migrant worker rights

Next time you sit down to a farm-to-tabledinner, Chris Ramsaroop wants you to ask yourself two questions: who harvested thatfood and what kind of rights do they have?

Ramsaroop, an organizer with Justice for Migrant Workers,says if Canadians are really focused on achieving social justice through alocal food economy, then they need to start paying attention to the migrant workers who participate in that economy.

It's about improving standards to make sure that from the farms to our table,there is social justice and equality for all.- Chris Ramsaroop

The issue of migrant worker rightswas front and centre recently whenCBC Newstold the story of Jamaican migrant farm workerSheldon McKenzie.

McKenzie had workedbetween Jamaica and Canada for over a decade,until he was injured on an Ontario tomato farm.

The 39-year-old father of two died in a Canadian hospital, buthis cousin saysthe government tried to remove him from the country since McKenziecould no longer work, he was no longer welcome in Canada.

Ramsaroopsays McKenzie's case highlights the inherent racism in how migrantprograms are currently structured.

He saysothershavedocumentedhowtheCanadiangovernment changed the parameters of migrant worker programs once the influx of labour shiftedfrom Europe to what he calls the "global south"countries in the south like Mexico and Jamaica.

In the1940sand 50s, with the arrival of Dutch and Polish farmworkers to Canada, they were provided with access to residency... why can't we do the same for theCaribbean and Mexican workers? Why do we see them as different?- Chris Ramsaroop

As the workforce changed, Ramsaroop says access to status, employment insurance, healthcare and education were denied.

"I think race and the idea that migrant workers from the global south will accept any terrible conditions is what leads and justifies the ongoing program as it it today," he says.