“The houses should be decent for every farm worker” – Migrant farm worker (p.16).
“I wish that someday government and society as whole take better decisions so we can have a dignified place for a human life” – Migrant farm worker (p. 16).
“Workers need to be able to know that no matter where they are sent to work in Canada, their housing will reflect their human dignity” – Kit Andres, migrant organizer (“Disrupting for safe and dignified migrant farmworker housing”).
Most migrant farm workers in Canada live in employer-provided and -controlled housing. Migrants, migrant organizers, researchers and public health actors have raised concerns about hazardous housing conditions such as overcrowding during the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of cooling during extreme heat. However, existing minimum housing standards and enforcement approaches remain inadequate and fail to ensure that all migrant farm workers across Canada have a safe and dignified place to live.
This report, developed by the Migrant Rights Network, brings together the voices of 453 migrant farm workers from across the country to outline priorities for decent and dignified housing guided by principles of worker self-determination, humanity, dignity and respect.
The report includes:
- workers’ visions for homes that prioritize privacy, space, quality of life, family unity and worker control (pp. 10–18)
- workers’ recommendations for establishing enforceable federal minimum accommodation requirements (pp. 18–24)
- workers’ top concerns and photographs of current housing conditions (pp. 35–38)
The report ultimately calls for enforceable national housing standards and full and permanent immigration status for all migrants.
Provincial and municipal governments, health departments, public health units and public health practitioners often have responsibility for inspecting and enforcing adequate housing conditions for migrant farm workers. Building relationships with migrant farm workers and understanding and supporting their priorities is an essential strategy for public health practitioners and decision-makers to reinforce workers’ collective power and advance health equity.
Use this resource to
- Understand migrant farm workers’ priorities for decent and dignified housing conditions as a critical determinant of health
- Share migrant farm workers’ priorities with colleagues
- Contribute to the development of healthy public policy by advocating for updated public health guidelines for migrant farm worker housing in consultation with migrant-led groups
Alignment with NCCDH work
Immigration status is a significant yet often overlooked determinant of health. The NCCDH’s Determining Health: Migrant health issue brief provides an overview of the health and health equity impacts of immigration status for migrants in Canada to build understanding and guide public health planning, policy and action. The issue brief highlights inadequate, hazardous and overcrowded employer-provided housing for migrant farm workers as a priority for public health action.
The NCCDH explored this priority issue in more depth in the podcast episode “Disrupting for safe and dignified migrant farmworker housing.” In this episode, migrant organizer Kit Andres explains how our current system allows for unsafe housing conditions for migrant farm workers and shares opportunities for public health to be part of the solution.
The NCCDH’s Determining Health: Food systems issue brief highlights the precarious working and substandard housing conditions of migrant farm workers as one of the ways Canada’s industrial food system contributes to health inequities. The follow-up Determining Health: Food justice practice brief identifies a number of actions public health practitioners and organizations can take in collaboration with migrant farm workers to address hazardous employment and housing conditions as a key component of food justice.
See other resources on immigration and health.
Reference
Migrant Rights Network, Food & Farmworkers Working Group. (2020). Decent & dignified housing for migrant farmworkers. https://migrantworkersalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/MRN-Submission_-Decent-Dignified-Housing-for-Migrant-Farmworkers.pdf