This month, Canada’s federal government is holding a roundtable to improve migrant farm workers’ employer-provided housing.
Canadian researchers Anelyse Weiler and C Susana Caxaj, welcoming the initiative, note ‘policymakers are increasingly recognising that housing is a significant determinant of health. But for migrant agricultural workers, housing is also a significant determinant of death.’ The academics, who are both members of a Migrant Worker Health Expert Working Group, stress ‘migrant agricultural workers deserve to live with the same health, safety, and dignity owed to any Canadian worker.’ They call on the federal government to take urgent action to ‘significantly’ raise and enforce standards for ‘physical housing conditions (eg. no bunk beds), health and safety, freedom from employer control and security of tenure.’
Source: The Conversation.