Assessing temporary foreign worker programs through the prism of Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program: can they be reformed or should they be eliminated?

This article assesses Temporary Foreign Worker Programs (TFWPs) through the prism of Canada's Seasonal Agriculture Worker Program (SAWP), often represented as a model because of the many rights granted workers and the multiple forms of protection put in place to protect those rights. A careful study of the extant anthropological and sociological literatures, including the author's work, reveal the immense power that growers wield over temporary foreign workers from Mexico and various English-speaking Caribbean nations. Two consequences of this power have been rises in productivity and the expansion of the SAWP, to the point that it dominates key sectors of Canadian agriculture. Workers are either prevented from joining unions or punished, via blacklisting in some cases, for forming local bargaining units. The author suggests that all such programs be dismantled. At the least, the question of the future of TFWPs merits open and frank discussion.