Justice For Migrant Workers | Employment Insurance Benefits
Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada; Patty Hajdu, Minister Minister of Jobs and Families; Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Petition by
To:
Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada; Patty Hajdu, Minister Minister of Jobs and Families; Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
From:
[Your Name]
Migrant farm workers have been the backbone of our agricultural industry, putting food on Canadians’ tables and constituting the lynchpin of Canada’s agricultural industry, specifically its export sector.
In 2024, Canada brought in 78,079 temporary foreign workers to work in the agriculture sector (TFW in agriculture, Statistics Canada, 2025). 10.3% of those temporary foreign workers come from Jamaica (Countries of citizenship, Statistics Canada, 2025). Jamaican workers’ significant contributions to our social safety net, such as through Canada’s Employment Insurance (EI) system, has enabled generations of Canadians the ability to have financial security while facing economic uncertainty.
Each year, we see workers face financial ruin as a result of climate and weather factors. Migrant farm workers face tremendous uncertainties as a result of weather-related issues. As the world’s climate crises intensify, and the severity of hurricanes worsens, these dedicated individuals have nothing left when they ‘return’ from working in Canada.
It is appalling and unconscionable that given these realities, migrant workers continue to be denied access to EI and that there are no mechanisms in place to support workers during these difficult times.
Since 2008, migrant farm workers have contributed over $500 million towards our EI system without equitable access (Statement of Claim for Palmer and Peters v Canada (AG), 2024). We must remind you that one of the central tenets of Canada’s EI system is to support communities during financial uncertainties. Yet, migrant workers are continually sent home and rarely, if ever, are able to access EI during times of financial uncertainty.
This is not an act of charity. It's a call to ensure migrant agricultural workers are able to access their entitlements to Employment Insurance in their time of need. Migrant workers request the following from the Canadian government:
1. Open work permits (OWPs) or temporary resident permits-work permits (TRP-WPs) that would enable them to continue working in Canada to support their families dealing with the fallout of the hurricane;
2. Permanent status on arrival;
3. No worker should face reprisals, repatriation, or disbarment for accessing benefits or exerting their rights;
4. Expedite the EI process and ensure migrant and non-status workers are able to get benefits with ‘no questions asked’;
5. Treat all migrants in this situation as one workplace and implement a dedicated unit to support workers in these situations. Also, for the future, create a separate sub-department to address EI for migrant farm workers to increase accessibility through an easy streamlined process and to expedite the process;
6. One of the sub-department’s duties must be consultation with migrant farm worker advocates so that the sub-department knows about and can immediately respond to crisis situations like the ones we have brought to the federal government;
7. Reverse all decisions denying regular EI benefits to migrant farm workers, that were made on the basis that they were unavailable to work because of their work permit status. Award benefits to all workers who have applied immediately;
8. Ensure that migrant workers are provided all entitlements under our EI system including access to paid training and education programs.
9. Develop and implement a clear EI access policy that operates on the presumption that migrant agricultural workers are looking for alternate work, and makes their entitlement to EI separate from the nature of their work permits – this would enable more expedited access to EI in the future;
10. Restore migrant workers’ access to special EI benefits;
11. Develop a pilot project to examine the establishment of EI interstate agreements with sending countries, so that workers can receive their payments when they return home, or if they are repatriated.
This is an urgent request for solidarity. We hope that this request is expedited and a response is provided in a timely manner.