On August 14, 2022, Jamaican migrant farm worker Garvin Yapp died a preventable death, on a farm in Southwestern Ontario. This August 14, 2025, marks the third year since his death, a milestone that lays bare the Government of Canada’s failure to protect the people who feed us.
Labour unions and farmworker collectives have sounded the alarm for years. They know that when workers lack basic rights, exploitation takes root. Migrant farm labourers endure isolation, fear of deportation, and unsafe workplaces because the government refuses to legislate binding protections.
In September 2023, UN Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata condemned Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program as perpetuating modern-day slavery. Obokata pointed out that tying workers to a single employer creates a power imbalance that all but guarantees abuse. Despite this global rebuke, Ottawa has stuck with voluntary guidelines that leave workers dependent on employers rather than enforceable laws.
Justice For Migrant Workers Poster
Today, Canada’s farm safety framework is still fragmented. Provinces enforce their own rules unevenly, inspections are too few to be a deterrent, and penalties for violations are meager. Temporary foreign workers, who harvest our fruits and vegetables, live under constant threat of reprisals if they speak up.
To honour Garvin’s legacy and affirm farmworkers’ human rights, Canada must adopt a genuinely worker-centred approach:
- Replace employer-specific permits with open work permits that empower worker mobility;
- Ensure employers provide housing that ensures their employees live with dignity and have access to clean water;
- Provide a path to permanent residency;
- Have all levels of governments harmonize health and safety regulations, embedding farm-specific safety standards;
- Create an independent enforcement body with subpoena, penalty, and prosecution powers to hold employers accountable; and
- Fund and hire hundreds of additional labour inspectors and public health professionals to enforce these standards.
Just like citizens and permanent residents, every farmworker deserves a workplace free from fear and harm. On this third anniversary of Gavin Yapp’s death, labour organizations and human rights defenders must unite to demand these and additional reforms. It’s time for the Government of Canada to stop deferring to employers and start focusing on the rights of the workers who toil from dawn to dusk to sustain our nation.
In Solidarity,
Southwest Racialized Committee