Ontario depends on foreign workers in the agricultural sector
After the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis, Canada was forced to close the national borders to foreigners. At the same time, local farmers lobbied for seasonal foreign workers to be exempt from the travel ban. The Federal government listened to the farmers’ demands but required a mandatory quarantine for arriving agricultural workers. According to recent data by the Canadian Agricultural Resources Council, the number of seasonal workers in Canada increased to 60,000 in 2017, growing by almost 25% since 2014. Almost one-sixth of all agricultural workers in Canada are migrants. The province of Ontario attracts over 14,000 to work in the farms. In southwestern Ontario, most of almost 6,000 workers, come from Mexico.
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