The Differential Inclusion of Migrant Farmworkers’ and the Landscape of Support in a Migrant-intensive Region in Ontario, Canada

Canada’s national migration regimes, which are witnessing an increase in temporary foreign workers, underscore the contentious nature of inclusion for migrant farmworkers in smaller communities. While migrant farmworkers are entitled to benefits, their access to services and social support is limited. Even though settlement initiatives that welcome and support immigrant newcomers have shifted and intensified toward smaller towns and communities across Canada, support initiatives and the benefits for which temporary migrant farmworkers qualify have received far less attention and resources. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic not only highlighted the importance of migrant farmworkers to agricultural industries in Canada, given their designation as “essential” workers, but also catalyzed a significant shift in how communities can support workers. This paper focuses on a migrant-intensive region in southwestern Ontario. It utilizes a qualitative constructivist approach to interviews with 30 migrant farmworkers and 32 service providers to examine the support and services available to workers. Employing the conceptual framework of differential inclusion, this study analyzes the nature of support and highlights how temporary migrant farmworkers are embedded in relations of inclusion and exclusion. This study also explores the potential and capacity of community-based support initiatives to foster inclusion for workers in migrant-intensive communities and the emergence of a support framework during COVID-19. Given the rise in the migrant population in smaller cities and rural communities across Canada, this study aims to address the limited scholarship on the support landscape for migrant farmworkers in these regions.