OECS nationals arrive in Toronto to work on Canadian farms

Workers at an airport in St Lucia going to Toronto

One hundred and ten migrant workers from  the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)  arrived in Toronto last Thursday on a charter flight  from St. Lucia.

They have been recruited through the Canada-Caribbean Seasonal Agricultural  Workers Program and have been assigned to farms mainly in  Ontario.

 It was the third charter flight bringing migrant workers  to Canada from the OECS since commercial flight cancellations this year between Canada and the  Caribbean due to the COVID-19  pandemic.

The three flights have brought to Canada  318 OECS nationals, including 152 workers from St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” many of whom are from communities in the red or orange zones and have been staying in shelters since the volcanic eruption,” says a news release from the OECS Commission.

Olaf Fontenelle, the head of the Eastern Caribbean Farm Liaison Service, told  The Caribbean Camera that OECS migrant workers are now assigned to farms iin the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick,  Quebec, Ontario and Saskatchewan.