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hands that feed us. 2011.
Every year thousands of workers enter Ontario through the Federal Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program and Low Skilled Workers Program. Labourers leave home countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to work in the agricultural industries of Leamington for eight months of the year. Significant others and children are left behind as the program selects for workers who have families to return to.
Workers often enter migrant labour as a direct result of trade liberalization (free trade). The elimination of tariffs and resulting influx of subsidized commodities and foreign industry undermines local jobs and the ability of farmers to produce.
Unique to Ontario, workers are denied the right to organize into unions. Workers face minimal training in their marginal rights under the Employment Standards Act and Ontario Health and Safety Act, leading to widespread exploitation and injury. In addition, well known “contractors” in Leamington traffic uninformed workers and operate without intervention by law enforcement. When trafficking is discovered, it is the worker who punished through deportation.
“Hands That Feed Us” is an ongoing visual documentary project exploring migrant workers’ resistance to their very commodification. Faces and names have been omitted as workers face retribution from employers, elimination from the program or deportation from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Portraits of participants’ hands reveal the deeply personal objects, identifying marks and injuries indicative of humanity, over and above their economic value within the program.
The project is in collaboration with the UFCW Agricultural Workers’ Alliance and Windsor Workers’ Action Centre.
To those unnamed who work in the greenhouses of Leamington: thank you for donating time, hands and company.
