Citizens or Consumers? Mexican Seasonal Agricultural Workers in Leamington, Canada

On Sunday August 9, 2009, at approximately 10pm, 41 year old Abraham Soto-Lopez was killed on impact after being struck by a car on Road 3 East in Kingsville-Leamington, Ontario Canada.  Despite wearing a shirt with reflectors while riding his bicycle - a common mode of transportation for the thousands of Mexicans who work in Essex County greenhouses each year -he was struck and left for dead on the side of the road.    Soto-Lopez had been in Canada eight months trying to earn money to support his wife and several children back in Mexico.  Soto-Lopez is one more casualty among a growing number of bicycle deaths, due to increasing numbers of migrant cyclists and the lack of adequate bike paths along the rural roads between farms and commercial centers of Essex County.  At the heart of migrant worker bicycle deaths – many of which are hit and run – lies a question about the citizenship rights Faulk 2000) of the temporary agricultural workers in Canada who grow much of the inexpensive and delicious groceries we purchase in stores throughout North America.   

1.5 billion dollars of trade goes from the Windsor-Leamington area of Ontario Canada to the US via the Ambassador Bridge to Detroit

Why should we care about migrants like Mr. Soto-Lopez?  Because they represent how neoliberal immigration and trade policies (such as NAFTA and the Security and Prosperity Partnership) contribute to social inequality and health disparities by increasing economic prosperity for some at the expense – even death- of others.  For example, each day 1.5 billion dollars of trade goes from the Windsor-Leamington area of Ontario Canada to the US via the Ambassador Bridge to Detroit.  A large part of that trade is produce:  Leamington, Ontario is the “Tomato Capital” of North America, home to Heinz and the largest number of commercial greenhouses in North America. 


Me in front of the Leamington 'giant tomato'

The need for skilled temporary greenhouse labor draws the majority of Canada’s approximately 15,000 Mexican migrant workers to Leamington via the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP).  Since the inception of the SAWP in 1966, many migrants return annually to work for the same employer, and consequently end up living most of the year in Canada, establishing families, businesses and communities (Preibisch 2007).  Of the 60,000 permanent residents in the Leamington-Kingsville area, Mexicans have become a significant cultural and economic force yet remain “citizens at the margin” (Gabriel and MacDonald 2007). 

Because it is the city with the highest percentage of Latin Americans in Canada, Leamington has its own Mexican Consulate.  According to Mexican Consul General Eusebio del Cueto, the minimum wage for agricultural labor is $9.50 an hour and many work 8-10 hours a day (50 hours a week), earning approximately $500 a week, after taxes.  Given that there are 15,000 Mexican migrants living and working in Leamington, their weekly net earnings total $6,750,000.  About 65-75% of total wages are sent to Mexico as remittances, which leaves approximately $1,687,000 for migrants to spend locally.  Much of this money is spent on food (30-40%), the rest on alcohol/entertainment and on consumer goods. 

The growing economic and cultural power of Mexican migrants and immigrants in Leamington has led to a proliferation of Latino businesses and cultural events.  A tour of the town reveals numerous Latino-Canadian grocers and restaurants.

Some restaurants even offer “servicio hasta su farma”.....

 

There is also a Latino Futbol league....



 .....and Latino music and dance events....


...several churches offer Mass in Spanish.



Compared to the few business and cultural events reflecting other (Caribbean, Mediterranean, Vietnamese) immigrant influences in the area the Mexican presence is remarkable.  However, since the passage of NAFTA IN 1994, restrictive immigration policies and increasing reliance on temporary migrant labor has led to the institutionalization of exchanges (via cultural events, shopping trips, and union support) that provide pathways for migrants to access economic – but not social – forms of citizenship (Basok 2004; Goldring 2007). 

For example, in 2002 a group of concerned local residents established the Migrant Worker Community Program which focuses on brokering cultural and economic exchanges between migrants and local residents through Cinco de Mayo celebrations and Sidewalk Sales, as well as biking safety workshops, english classes and shopping excursions for migrants to Niagara, Windsor and Detroit. 

 

Front door of Migrant Worker Community Program


Flyer for bicycle safety workshop

In theory, migrant workers are not citizens, yet the reality of their long-term presence and contribution to the local (and national) economy begs the question of access to certain social welfare citizenship rights.  Civil society organizations in Leamington (and across North America) have taken up this question in numerous ways, yet a clear trend toward promoting economic and social versus legal and political forms of citizenship exists. 

As migrants’ access to economic opportunities (in terms of both earning and spending) increases, access to social and human services is limited at best.  In particular, utilization of health and social services is stymied by Visa requirements that mandate employers must transport workers to and from rural farms to clinics.  Additionally, migrant workers and their employers routinely express reluctance to take time off of work to visit a local clinic for preventative care.  Rather, it is common practice for employers to simply take migrants to the local emergency room (even in non-emergency cases) for medical care

Migrant and Employer enter ER for medical services.

To address problems between agricultural workers and employees, the United Food and Commercial Worker’s (UFCW) Union in Canada established its first Agricultural Workers Support Center in Leamington in 2002. 

While both the MWCP and UFCW-AWSC seek to “support” migrant agricultural workers, they do so to different effect.  The MWCP promotes access to limited (social and economic) citizenship rights in ways that reify the outsider status of migrants, whereas the UFCW-AWSC provides workers access to more lasting (legal and political) forms of citizenship.  In sum, Mexican migrants and immigrants remain economic and cultural consumers, but not full citizens, of Leamington, Canada.

Recommended Resources

Basok, Tanya. "Post-national Citizenship, Social Exclusion and Migrant Rights: Mexican Seasonal Workers in Canada." Citizenship Studies 8, no. 1 (2004).

Falk, Richard. "The Decline of Citizenship in an Era of Globalization." Citizenship Studies 4, no. 1 (2000).

Gabriel, Christina, and Laura Macdonald. "Migration and Citizenship Rights in a New North American Space." In Requiem or Revival? The Promise of North American Integration, by Isabel Studer and Carol Wise. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2007.

Goldring, Luin, Carolina Berinstein, and Judith Bernhard. "Institutionalization precarious immigration status in Canada." Toronto: CERLAC, 2007.

Preibisch, Kerry. Patterns of Social Exclusions and Inclusion of Migrant Workers in Rural Canada. The University of Guelph, 2007.

Yuval-Davis, Nira. "The Multi-Layerd Citizen: Citizenship in the Age of 'Glocalization'." International Feminist Journal of Politics 1, no. 1 (1999).