Guatemalan workers disappear from Quebec farms as work permits end

An unprecedented number of seasonal workersfrom Guatemala havedisappearedfrom Quebec farms as they seek to avoid being sent home at the end of the growing season.

In past years a handful of workers wouldgo off-grid come fall, but this year nearly 100 are unaccounted for,according to an organization that helps bring them to the province.

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Many are facing the end of the four-year work permits that were first implemented in 2011 as part of changes brought to theTemporary Foreign Worker Program by the previous Conservative government,said Denis Hamel, the head of the organization, which goes by its French acronym, FERME.

After reaching their four-year limit, workersmust leave the country and wait another four years for a fresh work permit. It is known as the "four-in and four-out" rule.

"They face adilemma," Hamel told CBC Montreal'sDaybreak.

"Either they go back to their country for four years or stay here illegally and try to find a job to be able to send money to their family, knowing that if they get caught by police or the border services agency, they will be sent back and they won't ever be able to come back to Canada or the U.S."

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Long-time workers forced to leave

Hamelsaidthe four-year capalso hurts producers and processors inQuebec's agriculture sector, which suffers from a chronic labour shortage.Many of the Guatemalan workers have been returning to the same farm for a decade or more.

The workers have been departing from their host farms quite suddenly.

Two workers atFraisebeca berry grower based inSte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quedisappearedearlier this year, leaving only a note telling staffnot to worry and not to look for them

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IsabelleCharbonneau, who helps runFraisebec, said at leastthree other Guatemalan workers at the farm won't be able toreturn next year because of the "four-in and four-out" rule.

"These are workers who we've had for six to seven years,"Charbonneausaid in an interview."We have to start all over because of a federal law."

Hamelsaid it's difficult to track the workers who leave the program.

"Honestly we don't really know where they are," hesaid."We suspect that they go into manufacturing, hotels, restaurants, but honestly we don't have a clue."

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There are roughly4,000 seasonalGuatemalan workers in Quebec and close to 6,000 in Canada.

The workers receiveat least minimum wage in Quebec and, while the work can be gruelling in the summer heat, itfar exceeds the $5 per day the workers would likely get back home,Hamelsaid.

"They are occupying jobs that Canadians generally don't want," he said."They provide a verygoodworkforce on our farms."

Changes coming soon?

Hamel and Charbonneauare both hopeful reforms are coming soon to theTemporary Foreign Worker Program.

A House of Commons committee, composed mostly of Liberals, submitted a report to the Liberal government last month thatrecommended, among other things,doing away with the four-year work-permitlimits.

A spokesmanforImmigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada,the federal department that oversees the program, said he"can't speculate on future policy changes."

The government must respond to the committee'srecommendations within 120 days.

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