Another group of Dominicans will soon leave for Canada under the Canada Caribbean Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme in July.
Deputy Labour Commissioner, Eric Mendes, made the announcement while speaking to State-Owned DBS Radio.
“We expect another set to be leaving in the month of July. The numbers are not confirmed yet, but if all goes well we would expect in the month of July, not as big as 66 there are some more scheduled to leave in July,” he said.
According to Mendes some of the workers are contracted to the employers for six (6) months and most of them between 3 to 4 months.
“The minimum would be a 3 months contract,” he explained.
He indicated that this is their livelihood, a lot of them do not work in Dominica and they have not been able to do so because of Covid-19.
“They have not been able to work for some time and they look at that as their source of income,” Mendes noted.
He also indicated that the 66 Dominicans who left for Canada earlier in June arrived safely.
“The workers thankfully, thank God, have arrived safely,” Mendes stated. “They are in the process as we speak of completing the quarantine cycle and we expect very shortly within a couple of days they will commence their contractual obligations.”
When are they supposed to leave??
Another bunch of UWP uninformed.Dominicans,Jamacans,Mexicans,Vincentians and other countries has sent workers to CANADA for over 50 years.Dominica Canada farmworkers have built houses,and taken care of their family for years.These people are paid $14 an hour.Go to the USA and tell people,TRUTHFULLY if Dominicans live better in the USA especially New york.A $150 a week a room,with 5 people,using 1 kitchen,1 bathroom is $600 monthly.A complete concrete 2 bedroom house can be rented for $600 ec in Dominica.Only LAZY UWP complain about things HARD,while HAITIANS and SPANIARDS send thosands of dollars to their country every week.
Don’t come back you all stand a better chance in making something happen for your self and family in Canada.
“Are the people you promise they are going to pick the apples, permanent or temporary residents of Canada?”
Telemaque, why do you always have to pick your own subject to write under a “news article”; who asked you when Borders are being closed and opened in Canada?
Now people are not sent simply sent to Canada to pick apples, there is a lot, a lot, more to foods from the farm than apples.
That arrangement is a yearly contract with Canada; they bring the people from the Caribbeans Islands to do the farming. The guys get part of their pay to do their personal living in Canada, but the rest is sent to Dominica, for example, where they will receive it when they return in September or October–the contact starts again in April.
That is all the contract deals with, your mention about permanent or temporary is irrelevant.
Some of them get a woman to marry; when they get their papers through their wives, they are removed from that contract.
Telemaque, why do you always have to pick your own subject to write under a “news article”; who asked you when Borders are being closed and opened in Canada?
Elizabeth, I don’t know where you get your news from: Perhaps you have a pipe line connecting directly to your son Chichi Royer Roosevelt Skerrit the magic man eh!
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.
But; I want you to know any information you get from Mr. Chichi and his puppets are illusions and delusional lies. Wait to the end of July, and then tell me how many Dominican arrived in Canada to pick apples or cucumbers, peaches or or any of the crops you personally planted in North York, you little foot Roosevelt labor supporter.
Elizabeth, I get three thousand plus television networks: I get stations from all over the world, every Cable Television Station in Canada, I monitor.
And that affords me the information as to whether or not Canadian land border, or airspace open!
Now tell me where you get your information from.
Elizabeth, you always need to have you own rendition on everything.
“British Guiana was the name of the British colony, part of the British West Indies (Caribbean), on the northern coast of South America, now known as the independent nation of Guyana (since 1966);” and not Guiana as you quoted.
For your information, no government in the Caribbean have any contract with Canada government to supply agricultural workers to Canada.
The farms are not owned by the government of Canada, all privately owned, if a Dominica farm worker obtained a work permit to work on a farm, and wish to work on another, then there is a protocol to follow
“Agricultural workers – Work temporarily in Canada.
These foreign government has their own process to recruit and select workers. These government will make sure that you have all of the needed documents and that you are eligible for the program.
The arrangement is between Dominica government and the farm owners.
SMH. Ample amount of land to work in DA yet we have citizens migrating to work land overseas.. think about that! Since government is involved in all aspects of society… government should systematically outline internal and external agricultural needs, start setting timelines and implementation dates to get the industry moving.
Dominica has ample land that is very difficult to farm. I was in DA last year and I used to walk up on the hills for my workout. When I saw the slope of some of these farms I just had to shake my head. Some of the land is so steep that it’s a wonder some of these farmers can even maintain their footing.
Perhaps they should start to adopt terraced farming to make this viable. Farming in DA is brute work. Little wonder Dominican youth do want anything to do with agriculture. As an educated person I would not go anywhere near a farm except for personal use.
You know, you need to understand that in North America, when you hear about people migrating to work on farm, it is not the sort of bull work; the back breaking work that you see people do in Dominica in what we call our garden.
In the first place farm land in America, and Canada, are completely flat, and run for hundreds of miles.People do not use Hoe, Cutlass, and Fork to do farming on this side of the world.
You don’t have people using cutlass to chop grass and trees to prepare for planting; the reason these people are called migrant workers is because they simply go to reap the fruits, not planting anything.
FRANCISCO,they use HOE for certain crops.They also do some PLANTING.Get the facts.
Guy, I been living in America from May 6th, 1980, to this day which is a total of 40 years.
I know every inch of America, I’ve seen thousands of farms from America, to Mexico South of the border; North to Canada, and never in 40 years seen anybody working n a Farm using Hoe, and Fork!
If you know where that happens, please let me know where by name.
Guy, when they are planting seeds, they sit on a tractor designed to be driven and sprinkle the seeds, nobody use Fork, and Hoe to dig holes in America, and Canada, not even in poor Mexico.
North America comprises of three countries; they are Mexico in the South, Canada in the North, and America in the middle.
Every Spring I plant vegetables, in my back yard, in Los Angeles, and at my home in the Inland Empire. I went out looking for Fork, and Hoe, to no avail.
I was only able to get a cutlass (Machete). Peanuts are not pluck out of the ground with hands!
JAIL TIME FOR ALL U! stay in all u c.ntree and work land and sell. Agriculture should be running things in DA
Lol So Mistadem leaving Dominica to go plant food in Canada for Dominica to then import back the food they going an-plant???
But wait nuh really allyou not finding dat a little off,,,
MistaDem cannot find noffing to plant/grow in Dominica den,,,
Garçon wait nuh if is agriculture allyou have in mind to do why not find out what the region need and lets grow it nuh allyou sending DemManDem to Canada for little bit of money to help build the Canadian economy and the Dominican Economy dere crannanah,,,
And if the money dey paying DemManDem was enough to make a difference would be understandable but is not no BigMoney MistaDem going to make nuh,,,
The trip is the least risky part of their sojourn. But unlike the US, the numbers of confirmed cases are dropping dramatically in Canada, so there is not much cause for worry.
In a sense I am happy these farmers were hobbled by Covid because they took the farm workers for granted. Hopefully they now realize how important the workers are to the success of their farms.
Dominica doe even have people to do agriculture . You sending them Canada … But skerite is a dam Hass man …. Mr really mad boss… The man acting like a real mad man . Why they dont dump mr in mad house ner . .
So 66 Dominican farmers left in June to work on the farm in Canada and another group is expected to join them in July eh? It would be interesting to know their age group because I am sure not too many of them would be over 55yrs. That’s important because Skerrit and some of his supporters are saying our young men are not willing to work in agriculture and as a result they had to import farm workers from Haiti. But with 66 of them left in June and another set expected to depart in July proves that our young people are willing to work in agriculture, as long as the price is right and they see a future in it, like our parents and grandparents had a future in and we’re able to build their house, buy their pickup, send their children to school etc. Can you imagine if we had a government that was interested in the future and well-being of our young people by giving them roads and insensitive to go to the farm be in this day and age? Our government prefers to fight our farmers b4 the court
you must understand the mind set of our people they prefer to work for little money overseas rather than work their lands in DA when i travel i meet Dominicans doing work overseas they would never ever do in there country things they consider insults down here when they up there and rent have to pay grocery to by they do anything but not in there country
some will tell you it is more profitable for them to stay and do their farming down here but they still go so its not Government its the grass is greener on the otherside mentality we need to change
WE have a shortage of farm labour in Dominica, Agriculture is in the cemetry yet our labourers have not worked in a while and are going to Canada to pick fruit under living conditions worse than they have here. 5 more years
@Frank N Stein–“going to Canada to pick fruit under living conditions worse than they have here”
You guys are always finding a way to put down your own country and her people What is the point of your criticism above? Do you think a farm is located in Canada or any other country, in the middle of the city, where people live in Mansions and Highrise buildings with Penthouses?
I know people from Trinidad, Guiana, and other countries who have that same contract as Dominica. I had a friend from Trinidad who had that kind of contract. He shared a house with 2 or 3 guys; they have two bedrooms with 2 beds in each room. the place is comfortable to the point that they keep parties there; we, their friends in Toronto joined them to have fun.
Those guys are glad to do their work and to return home in September–it is nothing to belittle as you do. Also, they do more than pick fruits; all the vegetables in the city markets are from the farms.
Frank N Stein next you will complain that Dominica’s population is too small to allow it’s citizens to leave the country.
Zab, you are indeed correct! Thanks for seeing the sense in my posts. Now open your brains and understand the implications of this.Stop being a mediocre human, be of some value to your nation. Meantime, 5 More years of gwayay for the likes of you.
Erick, are you simply talking like the rest of the Cabal, or are you an independent operator?
Are you sure you are not involve in an erroneous misleading none-factual promises?
“Canada’s immigration policies and procedures have undergone daily changes over the past week as Canada seeks to contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
One of Canada’s major measures has been to implement travel restrictions between March 18 and June 30, however Canada is still exempting certain permanent and temporary residents from the restrictions so that they can enter the country.”
Curfew and border crossing restrictions are still in effect as well.
The government has also announced on June 6 that the Ministry of Transport will develop protocols to reinstate domestic air travel.
Note: March 18-June 30.
Are the people you promise they are going to pick the apples, permanent or temporary residents of Canada?
DNO, please edit/ proofread before publishing. Check paragraph#3.
HOTEP!
ADMIN: The third line is a direct quote. Are you referring to something else?
Sorry, but I’ve lost the plot.
First, I wasn’t aware that a first group of sixty-six Dominican agricultural workers had left earlier this month and second, surely we need all hands on deck here in Dominica if we are to achieve even the beginning of an agricultural revival.
“He also indicated that the 66 Dominicans who left for Canada earlier in June arrived safely.”
That’s the hypocrisy about Dominica I can’t take. As far as we know Roosevelt Skerrit has closed our boarders because of covid-19 he says and as a result people cannot come or go out. But today we are hearing 66 Dominicans left in June to go work in Canada. So you can open the airport for your people to leave but you can’t open it for people especially Dominicans to come in? So many people are struggling here to pay their little loan, especially bus and taxi drivers. Some are under constant pressure from their banks to the point that their blood pressure is over 200 because their bus loan is tied to their mortgage and 4 months they not working and Skerrit keeps fooling them about stimulous. But he working behind the scenes to help people run out of the country but doesn’t want Dominicans to come in though his fake foreign diplomats are allowed to come in I guess to bring passport…