As spring arrives and COVID-19 restrictions lift across the country, farmers and agribusinesses in the Okanagan are preparing for another influx of temporary foreign workers.
As of Thursday, the B.C. government is no longer requiring vaccinated temporary foreign workers to quarantine upon arrival. Arriving workers will travel directly to their farms and it will be the employer's responsibility to ensure federal quarantine requirements are met for those who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.
The B.C. Fruit Growers Association's (BCFGA) executive director, Glen Lucas, tells Castanet the quarantine program helped keep workers safe and healthy, but it also cost farmers and business owners money.
"The growers had to pay them (temporary foreign workers) for 60 hours of work while the workers were in quarantine, even though they weren't working."
Lucas says he's optimistic there will be enough temporary foreign workers to cover the demand this year, but he points to lower than predicted harvest yields over the past three years — particularly for cherries and apples as a reason there haven't been labour shortages in the Okanagan already.
"I didn't hear of anyone abandoning crops because of labour shortages, I think if we didn't have the heat damage, we would have had a labour shortage," Lucas says.
Lucas says this year is shaping up to be a little more normal but there are still challenges like the slowness of the Mexican program.
"Part of it relates to the earthquake that was in Mexico City and their ministry of labour having to relocate, along with all their computer systems and everything else. So we've noticed a slowdown," says Lucas.
The BCFGA let its members know last fall that there could be challenges but he indicates it is taking longer to get Mexican workers into Canada.
"It's frustrating when you're expecting something to happen and it's delayed," says Lucas.
Each year there are typically 3,500 workers who arrive from Mexico in the Okanagan and another 1,500 from Jamaica.
"Jamaica really strongly supports our program for recruiting. So they have adequate resources and good turnaround time, but if it's not one thing it's another. All the commercial flights from Jamaica to Canada are full."
Lucas says there is still time to sort those issues but the BCFGA is also monitoring the situation in Ukraine closely.
"There is a bit of a sense of panic amongst growers on the labour supply. (Ukrainians) have a very strong agriculture sector and we feel the Eastern European countries have a very strong agriculture knowledge."
Lucas is hopeful the BCFGA may be able to work out an agreement with the federal and provincial governments to allow Ukrainian refugees who are interested to work on farms.
"We are very grateful the temporary foreign worker program remains open and functioning. We can hardly wait to be back to normal from COVID-19 and let's not have all these bumps and hurdles to deal with every year."
Lucas says the BCFGA is still looking for ways to encourage domestic workers to accept farm jobs but that has been an uphill battle. Typically Canadians have been unwilling to accept farm jobs that can be physically demanding.
