Canada

A class action lawsuit alleging Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program exploits the labour and Charter rights of agricultural workers can proceed, a judge decided last week.

The lawsuit, filed in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice, alleges that the federal government "enriched" itself by collecting employment insurance premiums (EI) from workers in the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) despite not allowing them to collect EI. It also argues the program is inherently discriminatory to Mexican and Caribbean workers and has been since its inception.

"It's about trying to change the conditions where workers can actually get access to these benefits, change the conditions where workers have labour and social mobility and they have some ability for dignity and respect in the workplace," said Chris Ramsaroop, an organizer with Justice for Migrant Workers, a group supportive of the lawsuit filed by Goldblatt Partners.