Over the past 500 years, the global world has experienced enormous changes in political and governmental systems, international relations, the economy, women’s and men’s rights, and social organisation and relationships. But the predicament of the poor and helpless worker hasn’t changed. Throughout recorded history, industrialised nations and cultures have benefitted from the free or inexpensive labour of the oppressed populace of the conquered lands.
But, these nations are now in no mood to remain under the feet of the Western nations as they are taking steps to counter the West’s unjust moves. Jamaica has just joined the league of these nations when it questioned Canada’s behaviour towards Jamaican workers.
Canada’s inhumane treatment
According to a statement from the Ontario Ministry of Labour, a temporary foreign worker was “fatally injured while operating farm equipment,” They claim they were informed of the death on August 14.
Following the death of the man who was working at a farm in southern Ontario, migrant workers have started to pressurise the Canadian government to give them more safety and rights In a news release, the Jamaican Ministry of Labor confirmed the worker’s identity as 57-year-old, Garvin Yapp.
Just days before Yapp’s death, members of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC) wrote a letter to Jamaica’s Minister of Labour, Karl Samuda, saying that they are facing “systemic racism and seismic exploitation.”
“…They are facing conditions where they are facing physical abuse, verbal abuse, that their property is being destroyed when they’re not working fast enough, they’re being called mules,” Syed Hussan, executive director of MWAC told CP24.
It is indeed a shame that the very same liberal poster boy, Justin Trudeau who condescends to other nations on so-called “deteriorating conditions” of democracy keeps a complete mum when it comes to racial discrimination and inhumane treatment of migrant workers in his own country. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, dear Trudeau.
Jamaica fights back
Further, one of the issues brought up by common people in the Caribbean is the fact that foreign governments that violate the national labour code of their respective countries are rarely rebuked. Earlier it was customary to see governments of so-called “third world” countries frequently brush aside Western countries’ unethical practices. But this is no longer the case.
The Jamaican government has made it crystal clear that it would not allow the continuation of unjust practices against its populace on foreign turfs.
Recently, a Jamaican official has appointed a fact-finding team to look into claims made by Canadian farm workers that their employers are mistreating them. The six-person tripartite group was established by Karl Samuda, Jamaica’s minister of labour and social security, to investigate the working conditions of participants in the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers (Farm Work) Program.
The Jamaican ministry stated in a press release that the team “is expected to travel to Canada to observe operations and speak with workers on the farms, and provide a report to the minister.”
Beginning in the 16th century, exploitation by powerful imperialist western nations became the new world order, resulting in the pervasive exploitation of native populations and the inhumane treatment of millions of people. Even while much has changed since then, the industrialised world’s continued exploitation of workers from the so-called “third world” countries hasn’t changed.
Unfortunately, today, Western countries think that only they are entitled to all the rights and not others who they regard to be less civilized than themselves.
So, make no mistake; this recent action is a ray of hope for many such oppressed nations including Caribbeans. They would undoubtedly develop trust and public confidence as they witness their governments take action against the fraudulent Western nations. Definitely, the battle against neo-imperialism has just begun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-4llxzzydQ&t=2s