Farm workers leave for Canada

One Hundred and Thirty farm workers from St Vincent and the Grenadines left the state for Toronto Canada this morning where they would take up jobs on various farms.

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Labour the Hon. Saboto Caesar, was on hand to bid farewell to the men who left onboard a chartered Sun Wing flight. Addressing the 130 farm workers at the Argyle International Airport, Minister Caesar wished them all well and invoked the guidance of God for their journey and well-being while in Canada.

He noted that as a country with extremely strong belief in the Almighty God it was very important to put God first before boarding the flight. “So I am just asking persons wherever you may be to remember that without God we are nothing and that we are going out in circumstances which are very different and that the world that we are going to meet is not the world that we left there.”

The Minister also thanked both farm workers and those at the Department of Labour for their cooperation throughout the process. “I want to thank you very much for your cooperation over the past few weeks and I want to also extend thanks to the technicians and the staff at the Department of Labour.”

Speaking to the API just prior to boarding, Minister Caesar thanked the OECS Secretariat and labour departments throughout the OECS for the role they played in ensuring the arrangements were in place for the workers. “They’ve been working very hard over the past two months to ensure that even though there is a crisis, there is a pandemic in the world that we were able to mobilise farmers in SVG, we were able to work with employers in Canada and the government of Canada to ensure that today was possible.”

The Minister says all of the persons who left the state today were given the rapid test for COVID-19 and they all came back negative. The farm workers were also given a package with Hand Sanitizers etc, to ensure they continue practicing proper hygiene. Some of the workers would be going to fruit farms while others will go to marijuana farms. Minister Caesar thanked the families for lending their family members to the world to work. He also urged the workers to save their money and to make the best use of the opportunity.