Report raises concerns about human rights of N.S. female migrant workers

HALIFAX — A new report says Nova Scotia is failing to adequately protect female migrant workers employed on farms and seafood plants in the province.

The report, published by the Centre for Migrant Worker Rights Nova Scotia, reviewed over 40 pieces of existing research and surveyed dozens of workers in the Colchester, Cumberland, and Pictou counties of the province.

Stacey Gomez, one of the authors of the report and the executive director of the centre, says themes quickly emerged as they prepared the report. She said it made it clear that the federal and provincial governments need to work together to ensure better conditions for women who work on farms and seafood plants.

“It’s actually both (levels of government) that have a responsibility to ensure that migrant workers are treated with dignity when they’re working here.”

Over half of the women surveyed reported overcrowding at employer-provided housing, with 62 per cent reporting too few washrooms and other facilities.

Gomez says some farm workers reported up to 20 women living in a house with two bathrooms and a single stove. In the seafood processing sector, employees often live in trailers, where workers reported eight to 10 people in one trailer, she added.

The report says these dormitory-style housing set ups have led to privacy issues and conflict between workers. “We have heard from workers in the past that and in some of our conversations for the study that they feel like children,” Gomez says.

Unsafe working conditions were also a concern.

Seventy per cent of respondents surveyed said they were required to work outside in severe weather conditions, like extreme heat.

The report quotes one agricultural worker from Jamaica, who said it was sometimes so hot “you could have heat stroke in five minutes.” The worker said she would be expected to work outside regardless of rain, storms, or freezing cold.

Gomez says that while women face many of the same issues that male migrant workers do, they can also face additional harassment in the workplace.

The report quotes one woman who declined to give her male co-worker her phone number. “Any time you tell them no, you don’t want to give them your number and stuff, they start operating against you,” the worker stated.

The majority of respondents also felt that they were not adequately informed of their rights as workers or supports available to them upon arriving in Nova Scotia.

For Gomez, a common theme uncovered by the research was related to how employers exercised control over the migrant workers.

Migrant workers have closed work permits, meaning they can enter the country to work for one specific employer. That gives that employer a lot of control, says Gomez, and keeps employees vulnerable.

“Their immigration status is tied to that job, their private health insurance is tied to that job. Even their time outside of work,” Gomez says. She says that led a U.N. Special Rapporteur to deem this setup “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.”

While the report focuses on Nova Scotia, Gomez says some of the issues are the same across Canada. The closed work permits, for example, would impact every migrant worker.

But there are regional differences. In Ontario, seasonal agricultural workers have access to public health care, while in Nova Scotia, they do not.

That has proved to be a problem before. Gomez recalls the case of Kerian Burnett, who came to Nova Scotia in 2022 from Jamaica to work at a strawberry farm, when she was diagnosed with cancer.

“She was later fired by her employer and she lost that private health coverage,” Gomez says. In 2023, Burnett was given temporary health care access by the province, and was granted a temporary resident permit.

The report has several recommendations for all levels of government. At the federal level, the Centre for Migrant Worker Rights wants to see open work permits, a national housing standard, and making union representation a requirement of the Temporary Foreign Worker program.

In an emailed statement, the office of Employment and Social Development said that “mistreating temporary foreign workers – or any worker – is not acceptable and can never be tolerated.”

The department added that it is committed to find ways to strengthen the TFW program and ensure employers comply with 29 different conditions designed to protect workers. It said that non-compliance can result in fines of up to $1 million and being banned from the program.

The department also said it expanded the definition of what could be considered “abuse” by an employer in 2022 in order to improve protections of foreign workers. As a result, employers are now prohibited from taking retaliatory action against a whistleblower or someone who was cooperating with an inspection, the department said.

The federal support program for migrant workers funds over 100 organizations across the country, but Gomez notes that funding is set to run out in March.

At the provincial level, the report says workers listed provincial health care access and improved labour rights as their top priorities. They’d like to see the province conduct more unannounced workplace inspections and include paid sick days for workers.

Provincial Labour Minister Nolan Young was not available for comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2025.

Emily Baron Cadloff, The Canadian Press