‘Temporary Workers’, Temporary Fathers: Transnational Family Impacts of Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program

Abstract

Under Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), precarious workers, most of whom are fathers, migrate each year without their families to work in Canadian agriculture. Using a ‘whole worker’ approach focusing on these workers’ family relations, this article analyzes the impacts of the fathers’ absences on both workers and their family members in Mexico. Although SAWP workers’ main motivation for coming to Canada is to support their families financially, their absences also weaken their families. Common impacts include the estrangement of children who feel abandoned by their fathers, a higher incidence of children’s health and behavioural problems, and poorer school performance, strained spousal relations, and mothers feeling overwhelmed by ‘double days’ of ‘migration work.’ In light of such findings, the authors propose practical policy changes to strengthen the cohesion of these families.