C. Susana Caxaj – The Conversation

Housing for migrant workers in Western Canada. Many workers live in poorly maintained housing and face surveillance and harassment from employers. (Elise Hjalmarson)

May 14, 2025

Decades of neglect: Migrant farm worker housing needs national regulatory standards

C. Susana Caxaj, Western University; Anelyse Weiler, University of Victoria; J. Adam Perry, St. Francis Xavier University, and Jill Hanley, McGill University

Canada’s ability to produce food hinges on hiring migrant agricultural workers. Yet, housing for these workers is often overcrowded, dangerous and undignified.

A temporary foreign worker from Mexico works on a berry farm in Mirabel, Que., in May 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

February 1, 2023

New regulations on migrant farm workers should tackle employer/employee power imbalances

Stephanie Mayell, University of Toronto; C. Susana Caxaj, Western University, and Janet McLaughlin, Wilfrid Laurier University

Amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations fail to address the power imbalances at the heart of the temporary foreign worker program.

Migrant farm workers were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 because of poor housing conditions. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

July 12, 2022

For migrant farm workers, housing is not just a determinant of health, but a determinant of death

C. Susana Caxaj, Western University and Anelyse Weiler, University of Victoria

Poor housing put migrant workers at risk for COVID-19. A federal government consultation on national housing standards is a crucial opportunity to support migrant workers’ health, safety and dignity.

A seasonal migrant worker is seen in the Niagara area earlier this spring. (Jane Andres, Niagara Workers Welcome)

June 3, 2020

Coronavirus: Canada stigmatizes, jeopardizes essential migrant workers

Jenna L Hennebry, Wilfrid Laurier University; C. Susana Caxaj, Western University; Janet McLaughlin, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Stephanie Mayell, University of Toronto

Migrant workers are not inherently more vulnerable to COVID-19, nor more likely to be carrying it than Canadians. Yet our treatment of them this year stigmatizes them and puts them at risk.

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