HALDIMAND—While thousands of migrant workers spend over half the year living and working in communities across Ontario, many of those living here year-round might not be aware of the vibrant blend of cultures and stories unfolding in our fields and towns. ‘On The Farm,’ a new magazine launching in the area, aims to tell those stories.
—Haldimand Press photo by Mike Renzella.
The magazine is the brainchild of Norfolk Community in Action (NCIA) Director Leanne Arnal.
“I’ve been working with offshore workers for about 18 years in different capacities,” said Arnal, noting a focus on working with local employers and farm workers to find positive solutions to problems, while also working to grow together as a community.
With her on-the-job experience, Arnal is perfectly suited for the task of showcasing migrant workers and their lives in the new magazine.
“I have many years of outreach in that community. Not just with the farm workers, but with the farmers, and all of the organizations and all of the support systems that go into that and working and being employed by companies as well to offer support services to the workers.”
The magazine is printed both in English and Spanish, with stories focusing on the temporary foreign worker community and feature-style articles highlighting individual workers with unique talents.
“We have an article in here where we showcase a veteran worker who has been coming here for over 15 years; we have a sax player and a DJ; different profiles of workers from farms, men and women,” said Arnal.
She sees the new magazine as a way to both highlight the vibrancy of migrant worker communities in Haldimand, Norfolk, and surrounding areas, while also offering useful information directly to those workers in a convenient, easy-to-access source.
“66 years ago, when the first plane landed here full of farm workers from Jamaica, the (temporary work) program itself, and the countries that have come on board has grown and grown and grown, but it’s only been in the last five years when there’s been some real major progress,” said Arnal on the challenges migrant workers have faced while working in Canada through temporary work programs.
She said the magazine helps fill in a critical gap to addressing the ongoing challenges, allowing her to offer more services to offshore workers. She believes having a publication aimed directly at that community, written in their native language, can help them to feel more at home, boosting their mental health.
“Workers are here, away from home, missing a lot of events and family and friends, living in community spaces,” said Arnal. “I think there’s power in information.”
A concern for Arnal is when people take advantage of temporary foreign workers.
“They’re a perfect target for some reason. I want to make sure the resources in here are all coming from legitimate sources. The magazine is great because it’s entertaining and informative and it also showcases workers as the people and the talent behind the work that they do.”
Many local community organizations have participated in the inaugural issue: “OPP did an article, and Grand River Community Health Services, emergency care instructions for safety. Everyone wants to come together and make this a place for farm workers to get information that is for and about them,” said Arnal.
Her plan for the magazine is ambitious, with the first edition being sent to 3,200 farms across Haldimand, Norfolk, Brant, and Oxford counties.
“I felt it was important for farmers to be on board and aware of the information that their employees are reading,” said Arnal. “I’ll be dropping it off at farms, at places they shop at, then hopefully by the next issue, farmers will purchase a copy for their workers so it can go straight to the farm. That will help to offset the cost of the project.”
The magazine officially launched with a party in the streets in Simcoe, where MPP Bobbi Ann Brady shared words of encouragement and farm workers took part in tug of war that had the assembled crowd cheering, while a Bob Marley tribute band played for the crowd, bringing together many community members and cultures.
“It was such a good space to be in,” said Arnal. “We had senior citizens with their arms in the air rooting these guys on.”
She said it’s important for those of us who live here year-round to remember that these workers are spending more time here than in their own countries: “I think it’s important that they’re invited and included into our community. That’s always been my focus.”
‘On The Farm’ will publish twice a year, to usher in the new season and again in the fall for harvest season.
Arnal praised the team that helped make her vision a reality, concluding, “Everyone has pulled together to make this project real. I’m still emotional about it because it’s such a big project. I want this to be going into the Niagara area, going into the Windsor area, spreading hopefully across Canada into all the farm working communities.”
