 I would like to acknowledge that we are meeting today on the traditional territories of the Indigenous people across Turtle Island. We thank them for allowing us to meet and learn together on their territories. To the original caretakers of this land, of which we stand, I acknowledge the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Shnabek, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, where I am right now. To all that was here for thousands of years before us across Turtle Island, we honor the struggles and the lives of those who have gave themselves for it. For all those here today, we acknowledge the ancestors beneath our feet and the land on which we stand. With our ears to the ground, we can hear them. The Cree Nation, the Metis, the Dene, the Nishinaabe, the Dakota and the Lakota Nations, the Inuit, the Blackfoot, the Inu and all of the nations that came before us and those yet to become. An infinity of footsteps of those who long called this land home. The unfolding of bundles, the undoing of colonization and the opening of this land to allow treaty to come alive. We affirm our relationship to each other and to the land. We acknowledge and pay respects to the indigenous nations and ancestors of this land. Once again, I acknowledge the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Shnabek, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, where I am right now. Our work that you see on the side is by indigenous artists, Chief Lady Bird and Aura Lass. It depicts the two Rwampan Belt and the Dish with One Spoon Treaty of which as a treaty person residing within this ancestral land, I am beholden to. So I'd like to thank everyone again for joining us today. I'm excited for this webinar, not only because we have some amazing speakers for you today, but also because mental health affects us all. And over the past year, we have seen in our personal and professional lives how COVID-19 has brought to light many of the ways in which as a society we can do better. I've had the honor of meeting with our panel prior to date today and got a taste of what they'll be presenting to us. So without further ado, it is my pleasure to introduce our first speaker, Stephanie Mayo. Stephanie Mayo is a project coordinator with TNO's Empowering Migrant Workers in Ontario Project and a PhD candidate in the Medical Anthropology Program at the University of Toronto where her research investigates the ways employment under Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program influences the health and well-being of Jamaican agricultural workers. In 2016, she completed her master's degree in the Anthropology of Health and her thesis investigated Jamaican agricultural workers' experiences of stress and resilience while working and living in southern Ontario. Stephanie has been conducting community-based research with migrant agricultural workers in Ontario and Jamaica since 2014, primarily connecting workers with social supports and assisting injured workers navigate health care and the workers' compensation system. Stephanie is also a member of the Migrant Worker Health Expert Working Group, a team of academics and clinicians who came together to address the needs of migrant workers in Canadian agriculture during the COVID-19 pandemic and to provide evidence-based guidance to both federal and provincial government agencies. So I'm gonna stop sharing my screen so that Stephanie will be able to share hers as she has some slides prepared for us today. So thank you for joining us, Stephanie. Thanks very much, Jalen, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you very much to Kairos as well for inviting me here to speak with you all today about mental health among migrant agricultural workers in Canada and the ways in which COVID-19 pandemic has impacted an already concerning situation. And so today I am going to talk a little bit about migrant agricultural workers' experiences of mental health here in Canada, the ways that COVID has impacted these experiences as well as the kinds of supports and services in Canada that can help foster resilience. And so as Jalen mentioned, I'm an anthropologist, a medical anthropologist, and so approaching mental health, I'm looking at the social determinants of health and my colleague Janet McLaughlin did some research back in 2009 and 2010. So quite some time ago around the ways in which working here in Canada influences the mental health of soft workers generally and identified a number of determinants. So employment and working conditions, income and social status, social support and connectedness, environment and housing, access to healthcare and health literacy as well as gender issues are all things that are social determinants of workers' health in Canada and mental health especially. And so a few factors were identified that contribute generally to poor mental health among seasonal agricultural workers, but also those on the two year program. And just generally speaking, missing and worrying about family and what's happening at home, isolation in a foreign cultural and linguistic environment, powerlessness and vulnerability, tension with employers or community members or with coworkers and roommates, injury and illness especially, cramped and restricted housing conditions, stressful and unsafe work conditions, food insecurity, concerns over nutrition and weight loss, lack of sleep and insomnia as well as in many regions concerns over bicycle safety and a pervasive fear of being in an accident. And so in 2008, a group of researchers investigated the mental health of workers from Mexico here in Canada and they discovered that workers from Mexico experienced nerves that is a local illness category or an idiom of distress in the association with their participation in the SOP. And the symptoms of nerves that they experience here are bad mood, anger, sometimes rage at themselves or others, desperation, lack of concentration and the lack of coordination, sometimes sweating, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, trembling, pain, but all of these things, despite having resemblance to anxiety or mood disorders that we understand here in North America. In Mexico, these symptoms have not been medicalized as an illness. So instead workers experience, they kind of embody these things here. And so in 2015, I conducted masters of my master's research around Southern Ontario, primarily in three regions there on the map, Haldeman, Norfolk, Niagara and Durham region. And I did a combination of interviews and participant observation in a variety of different contexts, especially healthcare environments and working with injured workers. And my objectives were to understand how Jamaican workers experience mental health and association with their seasonal employment and especially to uncover their common idiom of distress that they use. And also to learn how workers cope with psychological distress and understand variation in mental health outcomes. And especially as a practical function of my research efforts to understand how workers are differently supported in different regions, which is important because workers often come into regions that they're not familiar with or they can be transferred between regions within the same season. And so it's important to understand the ways pattern of support play out. And just an idiom of distress is, it's a medical anthropology term and a psychology term, but it's used to direct attention to the socially and culturally mediated ways of experiencing and expressing distress. And the reason that I focused on that was because the term mental health was not appropriate in my research activities among my research participants or my worker friends, mental health has a stigma with it as a concept. And instead it wasn't a good starting point for discussion because of different cultural meanings and associations that play out. So instead workers talked a lot about the stress or the pressure that they feel here in Canada. And after talking to quite a number of workers, I categorized the feedback into five categories of common stressors. And this is not in the order of their severity. In fact, I would say five would be of the most intense. But the first thing was family, worrying about family back home when you're here. Also, and not just worrying about family, but trying to respond to your family's needs or your responsibility as a parent or as a spouse transnationally when your distance for prolonged periods of time creates its own package of stresses. And then experiencing that kind of stress and worry while you're living and working in environments that themselves create stress and concern and pressures around work environments, around notions of powerlessness or perhaps not feeling safe living conditions, perhaps overcrowded and not the way that workers are accustomed to living back home. It's notable that workers come from homes and when they come into bunk houses, they experience that as less than what they have at home. Also racism and lack of social connectedness here. And that, again, is patterned by region but is a general systemic concern. Many times workers can return to the same communities for decades, work very, very hard for the same employer and yet outside of that work environment, no, no one or are not connected into broader networks be it churches or community supports. And that feeling of isolation as I'll get to was made especially worse during COVID. And I would say injury and illness would be the one main stressor that among my interlocutors and my worker friends, we could start having discussions around mental health and depression because when workers are injured, it creates a whole other and ill, it creates a whole other set of stressful instances around how to navigate accessing healthcare and how to prevent being sent home and how to be sure that you're able to access the care and support that you need to make a full recovery before thinking about getting back to work. So those are the five main categories that I uncovered. And so one of my friends Clayton and that is a pseudonym kind of described the ways that his injury made him feel. And he said, I'm here now, depressed and distressed. One side of my body is not working, right? Since I got the lick. The lick he's referring to is a 2,500 pound metal bin full of wet tobacco leaves that when the hydraulic broke while unloading it, it fell on top of him and crushed him. And so he says a few months later when he called me from Jamaica, he said, my kids go to bed without enough food. I'm stressed out and I can't sleep because I'm worried about my kids while the WSID people are sitting back in their chairs saying, okay, that's just another black guy. He can go away and die. And then he said to me, I left Jamaica as a worker but I came home as a patient. Injured workers are those guys who suffer a lot. Now I can't feed my children and nobody cares. What kind of a system is this? This is a slavery system that breaks bodies. And so all the way it entered the field expecting to find pervasive levels of distress among Jamaican and Caribbean workers. I did not find that to be the case. I found that the social determinants of mental health that they are faced with while living and working here in Canada create variations in mental health outcomes. And so among my specific research friends who were from Jamaica, they had a real strong sense of resilience which was expressed as a positive affect or a positive disposition. And when I really probed that it was around their sense of pride as Jamaicans. Their history in the program because Jamaicans were the first to come up to work this program in Canada in 1966. And they also associated with a deep personal spirituality and religious dedication as well as a sense of community connectedness not just to family members, but to communities back home. And oftentimes when I probed a little deeper about how they understood this sense of strength that they feel to be inherent, where did this come from? And a lot of times my worker friends talked to me about their ancestors and the histories of plantation slavery that in fact, in their experiences were reference points to make themselves understand their strength. Now, the resilience that I witnessed was not so dominant when workers became sick or injured. And so social supports were the other buffering variable that really helped maintain workers' mental health. And the availability of social supports across Ontario varies by region. This is a province that receives a ton of workers each year, but it depends where workers go in terms of how they can be connected. And I would say in each region where there are these support networks, rural churches are real leaders in providing those kinds of support and working with service providers. And support networks aim to provide the ongoing services that workers need through health fairs as well as recreational events and just general social activities. And these kinds of activities are absolutely essential when a worker becomes sick or injured and they need connections here in Canada to help navigate certain things like healthcare. And so migrant worker support networks are all over the country to varying degrees and depending by the province. But during my master's research in 2016 and sort of even in the past eight years, I would say that a few organizations really stand out in terms of the work that they do on the ground in different areas. The Anglican Church of Canada as well as other church denominations. I think this is from my master's research. But one of the good things is that these groups are like a collective of different stakeholders. And each of them brings something different. And sometimes it'll be healthcare services or health promotion. Other times it'll be spiritual supports. Other times it's a celebration or a recreational event. And so there's lots of ways that service providers on their own or in collaboration can come together to meet the mental health needs of workers in the area. And especially churches, even pre-COVID. That was one of the things when I asked my friends, what keeps you able to manage your stress while you're here in Canada? And as an individual coping skill, listening to music and connecting with family back home but on a broader level, it was churches and church involvement. The ability to be connected with a group and to have someone care for you repeatedly as you come and go from Canada. And so another friend of mine said, you know when the pastor comes to have a prayer meeting with us at the bunk house, that helps us a lot. We are God believing people. In the evening, we can call home and say, we want you to pray for me when you go to church. And the pastor from that church can give a prayer or something because we are under a lot of stress in Canada. It's hard if you don't have any support from anybody. And so just to bring this to COVID. So that is the broader context of mental health among workers here in Canada and the ways in which their mental health and their psychological health is impacted by their work here and the social determinants of their time in Canada. But COVID really has exacerbated these factors, especially isolation. And last year, we saw many workers were not able to leave their farms to source the items that they need to live a healthy and dignified life. And there's also increased worries at the individual level about not just your personal health or workers' personal health, but the health of family members back home. The inability to source necessary items. I mean, that's a concern, especially in the context of food. And I would also say many of my worker friends who are Jamaican, they send home items usually through the year that get their families going and keep them supported. And that wasn't possible for the most part last year. And many of the public health protocols actually place the burden on workers. And I'm just thinking about even this year when we look at some of the test kits that workers are asked to test themselves in quarantine and arrange for that. And also, there is a need for health professionals to monitor workers' health and answer their questions during quarantine because workers are really stressed out and confused this year in these first two weeks. And I think a dedicated health professional has been identified by many of my friends as something that they would really like to see. And I think importantly, and this is something that gets lost in various discourses, but in Canada, coming to Canada to work, migrant workers are at risk, but they are widely perceived to be at risk. And in that case, there's justifications for restrictions on movements and other things, but workers themselves are at risk. And three migrant agricultural workers passed away due to COVID last year. And so we're just wanting to think a little bit about xenophobia and racism that might inform that kind of a dialogue. And then just to conclude, how might we improve the mental health of workers during COVID especially? And there's a few ways that service providers and community partners can do that, developing accessible and culturally sensitive mental health supports for workers. It's not so straightforward as connecting workers with existing mental health services in our province and country, which are already overburdened, I think, but they're just not as culturally sensitive or accessible as workers would need in order to be benefited by them. But also increasing access to healthcare and social supports would have a tremendous beneficial effect on workers' mental health, as well as some form of a dedicated mobile team of professionals to monitor workers and answer their questions during COVID. And providing a health advocate would be really helpful for workers who are sick and injured. And to help them navigate healthcare in Canada, provincial healthcare, but other things associated with follow-up care and that kinds of thing, workers' compensation. And I think workers really could use an increased access to leisure activities but with safe spaces in communities where they can relax and engage in leisure in a safe way. And then on the more macro level of structures, we might think about providing the same jobs, job rights and protections to all workers as Canadians, reconsidering the closed work permits that tie workers to an individual employer, which itself causes a lot of stress around powerlessness, as well as an absolute end to the practice of medical repatriation. Unfortunately, it is commonplace, workers are sent home when they're sick or injured without the care that they need and deserve. And I think that is something that workers are aware of and it causes a lot of stress. And so those are my general recommendations and conclusions around how we might come around to address workers' mental health needs during COVID. And so thank you all very much for this opportunity and if you have any questions around it that you'd like to email, there's my email as well as here's the... Thank you, Stephanie. And there will also be the question and answer period as well to ask Stephanie if any of those questions you might have. So I will continue sharing my screen and we will move on to our next presenter. So it is my pleasure to introduce our next speaker, Elisio A. Martel. Elisio trained as a physician and a pediatrician in El Salvador and completed a master's in public health and public administration from the Netherlands and Costa Rica. He's been involved in the development and implementation of programs and services for diverse populations in Canada for over 20 years. And since 2017 has been working as a health promoter and a community developer for the seasonal agricultural workers program from Grand River Community Health Center in Bramford. In that position, he implemented a survey on psychological distress with migrant workers in 2017, 2018 and 2019. And the results have been presented in two Ontario educational events addressing the mental health of migrant seasonal agricultural workers. Currently, he's providing support to the Kairos Project in London and is part of the group working with Caribbean workers. Thank you for joining us today, Elisio. So I find this a very good opportunity to share information that we have but also our experience in working with the migrant agricultural workers and it's a very special population, not only because the condition but also because all the issues that they bring with them. And something that I would like to mention from the very beginning is that people coming from those countries within this program, the seasonal agricultural program, we need to acknowledge that they bring not only themselves but also they bring a lot of resilience with them. And so what we're dealing with the community health center is that we decided to address mental health but we felt that we need to learn a little bit more about their conditions and ailments, et cetera in the area in the area of mental health to then to decide what to do, how to provide some support to them in that area. So Jalyn, can we go to slide eight? Because the first slide is a little bit of repetition of what Stephanie just mentioned or a little bit of amplification of what she said. Anyway, so in regard to mental health, as you see, it really has two components. One is the individual element and the other one is the social element and both complement each other. So individual they bring the ability to manage one's thoughts, emotions, behaviors and social interaction with others but also there are social, cultural, economic, political and environmental factors that also incide and affect the mental health. And here we are talking about policies, social protection, living standards, working conditions and also community social support. Next, now when you look at risk factor for mental health what the list that you see here is very similar to what Stephanie mentioned. And something that also happens when you look at number nine is the pattern of mobility. Is that many, many workers come one year to one farm and then they don't know if they are going to come back to the fall to the next farm the following year. So some of them just go from farm to farm and that creates a lot of uncertainty for every year in regard to what they are going to do with the home and also the nature of the farm where they will be working. Next, now in regard to social, our workers they have many stress or stress factors and you see them is away from home and family, social isolation and limited social support, language and cultural barriers, hours and working conditions, housing conditions and limited time and opportunity for leisure and social activities. And mental health in particular is can be quite difficult to identify, treat and overcome in the Canadian conditions. Next, then as Stephanie mentioned and your side in here here is that as you see the stressors, et cetera, very similar to the list that I listed before. So thank you and let's move to the next one. Okay, so in 2017, the center decided to implement a survey on psychological distress with the workers. So from 2017 to 2019, we survey a total of 333 workers. From this workers, 152 were from the Caribbean and 180 were from Mexico where Mexicans. Now, the survey called K6 is six questions that ask subjects to rate how often they felt over the past month on in regard to nervous, hopeless, restless or fidgety, so depressed that nothing could cheer you up what everything was an effort and finally sense of worthless. Next, and then the survey then ranks. The people who went to the survey at six levels so for psychological distress. And the first one is no psychological distress. The second one is low psychological distress. The third one is moderator, psychological distress. Then the next one is high psychological distress. And the fifth one is very high psychological distress. So let's move to the next one, please. Okay, so then with all these workers, what we found based on the survey was what you see in the graph. Now, I want to mention something before you start trying to understand this. Something that we need to acknowledge is that workers are coming from many of them are coming from very dire circumstances in their own home country. And so they leave a little stress over there when they come to Canada to work here. Now the stressors in their native country can be a little bit different than the ones here. And so what could be very stressing for a born Canadian person can be non-necessarily distressing for a non-born Canadian person. And something that I would like to share with you was that in my first years here in Canada, I remember working public health department. And at the meetings, staff meetings, I noticed that people kept talking about stress, feeling stress, I'm stressed, et cetera. And I was thinking, why are they feeling stressed? The only reason they are feeling stressed is because they are changing program and they don't know what they are going to be doing in the next two years. I come from a country that what the stress you is, if you don't know, you are going to get killed the next day. So to me, then the circumstances were so abysmally different that I tend to kind of not take very seriously the stress of the born Canadian people. However, something that I learned later is that even though the stressing factors can be different, the results can be similar. And so the stress for born Canadian people in Canadian conditions due to Canadian factors is as real as the stress of people living in much more stressing dire conditions. But then what happened with the workers? They come with a goal and a mission and they see this like this. They come to Canada to earn money, to work and earn the money that will assist them to respond to their family, social, educational needs in their home country, for themselves and for their families. So they come with this mission and when they find difficulties and challenges it's just one more challenge in my life but I'm still working. I'm still earning the money that my family needs and that situation then levels all these stressing factors that they go through. And so when you see this graph and the Mexicans are the ones like a look more like orange and the Jamaicans and Caribbean are more like a dark orange. Let's say so. And you will see that the numbers of the proportions of our workers with no stress is quite close to 20%. And then most of them are grouped in the group of the seven to 15 that is low psychological distress. And when you look then at moderate then you see that it's very similar to the non-psychological distress. And when you go to high psychological distress is I will say very low is less than 10% and very high it was very, very, the numbers were really, really low. So now this study doesn't say that Jamaicans and Caribbean are like this. This study and this graph reflects what we found with this group. So if we were looking for a bigger population there is a possibility that the nature of the graph will be different. But in this sample that we interviewed that we surveyed this is what we found. And something that also is interesting is that the differences between the Caribbean and the Mexican workers was not really significant. It was kind of similar. So can you go the next please? There was something that we also did during the interview was asking them why do you think you feel the way you feel? And we were able to group. They have comments in six areas. One area is was not working on financial. The second pharmacy behavior and attitude and work demands. Then the third one is being away from family plus family problems. The fourth one is situation with co-workers. Then we have health issues and house conditions. So can we go to the next please? So and here is the list, the number of comments. So we were able to register to record 476 comments from them. And from this as you see the not enough working hours unless income was 10% of the workers, of the comments coming from the workers. In regard to the farmers attitude and work demands was 36% the house condition was very low, 1%. Situations with co-workers were, I will say also low, 5.5%, health issues goes high, 24%. Family issues also goes high with 21%. They're related to the communities barely 2%. Now, what is interesting is that housing conditions has been very difficult for a long time. But for the worker, it's just a place to go, sleep. And then the next day, wake up, take a shower, breakfast, go to work. So it's not a place like our houses in which we socialize, we invite, we do work, et cetera. So for them it's just a moment of resting between labor days. So, but with the COVID-19, housing conditions became one of the main factors in developing outbreaks of COVID-19 in the farms. And then we realized that the housing conditions even though the workers won't be complaining too much about for Canadian standards in many places are a shame and should be modified. Now, the other issue is that the first work that you see not enough work in hours, that has to do before COVID-19 many times with the weather and they come here to work. If they don't work, they don't earn any money. So sometimes the weather didn't let them to work or the crops were growing, not at the time that we were supposed to be growing. And so they didn't have to work. So for them, then these hours, days without working imply less earnings and less money to help their families at their own country. But so if we put together the working hours and less income with the farmer activity and more demands, you will see that then those two areas that are really work related covers almost 50% of all the comments. And then what we have is the next one is the family issues. And as Stefani mentioned, they really care and fear sometimes about their families and not just about the negative things that can happen to their families, but also the fact that they are not there when there are baptisms, birthdays, weddings, et cetera, or births. Yeah, my daughter is having a baby tomorrow and I can go, I can be there. And those, that situation impacts in their lives, I mean, the field of stress here. The health issue has two elements. One is their health per se. They don't want to feel sick because nobody wants to feel sick. But also because the health condition can determine the working time, but also the possibility that they can be sent back to their home country. So then for them, health is a threat at these three levels. Can we, next please? Now, something that we did was try to identify by the topics, the proportion of comments in regards to levels of distress. And what you will see here is when you look at the three level, the low distress, the moderate, and we put together the high and very high because the low number, but because these are proportions, what you will see is that the worst demands that is the second one is the highest in this graph, is the second dark orange that you see. Then what demands that is the next one? Oh, yes. Then let me see, then health issues that is the kind of brownish and is the second last is also relatively high and family issues is also relatively high. And what you will see is that the pattern is the same with every level of distress. So for low distress, moderate and high, the proportion of boards that they have depending on the reason is kind of the same. And maybe the difference between high and moderate will be how serious is this condition or if they are able to deal with the demands that the work and the family is putting on them. Can we continue, please? So then the comments provided by workers identify three main issues. One is farmer's demands, attitude and work demands. And farmer's demand and attitude has to do sometime with the, what they say, the way the farmer is, the boss is demanding. He doesn't understand arbitrary. Sometimes he comes with some orientation and two days later he comes with something different. We never know what he's going to tell us today. That kind of situation. And they learn the difference between farmers in regard to different owners. Sometimes at the same season, they're exposed to two different management from the farmers and they are different. That also sometimes can be a different in regard to demands at the work level. Then the second one is health issues and the third one is family issues. Now, what is interesting is that it's my understanding that for Mexican workers, they need to have a family to apply to the program with the Caribbean, not necessarily, but still the family issues is the same for both. It doesn't matter if they don't have a direct responsibility, they still worry and care about their families from here. Next one, please. So then with COVID-19, what we see happening is that the elements that becomes a risk factor for mental health just become accentuated during this past season. And this is based in the conversation that we had with workers last year, 2020. So one was, and this was really high, is the high level of uncertainty in regard to what was going to happen to them and to their work. They come and they get into quarantine. And then after the quarantine, some of them get symptoms and they continue isolated. And so, but also they go back to the farm and then in the bunghouse where they are, there is one more positive case. And then the whole group goes to quarantine again and they kept thinking and asking, what will happen with us? Are we going to have some income during quarantine? Are we going to have the same income after the quarantine, et cetera? And that levels of uncertainty was a big stress factor in their lives last year. The other situation was that COVID-19, because it's a pandemic, it's not just in Canada, but also in their home country, there is COVID-19. And they were worried about what was happening with them. Are they going to get sick in regard to COVID-19? But also on top of that, the health of their family, not only about COVID-19 related, but other issues in regard to health. Then the levels of isolation that is per se, high for many workers in Canada when they come to the program, became even higher with COVID-19. There were farms that didn't let workers to leave the farm. And some farms, they organized the living workers to do shopping, they organized and they controlled it. It was just the bus to the town shopping back. So the time to socialize and to mingle and to see the town, the city, et cetera, is not there anymore. So isolation was multiplied during that period. Then the third one is the housing conditions. Before they were not okay, but they say, okay, it's just during the night. But when they realized that housing conditions is one of the main factors in getting sick and getting the virus, then the housing condition becomes a big stressing factor with them. And probably that something is happening right now. Of course, all these things also increase the fear of perpetuation. So what happened if I'm in quarantine and get into another quarantine? I'm going to stay here or I'm going to leave? What happened if I start with symptoms? Will my boss send me back to Mexico, to Jamaica, to Trinidad? So that kind of questioning that is against threats. And for some who were able to see, to go to the town, et cetera, the social discrimination and harassment. As Stephanie mentioned, many in the community saw the workers not at risk, but rather as a risk for the virus. And so there were places in which they didn't want to have the workers visiting them. And also comments talking about that they are bringing the virus, don't let them come here to the town, et cetera. And of course, everybody on the farm is going through this situation and that increases the levels of stress within the farm with co-workers. But also we need to not to forget that workers and farmers are part of this dichotomy. And if the farmer is also stressed because the situation that the virus is creating for his or her business, that will impact also his behavior and demands on the workers. And so here we have this mutual stress conditions in which the one who exercise more control, they intend to load even more stress on the other group. And finally, the COVID pandemic factors in their own country. Can you go to the next one, please? All right, we know all these. So they need service, they need to address the issue. However, there are various to provide services to them. One is the mental health stigma that Stephanie already mentioned. The other one is concerns of losing paid work time. If I talk about my symptoms, lack of transportation. The health workers don't go to the farm. They need to go to the health worker. Lack of knowledge on mental health services, cultural and language barriers, and lack of mental care available and accessible. Because both can be quite different. There is availability, but they are not accessible because they don't speak Spanish. So then it doesn't matter. Next one, please. And I believe this is the last one. And while we talk about issues, the strategy to address the mental health of workers. One is to provide referrals to mental health services, provision of transportation, developing and providing cultural, sensitive mental health resources, implementing culturally and linguistically health education outreach, clinical settings during farm visits, social settings, and others. And I see here a role for, for example, the Cairo Center in Zincor. That can be a place in which the workers come and get information regarding mental health. Then collaborating with other agencies serving the workers, implementing mental health services delivered during the evenings and weekend hours, train clinic staff on workers culturally rooted, conceptions around and culturally sensitive approaches to mental health. Health workers needs to learn more about this. And the last one to me is as good as probably three of them, we need to find ways of addressing the working and living conditions of the farmers. Because the main stress in normal times come from there. Okay, so this is my presentation. Thank you. Even though I didn't list my email address, I will send it to Jaleen. So then you can send any question if necessary or you want to learn more about this. Okay, so thank you again. I thank you to Cairos for this opportunity. Yes. Thank you, Esayo. That was wonderful. Okay, everyone. So it's 1.57 now. I'll give just a few more moments for folks to come back. But once we do, I'd like to invite Connie to introduce our next speaker. So Connie can maybe begin in a moment. Thank you very much, Jaleen. And also thank you very much, Stephanie and Eliseo for your great presentations. I learned a lot and I hope that everyone else in the webinar today are appreciative and learning from your presentations. Our next speaker is special. She has joined us in the previous two webinars and kind of just a silent participant. But the last webinar, she spoke up on the channel and I would like to introduce Felina Pereira. She is a migrant worker in the Norfolk, Howdy Mountain County. And I also would like to recognize that Brett is with us this afternoon. Brett, sure, is the owner of the farm that Felina is working. And so I would like to call on Felina to share your experience and thoughts around how mental health or how COVID-19 is affecting the mental health of migrant workers. Thank you so much, Felina. Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Felina Pereira and I'm a migrant farm worker from Trinidad and Tobago. I've been coming to Canada eight years now. I started in 2013. And this year with COVID-19, it's been a really stressful year for me having to come to Canada. It all started back in March, 2020. It was on my mind wondering if I'd be able to come to Canada to be able to provide for my family back in Trinidad. The stress started and anxiety started with wondering if we would get flights out to Trinidad. There was the fear of coming on the airplane, wearing a mask, the fear of contracting COVID. And then after being able to come here in July, it was the next stress of being in quarantine for two weeks. It was something donning on me, like just being in quarantine, being in a... I didn't stay in a hotel room. I stayed on the farm because we allowed three persons to bunk house for quarantine. It was just being isolated, being in the bunk house for 14 days. You can't come out, you're cordoned off with some flags around the bunk houses, but we were able to just come out and get some fresh air. And it was still like a mind game for me. And then, okay, I started to work for the past couple of months. That's July, like four months or so into, four or five months into the harvest. We had an outbreak on the farm. That messed with me a lot. Having the outbreak on the farm and then having your article because that's positive. And then me, I tested negative, but the most stressful thing for me was getting the COVID test done, having that Qtip go into your nose. It was really, really stressful for me, but it just, I just had to wait it out. We told that isolation and then after your test come back and then my whole household that I was living in was negative. And it made me feel really, really happy, but I was still sort of sad to hear that maybe three or four persons who I would usually work with, they tested positive. And then after something else that would usually work on me, like would have me stressed out, it's just like having to deal with being away for my kids in Trinidad and trying to still be a parent by helping them out with schoolwork, but online, having to talk about, like to figure out what to do. You know, it was just really been a way and having to deal with COVID and having to deal with your family back home. It was, it's still hard for me because I'm still not too sure if what's happening back home in Trinidad. And I'm still not to show what's happening here in Canada for migrant farm workers. We're not too sure if we're gonna get vaccinated. So I still have to deal with COVID and the restrictions and still trying to isolate myself from co-workers wearing a mask and all that. And the most worrying thing is just wondering if I'll be able to get vaccinated. And that's just it for me. Thank you. Thank you for sharing your experiences, Belina. And if folks, if you have any questions, we have one more speaker that you can start to put your questions in the chat, especially for Felina as she needs to leave a bit earlier. So I will introduce our next speaker. It is my pleasure to introduce our last speaker, Jazer Montalano. Jazer is a registered nurse. He did his training in the Philippines and came to Canada as an international student. He is currently studying at Lambton College where he's enrolled in the Advanced Healthcare Leadership Program, which integrates care theories under current practices that are responsive to a variety of cultures, behavior, situations, and environments. And the program core concepts of leadership quality and improvements to patient safety are explored to achieve enhanced patient outcomes. In addition to being a student, Jazer is a frontline worker, currently providing care as a personal support worker at a long-term care home in Scarborough. He's also one of the members of staff that responds to staff shortages for other long-term care homes. Thank you for joining us today, Jazer. Hello, hi, everyone. I'm Jazer. I am an international student. And as we all know, we are currently doing online courses that makes working going to school doable and possible. We are already doing it for two semesters. We can say that we are already adjusted to it. I hope my experience will contribute something to our webinar today. As a responsible student before coming to Canada, we should have to think mainly of these things, namely our study, our living costs, accommodations, and our potential expenses. But sadly, the COVID pandemic devastated it all. Like the amount of stress greatly affects my mental health. Feeling anxious about everything was growing every day. And day after day in a foreign country, optimal spending is necessary. Eventually, my reserve resources were depleting and I was in crisis. The only option I had was to find any kind of job for me to sustain. Cast jobs from cleaning works, line works, food manufacturing, assembling, printing works, and many others. I tried them all. And I remember how hard it was for me as an international student when everybody was looking for jobs too. Everything is on lockdown, everything's closed. And with this kind of jobs, what's bothering me was people saying that it was illegal, it has to be declared and should be taxed. So I stopped immediately. So the thought of me doing illegal things in a foreign country wears me from inside and out. Fears and anxiety are on me. My immigration status as a student with work restrictions made my mental health vulnerable to stress. Then I said to myself, as if I have a choice, all I did was for my survival. I'm a health professional way back home in the Philippines and I'm very much willing to share my skills and contribute to health care. From a Facebook post, a friendship was formed and I was referred and connected to ma'am Connie here from Kairos. She said, if I'm willing to work in a long-term care facility, I said, yes, she added, it's a long-term care with a COVID outbreak. I still said, yes, it's an opportunity for me to help and practice my skills. The nursing home was in dire need of staff and I was interviewed by 10 a.m. that day and asked to report at 10 p.m. that same day. Just imagine how the dire need of manpower. It was crazy. Two died on my first day. My first day was a 16-hour shift because no one is willing to report anymore. The work demands all of me be it physically, spiritually, and emotionally. After, and not to mention the social discrimination every time I declared that I'm working in a nursing home. While working and seeing someone died at my side, my fear started to grow. What if I will get infected too? Is Canada has something for me? Do I have safety benefits? That's the questions bothering me. Unfortunately, after two weeks with all the precautions and PPEs, I get infected too. My fear was put on the surface. It's one of my unforgettable moments when the public health called me to just stay in my room for two weeks. Just imagine, I'm new in Canada. No friends, no relatives, and no information about the services support from somewhere else. I think this is like from Stephanie said earlier, the lack of connections. This is it. The worst was the fear of death in a foreign country where I was not even on their insured list. It was a nightmare. Fortunately, it happened with minimal symptoms. My family forbids me to work again, but the long-term care also needs me more. I see it positively. That there are no more suitable workers than us who survive the virus and get immunity from it. So I stay. So I believe that international students contribute a fair share to Canada's economy, but sadly, we are exempted from the government's relief program. Canadians in this time of the pandemic are naturally caring and thoughtful and highly appreciative for the past response to those who are vulnerable. I, as one of the many international students serving the Canadians hope that the system should be taken as part of the vulnerable. Also, in behalf of all migrant workers, those without status and the undocumented, I hope that in this pandemic, the light of cooperation and collaboration will shine more. We hope that the access to the social service benefits and benefits should be for all. May it be Canadians or migrant workers since COVID-19 restricts no labor. I am thankful to the groups like Kairos that lend their ears to us. Thank you. Thank you so much, Jazer. Thank you for sharing your experience and also thank you to all of our speakers who came to share their experience and their research today. We're gonna move into the question and answer period now. So you can write your questions in the chat. You can use the raise hand feature or unmute yourself and ask a question from our panel as well. Connie, was there something? Yes, go ahead, Connie. Yes. First of all, really thank you so much, Felina and Jazer for taking the risk of sharing your stories and further enlightening us on the real impact of a mental health during the pandemic. We at Kairos and everyone here at this webinar recognizes and will always be there to be able to provide support and services. But it's only listening and hearing your stories that make this so real for us, to us, in order for many others to take action as well. Before we go on opening the floor for a question and answer, I also would like to recognize Tracey Glinn. She is with us. Tracey is from New Brunswick and involved in this project on health for migrant workers in the Maritimes. Tracey, I would like to invite you to just, you know, say briefly about the research work that you and the friends in the Maritimes are doing and how this is contributing to the overall conversation that we're having today. OK, thank you so much, Connie. I'm going to be really quick. So I just, first of all, I want to thank all the panelists and Kairos and Stephanie for this very informative and important panel. Like Connie said, I'm part of a research team based at Dalhousie University and St. Thomas University in partnership with Kairos, the Filipino Community Organization of New Brunswick, the Cooper Institute in PEI and UFCW that is looking at the health and safety of temporary foreign workers in the Maritimes. So our team is collecting data from interviews with temporary foreign workers. Our preliminary findings drawn from interviews, mostly with participants in PEI, but also New Brunswick, show that COVID protective measures are being consistently, sorry, inconsistently applied for temporary foreign workers. As Alicia mentioned in his presentation with COVID, migrant workers are still experiencing overcrowding and inadequate housing conditions. And that's something that's been coming up in our research with the PEI temporary foreign workers. So many workers have also told us about precarious occupational conditions and some have experienced illegal recruitment and employment practices where much of the costs of employment are also being put on the workers. So what we're finding as we expected is that profits are trumping concerns about worker health and safety during COVID and that the pandemic unfortunately did not change what was also the case before. And also what we're noticing too in the, I'm based in Frederton in New Brunswick is that the media and public discourse on temporary foreign workers and COVID is focused on how bands or potential bands on temporary foreign workers could affect local food supplies and farmers and missing or what's not the center of the stories or discourse are the migrant workers who are laboring on our farms or food processing plants. So I'll put in the chat room, I'll put the website to our research project and thank you again to Connie for giving me the space to talk about our research. Thank you for sharing that. So that will be in the chat. Now we can open up our question and answer period. I see that we've already had a few questions in the chat so I'll begin with those. But once more, you can write in the chat your question. You can go under reactions and there's a raise hand feature and I'll be able to see that you have your hand raised and call upon you. But feel free to engage, have our works for you. So there is one question. It says, on regards to the vaccination, are the workers stressed out for being or not being vaccinated? I believe that Felina touched on that a little bit in her portion, but maybe Jazza or even Felina, if you had something else to add to that. Hello. Yes, go ahead, Felina. Workers are stressed out. Is we wondering, a bunch of us wondering if we're going to be vaccinated because Trinidadian workers were stuck here all of Lassie and a lot of persons weren't able to fly home because the borders were closed at the end of Lassie when the season was over. So we're here and we got renewed work limits and the next question that's just laying in everybody's mind is if we're going to be vaccinated or is it that we're going to be left without the vaccination? Yes, thank you for sharing that. So we had another question. This one is for Ileseo. It says, on regards to what Ileseo was saying about how stressful it is for the workers not to know if they'll be paid, if they had to do a second quarantine or if they will have to be sent to their country if they get sick. Could you please clarify what would happen in those cases? Are they getting paid if they had to quarantine? Are they sent back home? So workers upon their post-arrival quarantine are paid quarantine pay. That is clearly laid out as a preventative or a protocol measure for newly arrived workers. If workers are, so there's two different ways in which a worker might be affected by COVID directly after that and one would be to contract COVID themselves which then would require not only a period of isolation but also a period of recovery in which case in Ontario that would be a worker's compensation claim. And there have been some efforts made through the WSIB here to address those in an expedited way for employers to process those kinds of situations quickly. If a worker is impacted by an outbreak on the farm but not personally ill, that's where Canada's CRSB is accessible to workers to cover a 14 day period of isolation. The process by which one might apply for that in terms of its accessibility would be varied by region and by farm and by technology and connectivity and supports. Certainly repatriation is always a concern but I would say a sick worker who is sick with COVID who tested positive would not be sent home immediately. There would definitely be public health protocols in place but that does not guarantee that after a worker is recovering from COVID that they may not be sent home if they're not able to integrate back into work. Go ahead, Alicia. Yes, something that I would like to mention too is that what I understood last year and I had to be honest with you, the information sometimes is very clear and sometimes it's clear that your knowledge that information is real. So they have this for the quarantine the federal government provided money for the farmers to pay for the COVID quarantine time. And so within this it was the income for the workers that was not the total number of hours multiplied by the basic salary. But it was less than that but also when they go into quarantine in many cases the workers get deduction for their full. And so then the money that they get when they are in quarantine can be quite low and not to cover too much expenses or even to assist with the family where they are from. So theoretically they should be covered but in practice the level of financial coverage that they have is can be quite limited. In regard to the fear to be deported when it's not really deported send back to I think that here the reality sometimes is kind of has some strange sense of humor. In practice, I'm not talking about what is legal in practice the farmer has all the power to send the worker to home. What doesn't let happen doesn't let him or her to do it is because now all the countries are aware of the COVID-19 and it's not just an issue to take the flight ticket go to the plane and flight because there is all this public restriction. And so in normal circumstances, average circumstances the worker will be sent back to the country but now they can't because this condition and this all these regulations that are now in place. So in a way it works to protect the worker maybe not with that intention but the final result is protect the workers to free to be sent to the home country. And so the workers stays. Thank you Esau. And I see that Ana Jensi has the hand raised so Ana if you'd like to ask your question. Oh hi, I just want to introduce myself. My name is Ana and I work for Options Community Services in BC and I would like to say thank you to Stephanie and Martel for the presentation. And I can tell you about the experience that I'm working with a few farms helping TFWs and they were like quarantine during Christmas time. And you know like Christmas and New Year Eve and we were able to bring dinners to where they were doing the quarantine at the hotels that's something that's a little bit helped them to be a little bit like happy because it was Christmas Eve and New Year and being quarantined away from the family and in a room by their home. It's something that affect them really mentally. And I liked the presentation that Stephanie was talking to Martel about what they left behind because they come here to work but they left their family. And during the quarantine like many like I can see like it's the farmers don't let them go out. They want them to be in this like maybe safe house I don't know how they call it but they don't let them to go shopping and they make arrangement from some people to bring their grocery to where they're living. And that's increasing the mental health because they are being isolated. And that's like, yeah, as Martel say that they cannot send them back because there is no flights. There's no way to go back right now. There is no from here like from BC normally they go through Mexico and there is no flight to Mexico now they has to go all the way to Toronto and then Toronto Panama and then Guatemala and that's expensive for them to send them back. And something that I would like to pay more attention is like sometimes they don't express how they're feeling because they are scared, no? But I had an issue yesterday and the worker told me that her mom went to surgery like a few days ago and she's sick. And I was asking him, do you wanna go and visit her? And then he asked me like, no, I cannot do that because I'm the one supporting her economically, no? Like if he stopped working then his mom won't have the medication that she require right now, no? And sometimes we don't pay attention to what's going on with them because they are here working but they have family back home that is going through illness or other situation, no? And that is affecting them the same way that affect us even though we are here, like there is problem at home we don't work the same as we normally do, no? And that's something that we has to maybe create more, I don't know, maybe, I don't know, through virtual meeting, helping them or more like having someone that can talk about anxiety, how to cope with all those mental illness that they might be going through, no? Because it's not easy for them just to come here and work from long hours, like maybe 12 hours a day and they just go home to sleep and then the next day they have to be working again and no one is paying attention to what they're going through. And I think that's why I like this, thank you for doing this, this is teaching us how to work with the TFW, how to work with people who are here, no? Because sometimes we don't pay attention to those what they need, no? And this is like, I don't know, for me it's a very good presentation that I might be able to put in practice when I'm supporting the TFW. I didn't have a question, just want to say thank you. Okay. Thank you, Anna. So I'm gonna go back to the chat as we have some other comments and questions in there. So Jane Andres said, I'd like to add that increased surveillance and security cameras at bunk houses has greatly added to the stress levels. And then there's another comment from Donna Brown that says, from my conversations, many workers are stressed about the vaccine because of myths and distrust. And we have a question actually about the vaccine, which is, do you know when they will be vaccinated in Ontario? And they, in this case, I assume refers to temporary migrant workers. In terms of vaccinations scheduling for Ontario, I know they're on a priority list as essential workers, but I don't know the timelines according to the province's rollout. I do know in BC, some farms and some groups of workers have already been vaccinated. And I know that the Mexican government is looking to continue that in BC, but in Ontario, I'm not quite sure yet, but they're on the list. They started yesterday. Thanks, Jane. Hi, Stephanie. Yes, one large farm was vaccinated yesterday. A lot of anxiety and texts and requests for prayer coming in all day yesterday because the guys were very scared. Their employer was good. He said that they had a choice and so they talked together and they decided that they would. And the employer also said that as soon as it's available, he'll be, him and his family will be getting vaccinations as well. But what some of them have expressed is they believe that they've got a whole different set of risks for getting vaccinated that we do as Canadians. So when I told them that my 92-year-old mother got it and there's no side effects, they said, yes, but she's white and she doesn't have diabetes or high blood pressure. She doesn't have to worry about sickle cell anemia. She doesn't have to worry about asthma. These are all things we're worried about and another very high stress level I might just add as well. In some of the hotels, the diets are very, very bad. We're talking about french fries with a bag of chips for lunch. This is at the Ramada in Niagara Falls. For people with high blood pressure and diabetes, it's so dangerous, but there's nowhere to appeal to. They said it's the employer and public health that are in charge of determining their diets there, but nobody is responsible. So that's also a huge stressor for people in quarantine that they're putting themselves at risk just by having to rely on such poor diets and no ability to open a window or move. So that's a bit of an aside from the vaccinations, but there are those additional concerns about the vaccinations that they don't know how safe they are in light of their own personal health histories and their relationship with Canadian health systems here. They've been lied to a lot in clinics in our area or particular doctors. So they really have difficulty trusting. They're worried if they get side effects from this, will they be sent home and lose their jobs? So that's what's happening in Niagara that way, but the vaccinations have started somehow. Thank you very much for that information, Jane. And I just think what Jane raises is a very, very important point for workers from the Caribbean, their own personal life histories, the history of the way certain populations have been targeted by medical officials in the development of certain vaccines over the course of history is never forgotten by workers from the Caribbean. And so when we talk about providing vaccinations to workers, we need to provide them with all of the information that they need that is culturally sensitive and provides them with the opportunity to make an informed choice. And one thing that we're just, while we're on this topic, because vaccine hesitancy is something that exists in this population, we don't wanna see any employers making choices about which workers to retain or recall based on their own individual willingness to be vaccinated. And I think that's something that has some mental health concerns for workers, most certainly in terms of, are they able to make a choice? And in making that choice, what are they risking? And is it a trade-off? And so these are just, this year's mental health concerns are very much tied to vaccines. And then also thinking about the vaccine being a two-shot vaccine and the vaccines that we have here may not be the vaccines that are in sending countries. And so some concerted effort has to be made to be sure that workers are able to, if they do start one vaccine, they have the second of the same vaccine. So there's a few concerns that we all have to think about in this transnational context and taking into account people's cultural conceptions of themselves as well. Thanks, Jane. Can I add a line or two here to the conversation? Yes, go ahead. Okay, Gabriel is my name. Thanks for all those panelists, especially the workers. Couple of things, Jane just touched on them. And I'm pretty sure that have been the common thread. Somebody, Jane, spoke about culturally-appropriate food, access to that. And we know with the virus and with health and well-being, keeping our immune system health is really, really important. And what is the best way than to eat properly, right? And during quarantine, 14 days of quarantine, just to be dependent on somebody's supply needs something which is totally different to what you're accustomed to. And that is a really important point. I just want to repeat it for emphasis. That's powerful. How do we work around that? That is important. I'll tell you why. There are so many cases where the workers were coming in this year. For the first, well, as a result of last year, the farmers, the system is now trying to help the workers to access culturally-appropriate food. That is important. That's huge. However, in some of the instances that I'm coming across, whereas the food is culturally-appropriate, but the quantities is one. The quantities of food that have been provided to the workers is not sufficient to last in the 14 days, one. And the cost that they've been charged is really exorbitant. So the workers are not happy with the quantity to last in 14 days because during that time, they cannot go and access it, right? That is what they have and they have to make it do. And the charge, the cost attached to it is a headache to them. So that is one. Another issue is power imbalance. There's so much power. We know that there's a lot of fear in the program, right? There's a lot of power imbalance. Before COVID, the farmer usually, most times with a company, the workers to access healthcare. With COVID, what would happen? What is happening? The farmer is still involved. So there's that kind of pressure added to the worker, right? Because remember, the worker is tied. The workers are tied to the employer and they have to please the employer, right? So there's a lot of pressure. So where's the pressure? There's high power imbalance and that is a significant pressure on the worker and that does not bring, that does not make the situation better for the workers. And these are important things, in getting healthcare, accessible healthcare in a manner that is easy, free and in the worker's best interest. That is my opinion. Thank you. And I see, I say that you are unmuted if there's something you'd like to add or... Yes, this is in regard to the vaccine. I won't be surprised that my understanding is that in BC, it's not mandatory. Now, in regard to the vaccine, I believe that we need to probably do more education about the vaccine in regard to myths and beliefs about the vaccine to at least to prevent that workers make a decision based on limited information. They have the right to make a decision but it has to be an informed decision. But if the information that you get is only the bad thing that can happen with the vaccine, then it's a misinformed decision. So we need to provide that and just would like to mention something here and I don't know if Eduardo is still with us but he just circulated yesterday a set of fact sheets about the vaccine and I had a chance to just browse one of them in English. And I got the impression that it probably has a good information for the workers and maybe it will be good to look at them. Maybe we can use that information for the workers because he's already there. So just a comment. Thank you. And I see that Eduardo does have his hand up. So Eduardo, if you'd like to go next. I'm sure, yeah, thank you so much. And this is an amazing event. Yeah, I had helped put together some vaccine information. I'll put them into the chat here to share them. So we worked a lot with a group in Toronto. It's a group of doctors that verified all the information and a newcomer, a set of newcomer and refugee organizations that are also trying to get the key information out to newcomer communities in different languages. And there's actually a resource that they're developing that specifically talks about how this vaccine has been tested in terms of groups from different diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. So we're looking at maybe pulling that information to share to show that it has been to kind of help a little bit with that confidence. But I'll put the resources in the chat. But the last thing I was gonna say too is that we've been really trying to push public health to ensure that there's a lot of time or way before vaccination is actually offered that they need to start communicating before, like advanced communication with workers. So workers feel that they're not pressured. They understand the process because if this is happening fast, you get to the concerns of having people feel like they're rushed to make a decision. So I think if anybody has context to public health units to echo that and as not even a best practice just as something that they 100% should be doing, but yeah, I'll include the links here soon. I'm just having trouble with the links but I'll include them here. And any feedback on those resources would be great. We, for example, because of everything that's happening with the AstraZeneca vaccine and the concerns around that and the news coverage around blood clots, there was a lot of concern that there'd be a lot of worry about that vaccine and that vaccine might actually be the one offered because it's the one that moves is easier to transport. So the Toronto-based group again is looking at developing a fact sheet in different languages specifically talking about AstraZeneca to try to show that there's still evidence to look at ensuring that it's safe and but to still provide people with all the evidence, right? So they can make a decision. So, and ultimately that it's their decision, no one can be forced, right? So, but yeah, I'll share that. But thank you so much. This is a great event. Thank you, Eduardo. And thank you for sharing those resources. I'm gonna go to Connie next. Connie. Thank you, Jaylen. I just wanted to check in with Felina. You mentioned that you're living at 2.30, 2.30, so yeah, if you're still okay and if you have to leave soon, we just wanted to say thank you and we hope to see you again. The other thing is that the question written on the chart, if there is a need to raise awareness among employers about mental health issues, I was checking in the participants list and was about to invite Brett Shuler to chime in, but I think he left already. But yeah, that is something that we would like to look at in terms of, thus, would employers need support or awareness around mental health? Maybe, you know, the future webinars, that's something that we can look at. Felina, are you still okay to join or you have to go? I've seen that you've moved your camera or your computer outside. I'm gonna head back to work. I just wanna say thank you to everybody for having me and have me sharing my experience here working in Canada. And thank you again, everybody. Thank you, Felina. Bye. Bye. All right, well, thank you everyone. So I'm gonna be moving over to the chat as we have quite a few questions in there. So one question from Susan James is if we can only do one thing to advocate for some relief or improvement, what would be the most important thing, strategy or service to push for? That's a short question with a huge amount of thinking to one thing. I think in the context of COVID right now, the first thing that could be done, and it's easy to say, difficult to do and requires various efforts from various people of the public health or a health professional, like a health promoter through a community health center. A health professional needs to be tasked in each community or province with monitoring the health and wellness of workers, giving workers a chance to articulate their concerns around health, broadly conceived, physical health, mental health in an environment that is safe and with someone who is qualified to in the sense that they understand the specific issues migrant workers face, but also the precarity of their situation here and the way that that precarity affects how they navigate health services, including mental health services. And so I mean, and it's hard to separate mental health from physical health in this context, if not impossible. And so in this case, I think somebody monitoring, a health professional monitoring the health and wellness of workers through the season would provide not just the physical reassurances that there was mechanisms in place if a worker becomes sick or has a question, and that that level of reassurance as a first step would reduce some of the stress workers feel and experience in relation to the precarity of their bodies during COVID. But that would really be just a COVID stop gap because really a lot of these mental health issues are tied to huge systemic structural conditions that are embedded in the program and that have just sort of been exposed and made worse by COVID. So it's an ongoing dialogue, but I think right now this year we need someone to help care for workers. Go ahead and say it. I probably will follow what Stephanie was saying. There are individual and contextual elements. So the individual probably is through services that we can offer. And by this what I mean is that mental health is stigma not only in those countries, it's also stigma here in Canada. And that means that even for someone to acknowledge that it has a mental health issue will be difficult challenge. So that means that then for the workers, but the first thing is that the worker probably needs to learn more about themselves in regard to that yes, I'm going through this is more than stress I have to do something about it. But that doesn't have any value if there is no something waiting for him or her to react. So she or he can then go to talk to look at, et cetera. So, and this is even though kind of similar to the physical health is probably more challenging because the society, our society per se is also that way. So it's a parallel, your design is different, but it's the same attitude. So that's one thing. The second one is the contextual element. And something that we need to be clear here is that the COVID-19, the only thing that COVID-19 have done is to accentuate all the negatives and dysfunctional elements that the program has. And by this, I don't mean the farmer, it's the program. The program has even developed, I will say from a very colonialistic perspective. And something that the program does is that creates a total and even condition of control between the farmer and the worker. And so many farmers are okay with that and they don't abuse that situation. They are fair with the workers, they provide services, et cetera. So it's not the farmer per se, it's the nature of the program that allow those things to happen. And so when we talk about the contextual thing, we need to address the contextual things that are in that program. Because then that can provide a deterrent to the abusive farmer to do it and will support the farmers who don't. And that is something that we need to keep remembering because in one year, we hope COVID-19 will be a sad memory. But the workers are still coming to Canada within that program. And if those conditions doesn't change, we are going to go back to the same situation just minimal, for us, maximal for the workers. So that is something that if everything that we do is able to create that conscious and then the purpose of keep working on this, I think that that will be good enough. And I will also support Stephanie that to have an immediate response to the workers, it can be quite challenging, to be honest. Sometimes I even working in the clinic, et cetera, feel a little like that. I don't know, not very motivated because there are so many things that we need to change. But we need to keep doing it. Yeah. Thank you, Liseo. I see Connie that you have your hand up. Thank you very much, Liseo and Stephanie, for your responses, input and thoughts. And Susan, as you can probably see, there is no short answer to your question. And this has been what migrant support organizations and advocates had been working on throughout the years looking at the policies and the program and the systemic problems embedded on it. But I would like to start though with saying that, the current support, the current funding that we receive from the government to support temporary foreign workers during COVID-19 is a positive step in terms of being able to mobilize and support community organizations and support groups that are already providing support to migrant workers, have built relationships with them over the years. So the infusion of this funding enables community groups and partners to be able to do more work. And I know that we, community partners are very committed doing this underground with or without the funding. And this also provides visibility to the work that is being done underground. Unfortunately though, we only have until June 30th to continue this type of work and support and funding from the government. And as we already experienced or seeing underground and the fact that we're having these webinars, and workers are also community partners are also rolling out information sessions and workshops directed to migrant workers and providing welcome, welcome bags and so forth is again, a good start, a good step forward. But we need more of this, more support, support more participation from the general public, the community to let this information out, to get ourselves aware of what's happening with the workers who come here, to make sure that we have food on the table, we have care workers working in long-term care facilities, looking after children and our children are elderly. And so this is what we're hoping to achieve in a short period of time, provide the information, mobilize more support and hopefully more changes, more positive changes would happen as far as policy, government policies are concerned. So yes, let's keep this going and let's keep the conversation going and the collaboration of working together. Thank you, Connie. The next question that we have in the chat is, is there a standard amount of farmers are required to pay workers while in quarantine? We have to realize that while workers are in quarantine, they're still supporting their families. Secondly, no provision was made for them to emit money while in quarantine in the event of an emergency. So, gratefully, the Kairos project has allowed the people on the ground, some of us in community groups and certain organizations to distribute this information through webinars and information sessions and workshops to workers. So Service Canada and the government of Canada has clarified that in post-arrival quarantine, workers must be paid a minimum of the 30 hours per week at the regular hourly rate of pay. The payment for this time period is not an advance and cannot be re-backed by the employer. This is quarantine pay. If you're a seasonal worker, this pay is not part of the guaranteed 240 hours. It is on top of your minimum 240 hours. So just to, that's the government information right there and I wonder, do I have something after that? Okay, so quarantine pay. Employers can make regular deductions, notably workers in quarantine are responsible for the cost of their food. So although employers are helping with that and some regions have others helping with that as well, if the employer is providing the food, it can be deducted from the pay. And so those are the information on quarantine pay for right now. Notably, any workers on quarantine cannot be asked to do administrative tasks. So if say they were employed on a farm in a capacity as a laborer and now they're in quarantine, they can't be asked to start working, doing administrative tasks. They are not to work while in quarantine. Thank you for sharing that, Stephanie. The next question that we had, I think is a two-parter. I'll read the whole thing off and then can answer the questions one by one. So the next question was, what about the workers who have been laid off because of COVID, which have resulted in a workers permanent residency application and being rejected and their plans for family reunification being delayed? I'm aware of one worker in the situation. The situation has caused her emotional distress. Should more direct pathways for permanent residency be added to the list of recommendations? The worker I know was hoping that Trudeau would have compassion and approve the permanent residency applications for workers laid off due to COVID. So I can repeat the first question, which is about the workers who have been laid off due to COVID and this has resulted in a rejection or a delay in family reunification and permanent residency applications? So in terms of pathways to permanent residency, I think that most certainly we should be at the level of the government considering ways to increase individual security and people's rights and abilities to move and settle their families where they need to work. And I think that there has been a lot of debate about permanent residency and does it undermine the context and the purpose of this program? And so a few things that should be noted, I mean, workers should have the option and recognizing that not all workers will choose to settle their families here, but having the ability to move your family back and forth along the patterns of family need when there's births and deaths and to have these kinds of rights and labor protections the way that a Canadian would in the same context, I think that's really important. And I think developing pathways to permanent residency that are more accessible and that recognize not just the long standing contribution that many individuals make over their lives working here for decades on end, but the ways that those individuals imbue communities here with not just economic resources, they're spending the money oftentimes that they make here to purchase things and send back home, but to recognize people as whole persons with families and to not ask workers to make such an incredible trade-off in their own family lives in order that we here might feed our families with less distress or concern. So yes, I'm hugely supportive of new and increased access to existing pathways to permanent residency. At least Sarah Connie, I'm not sure if you wanted to also add onto that. Connie go ahead. Tracy, I'm wondering if, you know, you can ask the person who was affected, you know, who was laid off and her permanent residency application has been rejected. If you can share that, we can appeal it. We don't want to see another worker committing suicide just because, you know, the application for permanent residency where the impacts of COVID and the person's mental health is so enormous that the person cannot cope it. I'm referring to a migrant caregiver who committed suicide in Alberta early this year because of, you know, the refusal or the very long processing and the uncertainty of becoming a permanent resident and being reunited with, you know, with her family. So we want to emphasize, we don't want to see any more, you know, unnecessary deaths like that. Can I add to this conversation? Yes, of course. Earlier, we heard from the Trini worker, sorry that she had to leave early. We heard about her difficulty in helping her daughter, her children with assignments, right? I'm from the Caribbean and all descendants of migrant workers or migrants would know that that common thing in the Caribbean, we call it brain drain. And in the case of migrant workers, we call it the barrel baby, whether we rely on remittances and gives that a cent to us, right? Can you imagine the likely trouble? And I'm pretty sure that's the purpose of that webinar to create hope, right? And whether it's fear, what is life with fear and what is life with hope? And that's the purpose of the webinar to create hope. And that's why I want to really give really kudos to Kairos because the migrant workers, the vulnerable people in Canada, they impacted yet still, they impacted, but yet still they're not, the issues are not being addressed or listened to. And that's what Kairos is doing. The fact that they have workers on this panel right now, that is telling you that, you know, that is a program, that is an organization that is geared towards bringing hope to people. In going back to the issue of the trainee worker, the difficulty of helping her children with a cybers back home. How do you do that? Is there software to do that? How do you do that? And she herself is in a difficult situation. Can you imagine her situation? That is kind of similar to the same Trinidadians. Okay, being a migrant worker, we could not access EI. We cannot access EI in Canada. Here, you heard from the Trinidadian a while ago because after the contract ended, the bodies were closed, they couldn't go home. So a lot of Trinidadians were stranded in Canada. Hey, the migrants are workers who are telling Canada, you tell me when I go home, I cannot access EI. Here am I in Canada? I need to access EI. You know what Canada said? Or you need to have a work permit, blah, blah, blah, they keep on changing the rules and make it difficult, difficult, difficult. Eventually the workers were able to access EI because of pressure, because of pressure of organizers on the ground. And the same thing with the issue Cornie just mentioned of a case of suicide because there's no hope, there's so much fear built and it's because of man made rules, man made rules. And it's only because of pressure, because of pressure that will cause the government to change. And that is what I'm hoping to come out there to bring hope into the program, to bring hope to people who are vulnerable and precarious, right? And how can we do that? We can do that in so many ways, but ultimately it's not just laws, not just policies of the politician. That is what we need to change. And so we have to think of creative ways to change to push the hands of the politician. Because what they're saying, that's not an issue in my writing because we cannot vote, right? My government workers cannot vote. So we'll listen to us. It's you that the citizens, it's you the consumer that can push the politician. So I'm hoping that will come out of this session. Thanks. Thank you, Gabriel. Go ahead, Cornie. Yeah, thank you very much, Gabriel. Those are the kind of words, inspiration and prodding that we need to hear more. I just wanted to, I was hoping that Felina would share this during her sharing, but I just wanted to share some good news. Felina has applied for permanent residency with the support of her employer. And she is the first one actually apparently who has applied permanent residency under the program. So we're all kind of watching what would happen and how positive the outcome would be because then this would inspire and encourage more workers and hopefully more employers too to support the workers to become permanent residents. So when I was talking to Felina to invite her to this conversation and share her story. And of course I asked her about the risk that she might be facing in coming out public and sharing her story. And that's when she told me that she's actually being processed. Like her application is underway to becoming permanent residents. So that is very good news and they're all happy for her. There is a farmer who does support permanent status just in case anybody's interested. And it's a fending organic farm in New Hamburg. Jennifer Fending is also a town counselor and she's been a very vocal advocate in supporting permanent residency. So if anybody lives in that area go buy from that farm. And yes, she's had some very good radio interviews and we need to just keep pushing the words of a farmer out there too so that it will kind of break the ice. And I know a number of wineries are interested in having permanent workers. There are a number of them in process here. One farm worker, I just talked to him last night it's been four years and $30,000 later and he still hasn't heard. It's a very frightening journey to be on. So yeah, I mean he could face the fact that he's being denied after all of this. And he's absolutely crucial on his farm. So yeah, it's a tough journey to be on. Can I add a little line here? Fending's organic farm, the member of NFU, National Farmers Union. And generally NFU, they believe in fairness, fair trade, treating the soil fairly, treating the environment fairly, treating the workers fairly. They support and endorse starters upon arrival for migrant workers. So that is, NFU is really a line and very supportive of that movement. In terms of Fending's organic farm, they too, they bring in migrant workers from Jamaica. I would be happy to know that this farm have, they also would, I'll be happy for the day when I would have success stories that their workers too have applied and are successful as permanent residents. And the issue of permanent residents I need to spell out, being a permanent resident, being having PR, having status in Canada to a migrant worker, that does not mean living in Canada to us. What it means, it is that tool, not having status first of all, not having status in Canada, means that you denied basic human rights and you denied basic labor standard. And that is what COVID is highlighting, right? The vulnerabilities, that's what is exposing. Somebody said it so nicely, COVID has exposed Canada's dirty secret. That's what COVID has done, right? So not having status is really what is exposing. And you can see all those, most of the people in the front line, these are the vulnerable people and they are without status, people of color, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I'll be happy to tell you, this is that tool, that thing, that would help us to access decent work. But first of all, let me put it this way, not having status being a migrant worker, we have a tied work permit. We are tied to our employer, tied to employer. And so we are the employer's mercy. We have to please our employer. But if you have an open work permit, the pressure is now on our employer to create the conditions that would attract us and that would keep us. But right now being tied to employee, what happens? Where's the pressure? The pressure is on the worker. And we do not, simply because we do not have status. And these are just human-made stuff, as we said, and this can be changed. And how do we bring fairness? Fairness is a migrant worker can access fairness by having status. Generally by having status, it is that little power that you have that will put the pressure on the employer. There's high power imbalance. So status upon arrival is that one thing that helps us to take care most of our vulnerabilities in Canada. And what are the vulnerabilities? Both labor and human rights vulnerabilities. Thanks. Thank you so much, Gabriel, for highlighting just the importance that status plays. I'm taking the note of the time. It's three o'clock now, a little bit after. So I'd like to invite our speakers and Connie if there's any final words that you'd like to say to wrap up. And then I'm going to go to David to talk about our next webinar. I just want to thank you all, Jalen and Connie and everyone at Kairos for inviting me here to share my research and some of the things we're hearing about on the ground this year. And just to echo Connie's point, this Kairos project is a step in the right direction in the sense that it sought to imbue those of us and groups that are on the ground already to continue and expand their efforts. And I really see community support groups as playing a big role in alleviating some of the stress and pressures at the individual level that workers are experiencing. So thank you for this opportunity today and for all the wonderful questions and to my co-panelists, Aliseo and Felina and Jazer. Thank you very much. I'm great. Thank you, Safiq. Go ahead, Aliseo. Yes, I would like to say thank you to Kairos for the opportunity to implement this, but the opportunity given to me to participate in this webinar is really addressing a very important topic. Sometimes I believe that mental health is the big elephant. The only thing is that the room is the whole society. So the elephant is very, very big. And this presentation to me, more than trying to help people with what to do and how to think, is more an invitation to all of us to learn more about mental health and how can we, in our own settings, help to address this situation in our own, with our own environment, but also in our work with the migrant workers who also are in big need of support in that area. So thank you, Kairos. And thank you, Connie. And thank you, Jaelyn, for keeping us on control and showing the slides that we wanted you to show. So thanks a lot. Thank you to everybody for being here. I really appreciate that. Thank you again. Thank you, Eisir. Connie, did you want to say a few words? I think Chasar is still with us. Chasar, a few words? Yes, also, it's also my pleasure that I was invited to speak. And thank you, everyone. The webinar is very useful for me. Thank you. Thank you, Chasar. So my, yeah, our biggest thanks to our speakers, Stephanie, Eliseo, Chasar, and Felina, and for the Kairos team who put this webinar together, Jaelyn, Alfredo, David, and Shannon, and with Asa Suali's Ed. And to everyone, thank you. Thank you so much for joining and we'd love to see you in the coming few webinars. And David, you have something to introduce the next webinar. Hello. Yes, so the next webinar is going to be on Tuesday, April 6th, Easter Tuesday. And the topic is going to be on freedom of movement. So the ability to, after the quarantine period, leave the farm or space that they're working in and how to maneuver that safely, but also ensuring that the workers have the ability to have that freedom to take time off of the space in which they're working and also hope to touch on the new regulations or protocols that have been put in place from Canada and how that relates to travel and movement as well. And a short plug for the April 23rd webinar, which is going to be on actions that interested people can take to support migrant workers. So we've been talking a lot about the great work that organizations have done, but sometimes people, individual people, may not necessarily know what they can do, even sitting from home or if they want to volunteer. So looking into the ways that interested people can help support migrant workers. So yes, the registration link for the April 6th webinar is in the chat again. And I look forward to seeing all y'all there. Thank you, David. And again, thank you everyone for coming. And we look forward to seeing you in our next webinars.