842687
Employers’ paradoxical views about temporary foreign migrant workers’ health: a qualitative study in rural farms in Southern Ontario
BackgroundThe province of Ontario hosts nearly a half of Canada´s temporary foreign migrant farm workers (MFWs). Despite the essential role played by MFWs in the economic prosperity of the region, a growing body of research suggests that the workers´ occupational safety and health are substandard, and often neglected by employers. This study thus explores farm owners´ perceptions about MFWs occupational safety and general health, and their attitudes towards health promotion for their employees.MethodsUsing modified grounded theory approach, we collected data through in-depth individual interviews with farm owners employing MFWs in southern Ontario, Canada. Data were analyzed following three steps (open, axial, and selective coding) to identify thematic patterns and relationships. Nine employers or their representatives were interviewed.ResultsFour major overarching categories were identified: employers´ dependence on MFWs; their fragmented view of occupational safety and health; their blurring of the boundaries between the work and personal lives of the MFWs on their farms; and their reluctance to implement health promotion programs. The interaction of these categories suggests the complex social processes through which employers come to hold these paradoxical attitudes towards workers´ safety and health. There is a fundamental contradiction between what employers considered public versus personal. Despite employers´ preference to separate MFWs´ workplace safety from personal health issues, due to the fact that workers live within their employers' property, workers' private life becomes public making their personal health a business-related concern. Farmers´ conflicting views, combined with a lack of support from governing bodies, hold back timely implementation of health promotion activities in the workplace.ConclusionsIn order to address the needs of MFWs in a more integrated manner, an ecological view of health, which includes the social and psychological determinants of health, by employers is necessary. Employers and other stakeholders should work collaboratively to find a common ground, harnessing expertise and resources to develop more community-based approaches. Further research and continuous dialogue are needed.
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Doctors within borders: meeting the health care needs of migrant farm workers in Canada
See related analysis article by Preibisch and Hennebry on page [1033][1] and at [www.cmaj.ca/cgi/doi/10.1503/cmaj.090736][2].

Jose, a migrant farm worker from Mexico, presents with a one-month history of low back pain. Through broken English and Spanish, he tells you that he has been in Canada for
154060256
Mexican Seasonal Migration to Canada and Development: A Community-based Comparison
Summary 
The article explores development and migration. Based on a comparison of investment-related behaviour of participants of the Canadian Mexican Seasonal Workers Programme from eleven Mexican villages, the article explores the impact of the nature of the migrants' community of origin on development. Contrary to the findings reported by the “new economics of labour migration” theorists, it was found that migrants from the least endowed communities, not from the best endowed communities, are likely to invest in agricultural land. This pattern is related to variable prices of land and the composition of the participants of the Canadian guest worker programme, most of whom are poor. The article draws attention to the importance of considering composition of migrant workers in an analysis of the impact of migration on community development. Development is analysed in the article from both the “growth” and the “quality of living” perspectives and it is found that regardless of the perspective used, the nature of the community does not affect the impact of migration on development.
144232093
Barely legal: racism and migrant farm labour in the context of Canadian multiculturalism
This article investigates how colonial attitudes towards race operate alongside official multiculturalism in Canada to justify the legally exceptional exclusion of migrant farm workers from Canada's socio-political framework. The Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program is presented in this article as a relic of Canada's racist and colonial past, one that continues uninterrupted in the present age of statist multiculturalism. The legal continuation and growth in the use of non-citizens to conduct labour distasteful to Canadian nationals has provided an effective means for the Canadian state to regulate the ongoing flow of non-preferred races on the margins while promoting a pluralist and ethnically diverse political image at home and abroad. In the face of a labour shortage constructed as a political crisis of considerable urgency, the Canadian state has continued to admit non-immigrants into the country to perform labour deemed unattractive yet necessary for the well-being of Canadian citizens while simultaneously suspending the citizenship and individual rights of those same individual migrant workers. By legislating the restriction of rights and freedoms to a permanently revolving door of temporary non-citizens through the mechanism of a guest worker programme, the Canadian state is participating in the bio-political regulation of foreign nationals.
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Trouble in our Fields: Health and Human Rights among Mexican and Caribbean Migrant Farm Workers in Canada
.......................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements........................................................................................................ iv Table of
205485173
Nerves as Embodied Metaphor in the Canada/Mexico Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program
This article examines nerves among participants in the Canada/Mexico Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (C/MSAWP). Based on in-depth interviews with 30 Mexican farm workers in southwestern Ontario, we demonstrate that nerves embodies the distress of economic need, relative powerlessness, and the contradictions inherent in the C/MSAWP that result in various life's lesions. We also explore their use of the nerves idiom as an embodied metaphor for their awareness of the breakdown in self/society relations and, in certain cases, of the lack of control over even themselves. This article contributes to that body of literature that locates nerves at the “normal” end of the “normal/abnormal” continuum of popular illness categories because, despite the similarities in symptoms of nerves among Mexican farm workers and those of anxiety and/or mood disorders, medicalization has not occurred. If nerves has not been medicalized among Mexican farm workers, neither has it given rise to resistance to their relative powerlessness as migrant farm workers. Nonetheless, nerves does serve as an effective vehicle for expressing their distress within the context of the C/MSAWP.
19406736
Temporary migration, chronic effects: the health of international migrant workers in Canada
See related practice article by Pysklywec and colleagues on page [1039][1] and at [www.cmaj.ca/cgi/doi/10.1503/cmaj.091404][2].

In 2008, Canada admitted 192 519 international migrant workers on temporary work permits — a historical high.[1][3] This number reflects a trend in labour migration:
46112504
Approaching Actionable Farm Safety Programs
Health hazards on the farm contribute to excessive mortality, morbidity, and disability among the agricultural community.1 There are hazards of machinery,dusts, fumes, chemicals, electricity, enclosed spaces, and heights similar to industry in general. Also, there are large animals, toxic flora and fauna, unstable terrain, make-do structures, water hazards, recreational firearms and vehicles, tree stands, weather, and the like. Stress from the inconsistency of weather, economics, and government regulations is significant. It is small wonder that in the absence of occupational health and safety regulations that have reduced morbidity and mortality in industry, that farmers, farm workers, and their families continue to be at high risk due to hazardous exposures. Farming remains among the most dangerous occupations, particularly for adolescent farm workers,2 and the farm environment is hazardous to unwitting bystanders, especially to children under age 10.3 Though fatalities in children on the farm seem to be declining, the rate of injuries appears to be on the rise.2 What will it take to make farm living, working, or visiting safe? This is a question being asked more frequently worldwide.4,5,6 There are few data to provide conclusive evidence that effective interventions have been found.6,7 Educational strategies for farm families, workers, and children show knowledge changes, but, as a rule, evaluation studies have not been designed to demonstrate alterations in safety practices and personal behavior.6 It is clear through theexperiencewith rolloverprotection structures (ROPS) on tractors that engineers can design safety into some agricultural activities.8 But anecdotal evidence too frequently reports that ROPS are removed or are not used in association with seat belts, as is recommended. Anecdotal reports also find combine operators overriding automatic shut off switches in order to dismount and observe, or even tamper with, extremely dangerous intake “headers” whose teeth, spindles, shredders, or blades may have become clogged or stuck. They KNOW better. Certainly, knowledge to support farm safety is better than ignorance, but what are the additional factors needed to effect changes in personal behaviors, physical structures, and operationalfarmpolicies required to secure thehealth of the farm community? There is a growing sentiment that social and economic actions are required to manipulate the safety behavior of the farm community–a carrot approach with incentives for effective safety practices and a stick of penalties for deviating from regulations to be established. However, this proposition has not been studied with structured observations.7 Perhaps its greatest support comes through analogy to industrial regulations (e.g., Occupational Safety and Health Act). But even within regulated industries, there are not enough inspectors to oversee and assure compliance. Small, isolated factories are very likely to escape attention until a tragic hazardous event occurs. It is this latter situation that is most analogous to farming. The independent agrarian and entrepreneurial spirits run deep in our national psyche.9 Rural areas are struggling and lagging in the effort to achieve economic parity with the expanding urban sector. Small manufacturing firms and farming are highly valued building blocks in the rural economy. Few in rural America are ready to accept governmental controls over family farms. There will be allusions to encroachment on this nostalgic way of life, economic hardships created, and loss of independence. Yet, left to their own devices, the health and safety of family farms have not improved.
205723504
Agricultural Health and Safety: Incorporating the Worker Perspective
ABSTRACT This commentary offers a worker's perspective on agricultural health and safety and describes (1) the historical exemption of agriculture from regulatory oversight and barriers encountered due to lack of regulations and poor enforcement of the existing standards; (2) the effect of immigration status on worker protections; and (3) the basic desire for economic survival and how this impacts worker health and safety. The commentary describes two models to reduce hazards at work that illustrate how workers' perspectives can be incorporated successfully at the policy level and during the intervention development process and puts forth recommendations for employers, researchers, and funding agencies to facilitate the integration of workers' perspectives into occupational health and safety in agriculture. Ultimately, improved worker protection requires systemic policy and regulatory changes as well as strong enforcement of existing regulations. This commentary summarizes the presentation, “Ground View: Perspectives of Hired Workers,” at the Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health conference, “Be Safe, Be Profitable: Protecting Workers in Agriculture,” January 27–28, 2010, Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.
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The farm as a setting for health promotion: results of a needs assessment in South Central Alberta.
Farming is acknowledged to be a dangerous occupation that poses risks for farmers, farm employees and family members. This paper explores the farm as a setting where health promotion and prevention programs can be implemented. We present data from an occupational health and safety needs assessment of 347 farms in the South Central region of the province of Alberta, Canada. The data are used to describe farmers' familiarity with farm living, thoughts on farm safety, the numbers of people working and types of work performed, other work, income, and the availability of resources. Results are discussed in terms of implications for practitioners under three proposed justifications for a settings model. Data revealed that there is so much heterogeneity among these farms that an ecological settings approach to program development that accounts for both the composition and context of rural settings is more appropriate than the settings model currently in use.
73229446
Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches
Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design provides an overview of the five main traditions of qualitative research. The author explains the uniqueness of each approach and its applicability to different types of inquiry. Illustrative examples from public health and social science fields are provided. The book details study design, question development, data collection and analysis, and summarizing and interpreting results, and how the research process differs according to each approach. This resource can serve as a useful guide for public health practitioners and graduate-level students interested in the theory and practice of rigorous qualitative research.
145307808
Constructing grounded theory : A practical guide through qualitative analysis
BOOK REVIEW: Constructing grounded theory. A practical guide through qualitative analysis Kathy Charmaz, 2006, 208 pp. London: Sage. ISBN 2005928035
142754635
Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory
In the third edition of the classic text, Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, Juliet Corbin continues to present the basics of grounded theory in the context of an evolving world of qualitative research. In doing so she is able to share the traditional essences of the method as put forth in the first two editions while weaving in contemporary changes resulting from her reflections on emergent method, methodology, theory, and who she has become as a researcher
153212656
Home Economics: Nationalism and the Making of 'Migrant Workers' in Canada
Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Foreword by Roxana Ng * Home(lessness) and the Naturalization of 'Difference' * Globalization and the Story of National Sovereignty * Imagined states: The Ideology of 'National Society' * Canadian Parliamentary Discourse and the Making of 'Migrant Workers' * Canada's Non-Immigrant Employment Authorization Program (NIEAP): The Social Organization of Unfreedom forMigrant Workers' * Rejecting Global Apartheid: An Essay on the Refusal of'Difference' Notes References Index