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The New Canadians Centre Peterborough (NCC) is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to supporting immigrants, refugees and other newcomers in the Peterborough and Northumberland regions. We are governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. Our mandate is:

- To support immigrants and refugees, and to ease the process of adjusting to a new life in Canada.
- To provide staff and facilities for settlement services required by new Canadians.
- To act as an advocate and resource partner for new Canadians.
- To continually review and adjust our services to address the needs of both new Canadians and the community and to provide training to board members, staff, volunteers, community groups and employers.
- To promote acceptance of new Canadians through education and awareness projects.
- To increase the active participation of new Canadians in determining the direction of the agency.
- To raise funds in order to broaden and improve the quality of community services to new Canadians.

Migrant Farm Workers Project:
The aim of the Migrant Farm Workers Project is to work in partnership with farmers and migrant workers in the Northumberland County to increase access to health and social support services. The project was created to support a population that is largely invisible to many Canadians, due to the barriers for interaction that exist and due to the nature of agricultural work; long hours in rural areas. The program intends to address issues of isolation, transportation, language, accessing community resources and awareness in order to help build a welcoming community.

Migrant workers, and the farms that employ them, play a vital role in the food economy of the province and across Canada. However, due to their seasonal employment and lack of full legal status in Canada, they are socially disadvantaged and have many barriers to accessing social support services.

Each year an estimated 17,000 Caribbean and Mexican migrant farm workers come to Ontario, up to 8 months, to work through the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). This program is a guest worker program that attempts to respond to the labour shortage in the Canadian agricultural sector. This program is authorized by the federal government through the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development (HRSDC) and administered by privately run user-fee agencies. In Ontario the Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services (F.A.R.M.S) administers the program.

If you would like more information about this program, please contact Rachael Currie at (905) 377-8100 or by email at rachael@nccpeterborough.ca.