This document is controversial
1991
R. G. Cecil and Eddie Ebanks
West Indian migrant farm laborers are crucial to the agricultural process in Ontario. Also, they are human beings isolated from homes & families, for varying lengths of time, in a foreign environment. The fundamental issue raised here concerns the conditions of life for these workers. The methods of anthropology, demography, & geography were combined to conduct a pilot study, collecting questionnaire data from 300 workers & 25 farmers. Concurrently, anthropological analysis was carried out on both groups via in-depth interviews. It was postulated that the work situation would replicate some aspects of the old tropical colonial plantation relationship, & indeed it was so for certain aspects. It was further hypothesized that the workers would experience certain degrees of loneliness & isolation in Canada, which was also proven to be true in many cases. Data allow some preliminary examinations of farmer-worker relationships, which ran the gamut from pure detachment to quasi-familial integration. The global aspects of the workers' human condition are presented. 3 Tables, 37 References. Modified AA
International Migration/Migrations Internationales/Migraciones Internationales
29
3
371-495
Agriculture and horticulture workers
Policy analysis
Ontario
Geography and Sociology
English