Beyond the Rhetoric of Essentiality: Canada’s Neoliberal Migrant Worker Policy During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

As a part of its responses to COVID-19, Canada’s federal and provincial governments, including Ontario, have introduced measures aiming specifically to safeguard the health of migrant workers, supposedly out of the recognition that they are “essential.” Among other things, publicly-funded health care is temporarily expanded to cover some of the previously uninsured workers, and public dollars are allocated for improving occupational health in the agri-food industry, where many migrants are employed. Several immigration programs have also been launched to offer certain migrant workers a pathway to permanent residence in Canada. This paper critiques these government interventions, as well as the narrative of “essentiality” that underlies them. It argues that these pandemic measures perpetuate the logic of neoliberal labour flexibilization, which has long permeated Canada’s migrant worker program. They do so by paying inadequate attention to so-called “essential” migrant workers’ existing vulnerabilities, thus allowing employers to skirt public health rules. At the same time, they paint “non-essential” migrants as undeserving of government consideration, which reinforces these migrants’ marginalization. A supply of exploitable workers is therefore maintained during the pandemic. Ultimately, it is the interest of market capitalism that proves to be what is truly essential.