This thesis explores the impact that the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) between Mexico and Canada has on the Mexican workers participating in it and in their communities in Mexico. The experience of the SAWP allows its participants to develop themselves and therefore contribute to the development of their communities and home towns. While some people will see this program as merely for poverty alleviation, this research shows that with the right incentives it has potential to become a development tool for many rural communities in different states of Mexico.

Canada and Mexican relations have not been written about in much length past Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) recruiting Mexican laborers. In recent years, migration from Mexico to Canada has increased at an exponential rate. The most significant and notable increase has been in the number of refugee claims from Mexicans wanting to seek asylum in Canada. It is found that Canada is the number one destination for Mexican refugees, while Canada accepts their claims at an alarmingly low rate compared to claims from other nations, even in Latin America. I argue the reason Mexicans chose Canada to claim refugee status is Canada's long history of an open immigration policy and especially their economic and temporary labor agreements with Canada. These policies give the impression to Mexicans they are very much welcome in Canada. This is proved to be untrue when Canada changed their immigration and refugee policies in response, specifically, to the overwhelming number of Mexican refugee claims.

La mise en œuvre de politiques néolibérales globalisantes, axées sur la gouvernance des marchés, a conduit à la délocalisation des sources d’emploi vers des centres de production spécifiques, obligeant ainsi la main-d’œuvre à s’y rapprocher. C'est le cas des paysans mexicains et guatémaltèques mobilisés année après année vers les champs et les serres du Québec par le biais du Programme des travailleurs agricoles saisonniers (PTAS) ou du volet agricole du Programme des travailleurs étrangers temporaires (VA-PTET). Individus qui font partie d'une main-d'œuvre vulnérable et flexible, et dont les conditions d'embauche violent les droits fondamentaux et du travail en les liant à un seul employeur, les obligeant à résider dans la propriété de l'employeur et les exposant à un rapatriement prématuré. Ce projet de recherche infère que l'affectivité et l'émotivité sont des sujets de plus en plus explorés en sciences sociales, en particulier en géographie. En intégrant la dimension émotionnelle, il souligne la nécessité d’examiner les récits émotionnels des ouvriers agricoles transmigrants mexicains et guatémaltèques, en se basant sur l’utilisation idéologique possible des émotions socialisées à plusieurs échelles par les acteurs qui gèrent les programmes qui les embauchent. Il en découle que la compréhension des émotions de ces travailleurs, associée à leur participation à des conditions de travail spécifiques définies par le PTAS et le VA-PTET, peut contribuer de manière significative aux études traitant de la relation entre émotivité et migration de travail masculine. Cette démonstration consiste à analyser les politiques et pratiques étatiques du Canada, du Mexique et du Guatemala, en utilisant des émotions telles que la peur, le désespoir, l’acquiescement et la résignation comme mécanismes de contrôle social au sein du PTAS et du VA-PTET; ainsi que la satisfaction et la fierté de remplir le rôle de fournisseur principal du foyer en tant que forme unique de masculinité proposée par ces programmes. En particulier, la relation entre les émotions, la masculinité et l'expérience du manque de pouvoir (powerlessness) est élucidée. De même, par le biais de l'imbrication des récits des travailleurs, l'interaction de différentes catégories discriminatoires est clarifiée, sur la base du genre masculin, rarement utilisée dans les études migratoires existantes. Enfin, nous analysons les discours de ceux qui restent dans les communautés d'origine, des épouses des travailleurs et de certaines personnes clés, afin de rendre compte des coûts émotionnels causés par l'absence de leurs maris/pères de leurs enfants. / The implementation of neoliberal globalizing policies, centered on the governance of markets, has led to the relocation of employment sources to specific production centers, forcing the workforce to move to them. Such is the case of the farm workers from Mexico and Guatemala that are mobilized year after year into Québec’s fields and greenhouses through the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) and / or the Agricultural Stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (AS-TFWP). Individuals who are part of a vulnerable and flexible labour force, and whose hiring conditions violate their fundamental and labour rights by tying them to a single employer, forcing them to reside in the employer's premises and exposing them to premature repatriation. This research project infers that affectivity and emotionality are increasingly explored topics in the social sciences, particularly in geography. By incorporating the emotional dimension, it exposes the need to examine the emotional narratives of Mexican and Guatemalan transmigrant farm workers, based on the possible ideological use of the emotions that are socialized in a multiscalar and spatial way by the actors who govern the programs that hire them. It therefore raises the question that understanding the emotions of these workers, associated with their participation under specific work conditions framed by the SAWP and the AS-TFWP can significantly contribute to studies that address the relationship between emotionality and male labour migration. This is demonstrated by analyzing Canadian, Mexican and Guatemalan state-driven policies and practices, using emotions such as fear, despair, acquiescence and resignation as mechanisms of social control within the SAWP and the AS-TFWP, along with satisfaction pride in fulfilling the breadwinner role as the unique form of masculinity proposed by these programs. In particular, the relationship between emotions, masculinity and the experience of powerlessness is elucidated. Likewise, through the interweaving of workers' narratives, the interaction of different discriminatory categories is clarified, based on the masculine gender, rarely used in existing migratory studies. Finally, we analyze the speeches of those who have been left behind, the wives of the workers and a few key people, in order to account for the emotional costs caused by the absence of their partners and fathers of their children. / La implementación de políticas neoliberales globalizantes, centradas en la gobernanza de los mercados, ha provocado una deslocalización de las fuentes de empleo hacia centros específicos de producción, forzando a la mano de obra a desplazarse hacia éstos. Tal es el caso de la población trabajadora proveniente de México y Guatemala que es movilizada año tras año hacia campos e invernaderos quebequenses a través del Programa de Trabajadores Agrícolas Temporales (PTAT) y/o del Rubro Agrícola del programa de Trabajadores Extranjeros Temporales (RA-PTET). Individuos que forman parte de una fuerza laboral vulnerable y flexible, y cuyas condiciones de contratación violan sus derechos fundamentales y de trabajo al sujetarlos a un solo empleador, obligarlos a residir en la propiedad de éste y exponerlo a la repatriación prematura. Este proyecto de investigación infiere que afectividad y emocionalidad son temáticas exploradas de manera creciente en las ciencias sociales, particularmente, en la Geografía. Al incorporar la dimensión emocional, expone la necesidad de examinar las narrativas emocionales de los trabajadores agrícolas transmigrantes mexicanos y guatemaltecos, partiendo del posible uso ideológico de las emociones que es socializado de manera multiescalar por los actores que gobiernan los programas que los contratan. Plantea entonces, que la comprensión de las emociones de dichos trabajadores, asociadas a su participación bajo condiciones labores específicas enmarcadas por el PTAT y el RA-PTET puede contribuir significativamente a los estudios que abordan la relación entre emotividad y migración laboral masculina. Esta demostración se realiza analizando las políticas y prácticas estatales canadienses, mexicanas y guatemaltecas, de utilización de emociones tales como miedo, la desesperanza, la aquiescencia y la resignación como mecanismos de control social al interior del PTAT y el RA-PTET; a la par de la satisfacción y orgullo de cumplir con el rol de proveedor principal del hogar como forma única de masculinidad propuesta por dichos programas. De manera particular, se dilucida la relación existente entre emociones, masculinidad y la experiencia de carencia de poder (powerlessness). Asimismo, a través del entretejido de las narrativas de los trabajadores se esclarece la interacción de distintas categorías discriminatorias, teniendo como base el género masculino, raramente utilizado en los estudios migratorios existentes. Finalmente, se analizan los discursos de quienes permanecen en las comunidades de origen, las esposas de los trabajadores y algunas personas clave, a fin de dar cuenta de los costos emocionales provocados por la ausencia de sus compañeros y padres de sus hija-os.

While agricultural work is hazardous for all workers, migrant workers face additional challenges that make them more vulnerable than domestic workers. The lack of access to permanent immigration status in the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) and the agricultural stream of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) makes workers’ jobs hinge on retaining their employers’ favour and creates a particular type of job insecurity that overshadows their behaviour, decisions, and agency to assert their rights for safe and healthy workplaces and workers’ compensation. While researchers argue that the TFWP competes with the SAWP as employers search for the cheapest and most docile workers, less research has examined whether workers’ health and safety exposures and experiences differ within the two programs. Drawing primarily from interviews with advocates and system stakeholders and participant observation at advocate-organized events, this research will offer preliminary answers to discovering whether the programs pose different obstacles to improving health and safety and access to compensation that affect migrant workers’ experiences in Ontario before and after injury. The research will help gather information about possible avenues to improve the health and safety of migrant workers given how the two programs operate within both federal and provincial frameworks. Advocates’ experience assisting workers in both programs offers important insights about whether differences between the programs create particular vulnerabilities for some migrant workers. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / This research identifies opportunities and barriers that migrant agricultural workers and their advocates face in improving occupational health and safety and access to workers' compensation in the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) and the agricultural stream of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP). Through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document review, the research will help identify whether interplay between the programs causes additional vulnerabilities for some workers. The research will help gather information about possible avenues to improve the health and safety of migrant workers given how the two programs operate in a federal and provincial framework.

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