Reaching the Guatemalans: a major challenge

She began her diplomatic career as Third Secretary at the Guatemalan Embassy in France, returned to Guatemala at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then crossed the Atlantic again, where she was chargé d’affaires in France and at UNESCO. In 2022, she participated in the inscription of Guatemala’s Holy Week, a religious and cultural event commemorating the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

In 2023, she begins a new chapter in her career in Montreal, dealing for the first time with an unfamiliar subject: temporary workers. When she agreed to continue her career in Quebec, she was accompanied by her daughter, but away from her husband and son, who had to stay in France. “It’s complicated being a woman diplomat because you move around so much. You either follow or you don’t! If I didn’t have 100% support from my family, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do,” she says.

What challenges do you face when it comes to temporary foreign workers?

One of the challenges is that even though we’re part of the professional mobility program, we don’t depend on the Guatemalan Ministry of Labor: the majority of TFWs in Quebec are recruited by private agencies. So, for us, it’s difficult to know where they are, unlike Mexico, which has a bilateral agreement with Canada and has a register of all the workers here. When they recently visited Quebec, the Guatemalan authorities tried several times to negotiate with Canada, but Canada is not open to this kind of agreement.

We try via social networks to get closer to Guatemalans so that they can see what we can offer them at the consulate, apart from protection, but we can’t reach them all because it’s difficult to have a database.

I also like to reach out to those Guatemalans who have been here for years and have lost touch with Guatemala for personal or professional reasons. For me, it’s very important to bring them closer to Guatemala, to their roots, especially those who left Guatemala angry. I want to reconcile them with the country.

Does not having a bilateral agreement with Canada make TFWs more vulnerable and their conditions worse?

I think it makes them more vulnerable, yes, because there’s less control. But I think that, on the whole, rights are respected, even though there are extreme cases of violence, abuse in the workplace and non-compliance with standards. We’d like to get more answers and find a way for Canadian authorities to intervene to put an end to these abuses.

What do you think would be the best way to put a stop to these abuses?

Ban or more strictly control certain farms and even certain malicious recruitment agencies so that they cease their activities. It’s the authorities who give them permission to operate, who give them the license to recruit workers. And these agencies are springing up like mushrooms. It’s complicated because even workers start their own recruitment agencies. You end up losing control.

We can’t turn a blind eye to this. I insist on the responsibility of both provincial and federal authorities for the permits they grant to agencies and farms. I think it’s a big challenge for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) compared to the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) because with the SAWP you go through the national recruitment agency and there’s no other way.

We try to get Guatemalans to call us and complain, but what we see in the field is that they’re afraid to come forward. It’s also part of their culture to be afraid of losing their jobs or the opportunity to return to Canada.

How do you convince workers to speak out and denounce the situation?

We remind them that they have rights. The problem we’ve encountered is that they’re not fully aware of their rights and obligations before coming to Canada. I think the best way to raise their awareness is to talk to them before they get on the plane, before they leave Guatemala. Progress is being made on this issue; for example, FERME, through its FERME Contigo program, has started an awareness-raising program, and I think we need to continue along this path and invite other agencies to do the same.

Do you think that abolishing closed permits would solve the problem of workers escaping or being abused?

I’m always asking myself this question, and I don’t know if Quebec, or even Canada, is ready to manage this flow of people from one company to another. What’s more, the closed permit helps us control the flow of migrants from Guatemala to Canada: we know how people are going to move around legally, it makes for safe migration and gives us a bit of stability. The risk with closed permits, however, is abuse. I think that with open permits, there would be greater respect for human rights and labor law, but are we going to supervise the workers properly? What happens if they leave their employer but can’t find work afterwards?

Is it important for you to ensure that workers return to Guatemala?

Yes, it’s important. They leave Guatemala for eight or ten months and then return to see their families. This creates family stability. Sometimes they don’t come back, they forget that they have a family there because they’ve found a job here. With the closed permit, they know they’re going to stay with this employer and, if things go well, all the better, they’ll go back home and know they’ll be back the following season. I don’t think it’s the best way to work, but it creates stability. Our priority is to ensure regular, safe and orderly migration.

How important is collaboration in your work?

I’m very happy to work with Immigrant Québec. When we held our first quarterly meeting as part of the Migrant Worker Support Program funded by the Canadian government, I was able to see the network of organizations that exist to help us help Guatemalans. It’s very important to work closely with these organizations, because we can’t do it alone. Everyone has their own expertise. We need to find solutions to help TFWs and Guatemalans in general in the best possible way.