A farm in the Fraser Valley. (Flickr: Gerald Kichok)
As farmer protests in India continue, agitation across Canada in support of the international protests also gathers steam. For many, it’s easy to attribute this solidarity to the Indo-Canadian population’s “family ties back home.”
This solidarity, particularly in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley Region, is actually rooted in half a century’s worth of local history. Protestors are not simply showing solidarity with Punjabi farmers, they are continuing a longstanding local movement centred around labour unions and anti-racist activism.
In the 1970s, farm work was the third most dangerous job in B.C. Workers did not have access to toilets or clean drinking water and were excluded from provincial health and safety regulations. They didn’t have a guaranteed minimum wage, set hours, or overtime either, resulting in many making a paltry $2,000 per year.