The Ministry of Labour in St Vincent and the Grenadines along with the Eastern Caribbean Liaison Service recently met to discuss the strengthening and the harmonization of the coordination of temporary worker programs currently in place between Canada and the Eastern Caribbean countries thus addressing the unemployment issue in the region.
Seven OECS Member States have been taking part in the various temporary worker programs established with Canada 50 years ago:
St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Antigua & Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis and Saint Lucia.
These agreements enabled a significant number of Eastern Caribbean citizens to benefit from employment opportunities in Canada.
One of the objectives of the Toronto-based Eastern Caribbean Liaison Service (ECLS) is to strengthen ties with Canada through the increase of the number of workers taking part in these programs, particularly the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP).
In this framework, ECLS and the Labour Commissioners of the seven countries mentioned recently concluded the first technical working group meeting where the newly appointed Chief Liaison Officer, Mr. Olaf Fontenelle shared the progress of an interim action plan for the short to medium-term development strategy.
The working group has also been put in place to build a unified approach to the participation in the SAWP Annual Review Meeting.
Therefore, the OECS Ministries of Labour were able to present their individual country processes on the Selection and Orientation components of the SAWP, as a group, resulting in the identification of similar challenges and good practices for active knowledge sharing.
Participants agreed unanimously to prepare one consolidated process map for supply countries, for consideration by the OECS Council of Ministers of Labour; for regularizing the Selection and Orientation processes among member states.
In this session, the ECLS presented on the in-Canada processes associated with ensuring worker welfare and maintaining healthy employer relations.