We first heard about it in September: a call for at least one hundred Belizeans to work in a meat processing plant in Canada, an employment opportunity facilitated by the Labour Department that attracted two hundred applications. But since then, not much has been heard – at least until today when our newsroom received reports that the programme had gotten bogged down – much to the detriment of those who’ve already resigned from their jobs in Belize and have now been left with no work and no money to support their families. But as 7NEWS’ Jacqueline Godwin found out, the program is alive and about to get off the ground.
Arturo Flowers, Going to Canada
“Well it definitely it was an opportunity for the people of Belize and I choose to grab that opportunity as I could so I was one of the persons in Belize that got accepted for this job.”
He has been waiting for at least six months but today thirty one year old Arturo Flowers found out that he is one of the first twenty five Belizean young men accepted to work in Canada. The initiative is the first for the governments of Belize and Canada and is being locally facilitated by the Labour Department.
Merilyn Young, NEED Coordinator - Labour Department
“We do have an agreement, Canada along with the CARICOM countries, for agriculture and processing workers to go and work in Canada. We have not maximized on it. For some reason there seems to be some lack of communication between Foreign Affairs and the CARICOM and Belize. I know Jamaica and Trinidad have sent quite a bit of their people to work in those areas. So I think we should maximize on it.”
Initially two hundred persons had applied which makes Arturo Flowers feel very lucky. According to the program’s local coordinator Merilyn Young they have been working with the applicants since last September. That is when they were first contacted with a special request from Lakeside Packers, a Canadian meat processing and packaging plant.
Merilyn Young,
“And Canada, from what I have been made to understand, just like Belize and the US has a shortage of workers in certain fields. For example meat industry
is one, slaughtering is one – because of the oil industry right now and what is happening in that area. This company is slaughtering a thousand heads of cattle an hour. We do half of that in a week in Belize, in the whole country. So its going to open the eyes for these young men and I think it will create other opportunities for other Belizeans to go into, that only processing and slaughtering but also in electrical and so on. So we would be competing with the labor market in Central America and the Caribbean.”
Young also responded to criticisms that Belizeans will be working for far less wages than the Canadians. Young says the salary starts from fourteen Canadian dollars per hour in a forty hour work week which is approximately twenty seven Belize dollars.
Merilyn Young,
“This money here that they will be making is what by law is required to work in this industry. So they will not be making less than anybody else. Most of them will be making three times the amount of money they will be making. Some of them are looking at it as a new experience, some of them weren’t working and they said this is an opportunity – so I think everybody has their own personal need for something like this. They will also be part of a union as well within the company and this union, from what I made to understand, comprises Canadians as well as other foreign workers. So they will be able to ensure that their rights are also protected when they get there.”
The benefits may sound attractive but the applicants must also be prepared to leave their families. Flowers says it is a sacrifice he is ready to make because he figures that he can earn as much as eighty thousand Belize dollars a year.
Arturo Flowers,
“You know something like this you have to sacrifice if you want better for yourself but also for your family.”
Merilyn Young,
“I know in the initial stage two of them dropped out, their wives decided last minute that they don’t want their husband to go away for two years but we advise, we sat down and do career counseling with all oft these guys. We tell them of the implications, it is a family decision that they have to make. Scotia Bank, I have to say has really been very helpful, they have met with the guys on two different occasions, they have given them options for bank accounts for them, their family, even create savings accounts for them.”
The first group of Belizeans are scheduled to leave the country in a week’s time. Jacqueline Godwin for 7NEWS.
Following the two year contract the applicants will not only have the opportunity to renew their contracts but the father and his family will also be able to apply for residency. If you would like more information on the Canada Work Programme you can contact the Labour Department.
