The government of Mexico announced on Thursday that plans to exceed 26,000 agricultural workers in Canada by 2023 through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (PTAT), of which 153 have recently moved.

“Today, 153 agricultural workers traveled to Canada, adding to the already more than 2,500 who have arrived in recent days. For the 2023 season, it is expected to reach the figure of 26,000 workers hired by more than 2,000 companies”, specify the secretariats. Labor and external relations, in a joint statement.

The Undersecretary of Employment and Labor Mobility of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, Marath Bolaños López, highlighted the efforts made by day laborers to improve the previous season and wished them to return with “the satisfaction of having fulfilled their duty”.

He also underscored the “willingness and commitment” of employers, who represent more than two thousand Canadian companies that participate in the PTAT and who They requested about 17,000 workers for this season.

In addition, Bolaños López highlighted the work done by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to improve the working conditions of Mexicans in Canada so that they have access to “more and better jobs”.

Along the same lines, the Mexican Ambassador to Canada, Carlos Joaquín González, endorses the government’s commitment to address and secure workers’ rights.

“We are opening the doors of the embassy for their human rights to be respected and for them to return home safely,” he said.

The director general of consular protection and strategic planning, Vanessa Calva Ruiz, added that they were working to inform day laborers of their rights and to support them in case they needed advice.

Of the 153 workers who traveled this Thursday, 15 are from the state of Guanajuato, 14 from the state of Mexico, 13 from Veracruz, 12 from Tlaxcala and Michoacán, 11 from Morelos and 10 from Puebla.

JM