A farmworker stands outside her summer "home" during picking season in the Fraser Valley.
"Farmworkers don't complain about their living conditions for fear of losing their jobs. The farmers are watching all the time and the government inspectors come only after receiving a complaint and will often identify the complainant to the farmer. The farmer fires them the next day. As well, many of the camps are not recognizable living quarters from the outside, so the inspectors don't even know they exist. The chief building inspector says there are no serious problems with farm camps right now, but we estimate there are 1,500 farmworkers living in substandard conditions in the Fraser Valley." - CFU researcher David Lane, July, 1981