Harvesting in the fields at an Aldergrove farm in early November.
"A group of shrewd men, usually resident in Canada for 10 or 15 years...became middlemen. They transported labour to the fields on behalf of the growers. Most of the farmworkers were new immigrants and became dependent on these labour contractors. The workers had no knowledge of the English language and lacked the other skills necessary to successfully seek employment in a totally unfamiliar land. Farm work provided these workers some comfort because a majority of them came from the Punjab where they were used to working in open fields. Many felt isolated during the winter and some would work for meager wages in order to socialize with other folks from the Punjab. It must be noted that 75 per cent of farmworkers and 95 per cent of domestic workers are women." - Author/activist Sadhu Binning, 1986
"Most of the farmworkers are women from our community, and we being farmworkers happen to sense their everyday problems. Whenever we approach them to join the union, they tell us that they want to join the union, but only if their husbands will allow them to do so. Some of them, even after joining the union, are not allowed to attend the union meetings because their relatives and husbands do not want them to go out of their houses. On the other hand, how many times does a man ask his wife whether he can go to attend a union meeting? Perhaps never. Because the majority of us live in the fuedal values and keep up the double standards." - CFU President Raj Chouhan in a speech to the India Mahila Association, Aug. 9, 1981