Press Release: New Report Raises Human Rights Concerns for Women Migrant Workers in Nova Scotia

Halifax, Nova Scotia (December 10, 2025) - A new report released today, on International Human Rights Day, is shedding light on the lives of women migrant workers employed on farms and seafood plants in Nova Scotia’s North Shore. The report raises alarm regarding the human rights of this vulnerable community.

The report, “Listening to Women Migrant Workers: A Needs Assessment on the North Shore of Nova Scotia,” was published by the Centre for Migrant Worker Rights Nova Scotia (CMWR NS). The report’s findings are based on a comprehensive document review, as well as accounts from dozens of women migrant workers in Colchester, Cumberland and Pictou counties, including 29 survey respondents,15 listening circle participants, and four interview participants from Mexico, Jamaica and St. Lucia. In order to protect participants from employer retaliation, all workers cited in the study were granted anonymity. The authors of the report are Stacey Gomez (CMWR NS) and Nanci Lee (Sisters Ink Ltd.).

The report calls on the federal and provincial governments, as well as funding agencies to improve protections and support for migrant workers across Nova Scotia. In particular, the report recommends for the federal government to enact open work permits and permanent residence on arrival, an enforceable national housing standard, and the renewal of the Migrant Worker Support Program, which is set to expire in March 2026. The report also calls on the provincial government to increase the minimum wage, strengthen the workplace inspections regime and strengthen the Labour Standards code.

The report is among the few that exist which examine the experiences of women migrant workers in Canada. The key findings of the report include the following:

Overcrowded and Restrictive Housing: 59% of all survey respondents complained of overcrowding and lack of privacy while living in employer-owned housing, while 62% reported having too few appliances, washrooms, or other facilities. Women migrant workers in the agriculture sector, in particular, reported being required to request advanced permission from their employers to have visitors at their houses, which was not always granted, as well as restrictions on their freedom of movement. For example, one woman migrant worker from Jamaica stated: “[The farm] was a prison. We weren’t allowed to go anywhere.”

Unsafe Working Conditions: 70% of survey respondents in the agriculture sector reported being required to work outdoors in bad weather conditions. As one woman migrant worker from Jamaica stated: “…the weather where everyone is staying inside, like avoiding it at cost, we Jamaicans were outside working in it. And it's typical weather that you could have a heat stroke in five minutes, you know, and whether it was raining, storming, freezing, we were always outside.”

Lack of Work Hours: The majority of survey respondents in the seafood processing industry reported a lack of work hours, despite being contracted for full-time employment and being unable to seek employment elsewhere due to work permits tied to one employer. A number of women migrant workers also reported gendered racism in the allocation of work hours. For example, one woman migrant worker from Mexico said: “When there is no work, I think priority is always given to employing men, because the work is either heavier or women don’t want to do it. But in general, women’s perspectives or labor are never taken into account.”

Need for Essential Information: 79% of all survey respondents indicated a need for essential information on their rights, services and supports as a migrant worker to be provided upon arrival to Nova Scotia.

Overall, the report found that women migrant workers’ housing, private health insurance, ability to work in Canada, immigration status, and even their time outside of work hours was controlled by their employers, echoing the findings of a 2024 United Nations report which characterized the Temporary Foreign Worker Program as a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.”