A University of Guelph sociology professor served as an expert witness in a case that generated a landmark human rights ruling today.
Prof. Kerry Preibisch testified before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in a case involving two women from Mexico working under the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program. They had accused their employer of discrimination and sexual harassment.
Her testimony focused on Canada’s national Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) and vulnerabilities of migrant workers, particularly women.
Preibisch said she was “very pleased” that the tribunal acknowledged systemic problems with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
In 2003, she collaborated on a first-ever review of SAWP, then 37 years old.
Preibisch was also involved in the Economic Security Project with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. That project uncovered poor and dangerous working conditions and lax government enforcement for farm workers in British Columbia.