Mexico halts migrant farm worker program in Canada

Mexico has put a "temporary pause" on its migrant farm worker program in Canada, Mexico foreign ministry spokesman Daniel Millan said on Tuesday, after a coronavirus outbreak in Ontario killed two young workers from Mexico.

CNN reported https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/16/americas/mexico-workers-canada-coronavirus/index.html early on Tuesday that Mexico had put the program on hold while it reviewed Canadian health policies and procedures, citing a Mexican embassy representative in Ottawa. Two workers from Mexico, aged 24 and 31, have died in recent days after an outbreak of the novel coronavirus that hit at least 17 farms in Ontario, prompting the testing of about 8,000 migrant farm workers.

Canadian farmers rely on 60,000 temporary foreign workers, predominantly from Latin America and the Caribbean, to plant and harvest crops.