I started thinking about migrant labour in 2021 after my grandfather passed away. Amedeo Sorrentino fought for Mussolini’s army during the Second World War, was taken prisoner by the British, and spent months in a London POW camp before returning to his home in Lanciano, Italy. There he married my grandmother, Giulia. They had three daughters—my mother was the oldest—and Amedeo toiled as a tenant tobacco farmer to support them.

For all his love of Italy, Amedeo knew he could never properly provide for his family by working on someone else’s farm. Men left Italy every day to find work abroad and, in 1956, my grandmother persuaded Amedeo to follow his sister and brother-in-law to Calgary. Like many immigrants of his generation, Amedeo was granted landed-immigrant status on arrival—and with it, the ability to stay permanently and eventually gain citizenship. He poured concrete and tended greenhouses and sent the money home to Giulia. He vowed to one day return to his family in Italy. Instead, two years later, Giulia and the girls boarded a ship and joined him here. They spent the rest of their lives in Canada.

Nonno’s passing made me curious about the experiences of his contemporary counterparts. He only wanted the best for his daughters, and he was willing to sacrifice years away from them for the opportunities Canada would eventually provide. No doubt today’s migrant workers make the same bargain. But unlike the foreign workers of my nonno’s generation, today’s migrant workers get temporary status—welcome to work here but not to stay. And unlike my grandfather who could work for any boss willing to hire him, today’s temporary foreign workers are tied to a single employer through closed permits, a requirement imposed by the federal government since the 1960s. They cannot easily change their jobs and face deportation if they quit or are fired. In 2024, more than 190,000 migrant workers in Canada held such permits.

I spent three years travelling across Canada to research the lives of today’s temporary foreign workers for a book I was writing. I met Filipino restaurant staff in Goose Bay, Thai greenhouse workers in Medicine Hat, Guatemalan berry pickers in Vancouver and Mexican Christmas tree farmers in Simcoe. Nearly every worker and migrant labour advocate I spoke to condemned Canada’s........

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