Making Wrong Look Right : The Role of Media in the Exclusion of Migrant Farm Workers

Since the 1960s, Ontario farms have become temporary worksites for temporary workers. Despite this permanent use of temporary labour on Ontario farms the workers remain largely invisible and unrecognized. The purpose of this research project is to address this misconception and unveil the hidden or otherwise ignored way that our food ends up on our kitchen tables. While the larger purpose of the paper is to dispel the myths that circulate around food production in Ontario, the paper will demonstrate how media in all four countries continue to feed into the hegemonic discourse that surrounds the use of temporary foreign workers in Canada. This research will offer a discussion for why is it this exclusion of farm workers has been rationalized through a critical analysis of the media discourse that has circulated through four different counties, including Canada, Mexico, Jamaica and Guatemala.