There are about 800 tree fruit growers in British Columbia’s interior, mostly in the Okanagan Valley.
A generation or two ago, those farms employed dozens and possibly hundreds of First Nations people to pick apples, pears, peaches and cherries at harvest time.
Not anymore.
“I only know of one farm that makes use of some aboriginal workers now. It’s largely disappeared,” said Glen Lucas, general manager of the B.C. Fruit Growers Association.
Lucas doesn’t understand why or when First Nations people stopped working for fruit growers. But it is something he wants to change.
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Lucas is hoping to start a pilot program in which the B.C. Fruit Growers finds jobs for a couple of work crews made up of First Nations employees.
“Find out what is possible. What the needs are, in terms of extra (support) to get the work force back,” Lucas said from his office in Kelowna.
“Provide them with not only work skills, but also any counseling needs … and life skills that are needed.”
Lucas has bounced around this idea for a few years.
So far, the response has been tepid.
Government representatives have been less than enthusiastic and no one is jumping on board to make it happen, Lucas said.
“Just lack of interest. No one wants to say: this is a good idea. Let’s get it done…. We’re taking our time to extend a hand and it seems like there is no hand being extended by government. I don’t understand it.”
Fruit producers in B.C. are heavily dependent on foreign workers to grow and harvest fruit because not enough Canadians are willing to do the job.
Lucas estimated that Mexicans and people from the Caribbean, who come to Canada though the federal Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, represent about half or more than half of the employees working at orchards and vineyards.
The fruit producers get satisfaction from providing jobs for Mexican workers because many come from rural parts of Mexico where poverty is rampant.
They would also like to help young Canadians, particularly First Nations youth, who need a job.
Lucas has had talks with Trevor Kempthorne, agricultural business development manager with the Community Futures Development Corp. of Central Interior First Nations.
Kempthorne would like to collaborate with the B.C. Fruit Growers on an employment and training project, but First Nations youth in the region may not want jobs as fruit pickers.
“A lot of them are going on to post-secondary education,” he said. “So, they’ll take an entry level job while they’re going to school, but when they get out they’re going to be wanting something more.”
Meaning they would be interested in a supervisory position at an orchard but not a seasonal job picking fruit.
“We’re looking to train people to fit into those middle and senior management positions,” Kempthorne said.
Lucas acknowledged that indigenous youth in the Okanagan may have more education and loftier ambitions, which is why he’s targeting First Nations communities in northern B.C. and rural Saskatchewan.
It might be possible to transport and provide temporary housing for First Nations youth from those regions to work in the Okanagan, Lucas said.
“They are a little more rural and remote, and in more need of a seasonal and secondary income.”
As to why so few indigenous people work in B.C.’s fruit industry, that issue is more complex.
It could be a simple thing like not showing up to work on time and employer perception that First Nations workers are unreliable.
Or it could be a broader cultural issue, where indigenous people would rather work in their own communities.
Regardless of the reasons, Lucas and the B.C. Fruit Growers still want to move forward with a pilot project to employ indigenous workers.
It won’t happen this summer but there’s always next year.
“We have an idea but it’s not landing in the (right) place.”
Canada’s fruit industry by the numbers:
- 7,845 — number of fruit farms
- $1.03 billion — farmgate value of Canada’s fruit crop
- $263 million — farmgate value of blueberry crop
- $222 million — farmgate value of apple crop
- 41,000 — fruit farm acres in Quebec
- 24,000 — fruit farm acres in B.C.
Source: Canadian Horticultural Council
