The Jamaican Liaison Service (JLS) in Canada has been actively collaborating with employers and other stakeholders to contribute to the Hurricane Melissa relief efforts.
Permanent Secretary, Jamaica Central Labour Organisation, with responsibility for the Jamaica Overseas Employment Programme, Colette Roberts Risden, told JIS News that the JLS has received donations of food and other relief items.
"We have specifically been encouraging employers to donate items that will help our farming sector to recover quickly. We have received and will be sending to Jamaica items such as seeds, shade cloth, buckets, safety glasses, chainsaws, and other small equipment that many of our farmers would have lost during the hurricane," she said.
The Permanent Secretary pointed out that, "most of our farmworkers are small farmers", adding "these items will help them and Jamaica's agricultural sectors to get going again".
Mrs. Roberts Risden further told JIS News that many employers have provided direct cash support to workers, while others are actively raising funds from the wider Canadian community.
She added that, in some instances, workers have received cash or salary advances to help alleviate the impact of Hurricane Melissa.
The Permanent Secretary indicated that the JLS has, so far, received support from employers in Nova Scotia, Medford, and the Clarksburg farming district in Canada, adding, "we have received commitments from many others".
Mrs. Roberts Risden noted that while the JLS has not yet determined the total number of farmworkers whose families have been affected by the hurricane, approximately two-thirds of the 9,000 Jamaican farmworkers who travel to Canada originate from the parishes of St. Elizabeth, Manchester, Westmoreland, Trelawny, St. Ann and Clarendon.
"Based on where the majority of workers come from and the extent of damage in those parishes, we know that thousands of our workers would have been impacted by the hurricane," she stated.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary indicated that the JLS has, so far, received support from employers in Nova Scotia, Medford, and the Clarksburg farming district in Canada, adding, "we have received commitments from many others".
Regarding psychological support for affected farmers, Mrs. Roberts Risden said liaison officers make efforts to provide counselling and other forms of assistance to workers, adding, "we have various groups in Canada that also provide psychosocial support to workers".
The Permanent Secretary also informed that aid for affected families is expected to arrive in Jamaica within the next two weeks.
"We have received the support from Atlas Cargo... Ken Singh [President of Atlas Cargo, Canada] who is arranging the shipment of the items at no cost to us. The items are now being consolidated, and the first shipment should arrive in about two weeks," Mrs. Roberts Risden said.
Since the impact of Hurricane Melissa on October 28, the Jamaican farmworker community has emerged as one of the most heavily affected segments of the population.
Many workers in Canada are currently grappling with uncertainty about the well-being of their families back home, while urgently seeking ways to support the rebuilding of damaged homes and farms.