August 19, 2026

For more information, please contact MWC’s Legal Director, Jonathon Braun, at 604-446-2561 or jon@mwcbc.ca.

Note on 2026-08-13: the original press release on the emergency protections we called for on August 12, 2026 incorrectly attributed a quote to Lorena Ordoñez. The quote was from Jonathon Braun, MWC’s Legal Director.

Vancouver – Since a fast-moving wildfire forced the evacuation of Summerland, Peachland, and surrounding Okanagan communities on August 7–8, 2026, the Migrant Workers Centre (MWC) has been supporting migrant workers displaced from Okanagan farms.

The collective experience of MWC and partner organizations responding to the recent wildfire emergency has provided important lessons. While there are still significant issues that need to be addressed, it is also important to recognize the positive developments and improvements relative to how previous emergencies were handled. We summarize our reflections in five lessons:

Lesson 1. Coordination between those responding to the wildfires has significantly improved.

Relative to previous emergencies, there has been an increased level of coordination between various provincial government ministries, local organizations, consulates, and other community partners. This coordination allowed us to better identify where agricultural migrant workers had been evacuated and to understand their immediate needs such as shelter, food, clothing, health care, transportation, and information. Rapid information-sharing and open collaboration allowed the community to quickly support many affected workers with dignity and respect.

We extend deep gratitude for the rapid coordination and response from different organizations such as the Salvation Army, Khalsa Aid, YMCA, the Central Okanagan Food Bank, the Mexican Consulate, the BC Federation of Labour, MOSAIC, Kelowna Community Resources, Okanagan Dragon Boat Racing Club, Engaged Communities Canada Society, United Way and volunteers from the community. We would also like to recognize all the regional immigrant service providers, emergency service providers, and first responders working to protect Okanagan communities, including the crews deployed last week from Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand, who joined BC Wildfire Service personnel and colleagues from Alberta, Quebec, and the Yukon.

Lesson 2. Many migrant workers struggled to access emergency supports because of barriers to obtaining a BC Services Card.

When migrant workers were evacuated from two farms (one in Peachland and one near Summerland) and arrived at an emergency shelter in West Kelowna, they were told they could not stay longer than two nights and three days because they did not have a BC Services Card.

Samaritan’s Purse, the organization managing the shelter, has treated the migrant workers with kindness, respect and dignity throughout this emergency, and has facilitated access to immediate services through other organizations in the community. However, the shelter was forced to enforce the two-night limit described above by provincial eligibility rules.

Similarly, other needs-based supports, such as food, clothing and funding available to BC residents through Emergency Support Services (ESS), were initially very difficult for migrant workers to access and workers received conflicting reasons for the denial of service. We encountered this challenge while supporting workers affected by the wildfires near Penticton: after two days of advocating for affected workers at the emergency shelter in Penticton’s Convention Centre, we were told that the workers were not eligible for ESS assistance because they were not Canadian residents. MWC was later informed that ESS considers temporary foreign workers eligible for these supports but is mandated to require a valid B.C. Services Card.

Eligibility for a B.C. Services Card is tied to enrolment in the Medical Services Plan (MSP), which requires new residents to complete a wait period consisting of the balance of their month of arrival plus two months and requires a work permit valid for at least six months; many agricultural migrant workers are in the country for less than the required waiting period and are thus effectively excluded from services they are entitled to. An additional challenge is that different organizations had different understandings of eligibility requirements, causing confusion.

“It is deeply concerning and unfair that these workers are now being expected to deal with the additional burden and uncertainty of relocation. Many of them have already experienced significant trauma, displacement, and loss. Asking them to navigate yet another major disruption without adequate support places an unreasonable burden on people who are already vulnerable.

“At the centre of this situation are human beings who have contributed to our community and to this country through their labour, taxes, and essential participation in the workforce. I fully recognize that employers are also facing serious challenges, and many of them have taken on the enormous responsibility of finding accommodation and supports for their workers.

What I see here is a failure of the support system surrounding these workers and the employer. When people are displaced or experiencing a crisis, they should not be left to figure out housing.

Ideally, workers would be eligible for a BC Services Card upon arrival in Canada. This would enable them to have access to a shelter or temporary accommodation and other immediate needs in crises like this one. Unfortunately, the workers in this situation are facing multiple layers of uncertainty and hardship.”

• Lorena Ordoñez, Intake Manager at Migrant Workers Centre

Lesson 3. Migrant workers faced barriers to accessing medical services.

The same wait period requirement discussed above represents a barrier to obtaining MSP coverage for migrant workers needing health care due to the fires. This wait period creates a risk of long-term healthcare costs and poor health outcomes for workers who are effectively barred from obtaining coverage by their situation.

By continuing to require this wait period, B.C. has fallen behind; most other provinces in Canada have eliminated the wait period to provide equitable access to healthcare for immigrants and migrant workers. 

We call on the Government of British Columbia to remove the wait period requirement for access to the Medical Services Plan.

Lesson 4. Many migrant workers have not been able to access Employment Insurance, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.

Because of the short-term, seasonal nature of their work, many migrant workers have not accumulated the insurable hours required to qualify for Employment Insurance (EI). In a letter sent on August 13, 2026, to the federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lena Diab; the Minister of Jobs and Families, Patty Hajdu; and Members of Parliament, we wrote:

“The current EI system leaves significant gaps. Some seasonal workers have not accumulated enough insurable hours to qualify for EI, while those who must return to their home countries also do not qualify. These workers have paid EI premiums but cannot access the program when they truly need it.”

Our experience supporting workers affected by these wildfires highlights the same structural problems we encountered during previous emergencies, such as the 2021 floods in the Fraser Valley. As with the current emergency, one of the major concerns we heard from workers who lost their jobs because of the floods was the lack of access to EI. We also heard from workers that a few unscrupulous recruiters took advantage of their vulnerable situation by going to emergency shelters to offer them unauthorized employment. This sometimes involved cleaning and rebuilding farms affected by the floods – work which can pose health and safety risks for workers.

Loss of income for workers during an emergency is not simply an economic issue; it can also become an issue of labour exploitation and health and safety. We call on Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to implement emergency EI supports for affected workers, including:

• waiving the minimum insurable-hour requirement for affected workers; and
• allowing EI benefits to continue for a period in cases where workers must return to their home country.

Like other workers, agricultural migrant workers need to be protected when their work is interrupted by circumstances beyond their control. The Employment Insurance program needs to be amended to provide this protection, as its requirements effectively exclude the people who grow our food from support they are entitled to at the time when they need it most.

Lesson 5. We should build on this collaboration to close the gaps in our preparedness now, rather than wait for the next emergency.

All the challenges described above point to the same underlying problem: many of the systems meant to support people in a crisis were not built with migrant workers in mind.

The broad community of institutions that has come together in response to these wildfires should build on the partnership we’ve developed to develop clear policies and protocols in advance. Rather than wait for the next wildfire, flood, or other emergency, we should put what we have learned into action now. Migrant workers themselves should be included in developing these policies and protocols, which should include:

• transitioning the current informal coordination between ESDC, provincial ministries, unions, migrant worker organizations, consulates, and community organizations, to a permanent structure that helps us better support migrant workers;
• clearly defining the responsibility of employers, governments, and emergency authorities to provide accommodation and other basic needs to migrant workers during an evacuation;
• developing concrete emergency response plans to deliver these supports; and
• developing and implementing a policy to protect migrant workers’ income when employment is interrupted by wildfires, floods, extreme heat, water restrictions, or other circumstances beyond their control.

This emergency has given us an opportunity to move from crisis response to preparedness and prevention. We will continue to work directly with workers, employers, government, and community partners involved in this response. We call on the Governments of Canada and British Columbia to work with us to prepare before the next emergency.

Sincerely,

Migrant Workers Centre