Sly stickers redirect restaurant diners from menu to stories of mistreated farm workers

Dangerously Delicious Corn Bread, Out-of-This-Country Mushroom Pizza and Hazardous House Sangria.

These “secret menu” items are coming to your local restaurant when you use your phone to scan a QR code awaiting there to see your dining options.

Look up the “corn bread” option and you’ll find the brief story of migrant farm workers Juan and Gabriel, at a sweet corn farm where the employer refused to ensure safe housing or call an ambulance at the pandemic’s height.

Checking the “pizza” sheds light on the plight of the 4,000 mushroom pickers in Canada, most of them migrants, who work in the dark and harvest in close quarters — conditions that make them prone to illness and injury.

The cocktail entry recounts how a migrant worker from Mexico faced hazards at work and was sexually assaulted by her employer at a grape farm, and was threatened for deportation if she told anyone.

The menu, launched Wednesday, was created by the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change to create awareness and conversations among Canadians about the working conditions faced by migrant farm workers in Canada as part of its campaign to call for permanent resident status for all.

“We are all facing a cost of living crisis and see increased prices at the grocery store. It is crucial at this moment for all of us to talk about who really grows our food and who is profiting from their exploitation,” said Syed Hussan, executive director of the alliance.

“We see consistently that migrant agricultural workers are shut out.”

Over the past weeks, volunteers have put up hundreds of stickers that resemble real QR menu codes in restaurants in Niagara, Windsor, Toronto and Ottawa, ranging from food courts to bars, fast-food eateries to high-end dining. Instead of accessing the restaurant’s menu, patrons are directed to the alliance’s Secret Menu webpage that displays the hidden human cost behind each entrée, main course, dessert and drink.

All of the anecdotes on the site are true stories drawn from workers belonging to the alliance, according to organizers. At the bottom of the page, viewers can also immediately send a message or a tweet to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to demand permanent residence for all migrant workers.

Each year, more than 60,000 seasonal agricultural workers come to Canada from Mexico, Jamaica and other Caribbean countries. They have limited access to permanent status.

Hussan said migrants face low wages, unsafe working conditions, poor housing, family separation and long days of back-breaking labour without medical coverage or sick days because of their precarious status.

“Grocery stores jack up prices, they are also squeezing farmers, refusing to share profits. With the rising cost of fertilizer and farm equipment, farmers are also facing a cost of living crisis, many are forced to cut costs by employing fewer workers, forcing migrants to do twice the job, and paying their workers less,” he said.

“We are focusing on restaurants because they are communal spaces. People dine together, scan the menu together and have a conversation about food. We hope they will also have a discussion about who’s feeding us and how they’re treated.”

Nicholas Keung is a Toronto-based reporter covering immigration for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @nkeung

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