Jamaica’s Colette Roberts Risden recognizes, builds relationship with farm employers

Permanent Secretary on special assignment Colette Roberts Risden (right) was among those enjoying Tania Lou’s performance at the Jamaican Liaison Service’s Wine and Cheese Agricultural and Tourism Forum.

By Jeff Tribe

Wine and cheese were merely the appetizers.

The main menu items at the Jamaican Liaison Service’s (JLS) Agricultural and Tourism Forum were staple specialties of the Caribbean island nation: sun, sand and surf, and access to a skilled and committed labour force through the Seasonal Agricultural Workers and Ag-Stream Programs.

“We thought we’d take the liaison service to meet the employers,” explained Chief Liaison Officer Althea Riley Friday, May 23rd inside Leamington’s Roma Centre. “Meet them where they are - and where they work.

“This is the year of growth, when the Liaison Service puts itself out there to let employers know that we are open for business and we have good quality of workers available in the pool in Jamaica.”

Permanent Secretary on special assignment to the Overseas Employment Programme, Colette Roberts Risden’s goals include expanding employment opportunities for her county’s citizens.

She headed a ‘Team Jamaica’ delegation featuring Riley, Kurtis Davis from the Jamaican Consulate General in Toronto, Younna Bailey-Magalhaes, Deputy Consul General of Jamaica in Toronto, JLS officers including Leighton Davis, Allia McLeary, Sheldon Wright, JN Money Regional Manager Claude Thompson whose financial and other services company works collaboratively with the JLS, and Oral Chambers, Business Development Manager with the Jamaica Tourist Board.

The Agricultural Forum featured wine, cheese, an array of appetizers and goodie bags for all attendees, served up in conjunction with a brief podium presentation. It included an invitation from Chambers to be among the 4.5-million visitors who enjoy the island nation’s attributes annually, particularly given their existing introduction to Jamaican culture through employees.

The JLS can help bring Jamaican workers to Canada said Chambers, but to fully experience the nation’s culture, food and beaches, they have to visit in person.

“Jamaicans in Jamaica is a different kind of vibe.”

Although the location was chosen to coincide with labour opportunities created by growth in the area’s greenhouse industry, JLS messaging is consistent throughout every Canadian region Jamaican temporary foreign workers are employed in.

Roberts Risden’s goals included both recognizing the importance of farm employers to the programs, and by extension, Jamaica, along with committing to existing relationships and building new ones.

The podium presentation emphasized Jamaican program participants are pre-screened for mental and physical fitness, undergo criminal checks and have farm experience. Against a backdrop that ‘the nation is open for business’, Jamaican workers Roberts Risden suggested when choosing Jamaican workers, employers are ‘choosing success.’

Their stated view of worker programs is far different from the negativity which may be presented on social media and through some media outlets.

“They’re outside looking in,” said Riley.

Admittedly, there is room for improvement, but Roberts Risden believes that can be best accomplished working together through ongoing collaborative effort.

“We can solve any issues,” she said.

“Move mountains we Jamaicans like to say,” added Riley.

Close to 10,000 Jamaicans are employed through foreign worker programs, representing a significant percentage of the remittances which occupy an elevated line item in Jamaica’s economy, second only to tourism.

“This is social mobility for many people,” Roberts Risden said, ‘hard work’ of program participants typically contributing not only to living expenses, but also education allowing for ascension to a higher level of society. Roberts Risden mentioned health care professionals, lawyers, teachers and other professions, specifically citing a single mother working in the area. One of her daughters is a lawyer says the permanent secretary, the other works for The United Nations.

Roberts Risden, along with Thompson, used the occasion to announce educational scholarships being awarded by both the Jamaican Minister of Labour and JN Money coinciding with the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program’s 60th anniversary.

External employment has contributed to Jamaica seeing the lowest level of poverty in its history, Roberts Risden added.

“It’s because of programs like these that provide meaningful, decent work for our people,” she said, emphasizing the importance of programs to the country.

“We believe in a win-win,” Roberts Risden concluded. “It’s a win for Jamaica and a win for the employers.” 