Track And Food Podcast

Three years ago, I interviewed labour economist David Fairey and UVic sociologist Anelyse Weiler about British Columbia's piece rate system — the legal framework that allows farm workers to be paid less than minimum wage. Although I've worked in hospitality for years, and thought I understood the labour behind a meal, that conversation made me realize otherwise.Enter Canadian journalist and author, Marcello Di Cintio, and his 2025 book Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers (Biblioasis). To gather research for Precarious, Di Cintio spent four years travelling across Canada, speaking with migrant workers in agriculture, caregiving, food processing, the Food & Beverage industry, and beyond. In the process, he uncovered stories of resilience and humanity, but also of the systemic exploitation built directly into Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program - a national program which a United Nations Special Rapporteur has referred to as a breeding ground for "contemporary forms of slavery&