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AgSafe Launches “Mantengo” to Support BC’s Spanish-Speaking Farm Workers
The farm safety organization AgSafe has developed a collection of wellness resources and materials in support of British Columbia’s Spanish-speaking agricultural workers called “Mantengo”.
These resources are part of AgSafe’s larger Mental Wellness in Agriculture initiative.
Supported by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative, Mantengo is a collection of inter-related videos and resources in Spanish and English to help improve the mental and physical wellbeing of agricultural workers in BC, as well as those guest workers who have traveled from outside of Canada and are working in various agricultural sectors throughout the province.
“BC’s guest workers face many emotional challenges while working here,” says AgSafe Executive Director Wendy Bennett. “Loneliness, anxiety and depression often occur as a result of being so far away from their families and community.
“We developed Mantengo to make supportive mental and physical wellbeing resources more easily accessible for Spanish speaking workers and their employers.”
Mantengo resources include information, links to additional resources, and posters about fitness, nutrition and building community. A series of videos features personal stories and a music video called “Mantengo: The Journey.”
In English, the meaning of Mantengo is to maintain your personal wellness. AgSafe encourages employees and employers to use the Mantengo resources jointly as a team, and to incorporate the resources into everyday workplace health and wellness programs. Employers will find the Mantengo resource user guide helpful in preventing injuries and lost time due to illness.
Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau says the government feels it’s important to support the many workers whose native language is not English or French.
“BC’s guest workers face many emotional challenges while working here,” Bibeau points out. “Loneliness, anxiety and depression often occur as a result of being so far away from their families and community.
“We developed Mantengo to make supportive mental and physical wellbeing resources more easily accessible for Spanish speaking workers and their employers.”
Mantengo resources can be found on AgSafe’s website at www.agsafebc.ca/mental-wellness/mantengo. For more information about AgSafe visit www.AgSafeBC.ca
The program is also supported by the BC government, which is part of the five-year, $3 billion Canadian Agricultural Partnership program.
This includes a $2 billion commitment that is shared between the two levels of government, in which the province pays 40 per cent of the cost, and the federal government covers off 60 per cent.
BC’s Minister of Agriculture and Food, Pam Alexis, points out that BC’s crop production is heavily reliant on foreign workers who travel to Canada to work on local farms.
Hon. Pam Alexis, British Columbia Minister of Agriculture and Food –
“Guest workers on BC farms play a key role in our food system, so it’s important they have support in our province,” Alexis says. “Mantengo is a great new resource for Spanish speaking workers and their employers to help them take care of both their mental and physical health, while they work hard to put food on our tables and support their families.”
Nationally, close to 470,000 foreign nationals have a work permit that became effective in 2019, and the largest proportion (27.4 per cent) of temporary foreign workers in Canada work in crop production. ν
AgSafe is the non-profit health and safety association for agricultural producers in British Columbia. For more information about AgSafe services or agriculture-related workplace health and safety call 1-877-533-1789 or visit www.AgSafeBC.ca.