Document Details

Between the early 1950s and 1980s, the sugar beet industry in southern Alberta relied upon thousands of "grab-a-hoe Indians" who migrated every growing season from reserves and communities in northern Saskatchewan and Alberta. In the 1980s, many sugar beet growers began hiring Mexican Mennonites rather than Aboriginal workers. This dissertation investigates the reasons for this transition in labour forces by analyzing documentary materials and interviews from the three groups involved in the transition: growers, Mexican Mennonite workers and Aboriginal workers. It also studies the impact of the transition on Aboriginal workers and why some of them persisted in the industry despite the change in the labour force. The three main reasons for the transition to a largely Mexican Mennonite labour force in the industry are: a significant reduction in the growers' need for hand labour because of increased mechanization and the use of chemical weed controls; the growers' desire for a more reliable labour force; and most importantly, the cheapness of Mexican Mennonite workers vis-à-vis Aboriginal workers. For a number of years prior to the transition, sugar beet growers had been advocating for a new migrant labour force to replace Aboriginals. A concern of the growers at the time was the reliability of some Aboriginal workers. To reduce their dependence on migrant labour and to improve productivity, during the 1960s and 1970s growers invested in new machines and began using chemical weed controls. By the early 1980s these practices reduced the growers' need for hand labour. Coincidently, at the same time Mexican Mennonites began to migrate to southern Alberta in search of agricultural employment. This was a unique group of migrant workers because they had family roots in Canada that allowed them to claim Canadian citizenship and move freely between Mexico and Canada. When growers began hiring Mexican Mennonite workers, Aboriginal workers were available for both skilled and unskilled sugar beet jobs. At the time, Aboriginal workers with a long record of service in the industry recalled going from farm to farm looking for employment and being told that Mexican Mennonite crews had already been hired.