Earlier this year, Kelowna received international recognition as it was declared a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.
The designation was historic regionally as well as nationally, as Kelowna is Canada’s first city to receive the honour, and only the third city in North America to do so.
Director of Secretariat of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, David Schimpky, previously said the designation, “honours Kelowna’s commitment to harnessing the creative field of gastronomy as a powerful driver of sustainable local development” and that it will drive the local agriculture industry forward.
Okanagan-based advocacy group RAMA is saying the news takes attention away from the struggles of migrant workers in Canada in a press release sent to media on Dec. 18.
According to statistics from the Canadian government, B.C. has brought in the third-highest number of seasonal migrant workers for the agricultural industry in 2025, with 8,642 workers arriving from January to the end of June.
RAMA said many of these workers are based in and around Kelowna, hailing from Latin America or the Caribbean.
“For more than two decades, migrant farm workers in the valley have reported persistent abuse by supervisors, including the denial of basic workplace rights and retaliation when they are injured or no longer deemed ‘useful’ by employers,” RAMA said in the release.
“We are very poor but hard-working people, and they take advantage of that. We have no protections,” said a Kelowna orchard worker originally from Guatemala who was quoted in RAMA’s press release.
He said he and other migrant workers faced “constant harassment and constant intimidation” by their supervisors.
“The bosses didn’t care about us at all,” he said. “Here, the fruit is more important than anything else.”
RAMA also stated that, despite the region’s UNESCO designation, migrant workers continue to reach out to others for food support, as they often lack access to a grocery store or can’t afford the food.
“This designation from UNESCO celebrates access to and abundance of food for only some people in Kelowna,” said Laura Prada, RAMA volunteer. “But our food system is built on the backs of migrant farm workers, whose undignified and unjust experiences have been documented for decades through public research, worker testimonies and activists’ corroboration. This is a homegrown and deeply rooted problem.”
The release from RAMA also cites a 22-page report from the UN on forms of contemporary slavery, which states Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker program “serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.”
“If Kelowna is to claim any pride in its designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, it must confront the reality that no amount of culinary creativity can coexist with a labour system built on fear and disposability,” RAMA said. “RAMA calls on local governments, agricultural, gastronomic and culinary communities to use the UNESCO designation as a platform to demand full and permanent immigration status for migrant farm workers – the only meaningful and viable way to end the coercion, silence and abuse embedded in Canada’s food system.”
Capital News has reached out to the City of Kelowna for a response to RAMA’s comments. This story will be updated when a response is received.