In 1980, I was a 20-year-old summer intern reporter at the Vancouver Sun, working weekends. You covered crime and speeches. The fledgling Canadian Farmworkers Union was trying to organize the pickers in the Fraser Valley and brought in Cesar Chavez to speak at a founding rally. https://twitter.com/BCLegislature/status/1336009842046078977

Chavez spoke on a Saturday and there was no Sunday newspaper. The story of Chavez's speech ran on page 10 in the Monday newspaper. Got a quote from Canadian Farmworkers Union president Raj Chouhan to include in the story.

In June, the union held a protest outside a farm in Langley after they felt the owner reneged on a working agreement struck with his son, the farm's manager. The owner was active in the governing Social Credit party.

I didn't know anything about Fraser Valley farms, labour contracting, or role played by workers from Indo-Canadian community. I joined Chouhan in the fields as casual labourer. That's me on left in a @Ubyssey T-shirt, Raj in the middle. A $2.50 flat of strawberries in foreground.

The Sun placed my profile of Chouhan in the business section. (I suspect the editors saw its worth more as a warning to farm owners than information for the general public.)

Farm workers faced horrific conditions. A baby drowned in a pail of water. A 34-year-old man died from insecticide poisoning. Excellent timeline on the Canadian Farmworkers Union's history here, courtesy of SFU Library special collections:
http://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/branches-depts/special-collections/canadian-farmworkers-union-chronology

Agricultural workers continue to seek better pay and conditions through collective action, including bargaining. http://www.ufcw.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32236&Itemid=2420&lang=en

Forty years ago, I spent a day with Chouhan squatting in a farmers' berry field as he talked up the union to workers. Today, he was acclaimed Speaker of the BC Legislature, the first person of South Asian heritage to hold a Speakership in any Canadian parliament.