Description: "In 2023, United Nations Special Rapporteur Tomoyo Obokata spent two weeks in Canada, meeting with representatives from federal and provincial governments and human rights commissions, trade unions, civil society organizations, and academics--as well as migrants working in agriculture, caregiving, food processing, and sex work. His conclusion: the country's Temporary Foreign Worker program is "a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.""--
Review Quotes:
Praise for Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers
"Precarious is both thoroughly researched and deeply nuanced . . . Di Cintio delivers a compassionate portrayal of the migrant workers who invisibly contribute to Canada's economy; and a damning portrait of a seriously flawed, inhumane governmental system that exists out of sight of most Canadian citizens."
--Thalia Stopa, Scout Magazine
"This thorough and damning account from journalist Di Cintio profiles migrant workers who traveled to Canada from Costa Rica, India, and the Philippines under the Temporary Foreign Worker program . . . While offering precise and useful insights into the Canadian system, Di Cintio also provides rich food for thought about the role migration plays in the global order."
--Publishers Weekly
"Engaging and well-documented . . . While many Canadians proudly embrace an 'elbows up' patriotic attitude in response to annexation threats by an unpredictable American president, this deeply personal study shows why many potential citizens may have quietly kept their elbows down."
--Joseph Hnatiuk, Winnipeg Free Press
"Readers who get to the end of Precarious may very well start to question that unconditional 'Canada the good' image most of us have of our country, at least in how we treat those who come here through our Temporary Foreign Worker program."
--Eric Volmers, Calgary Herald
"I want to say this book is recommended reading for anyone who is concerned about the treatment of migrant workers in Canada. But what I need to say is that this is a must-read for anyone who has never thought much about the migrants living among us. After reading it, hopefully you will finally see the human being pouring your double-double."
--Jason Foster, Alberta Views
"[A] coherent look into the complex issues surrounding migrant workers."
--Emily Mernin, LRC Bookworm
"This book unflinchingly presents an inequitable Canadian system that contradicts what we consider Canadian values of kindness and acceptance."
--Anne Logan, I've Read This
"Precarious is a book that's both difficult to sit with and to put down. It's one of the most important Canadian books I've read in a while."
--Jamie Mah, Track & Food
Praise for Driven: the Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers
"An astonishing book about folks from all over, many of whom have been through total hell but have somehow made their way out . . . You never know who's driving you. Each person contains multitudes."
--Margaret Atwood on Twitter
"In these deeply researched and richly--often shockingly--detailed portraits of Canadian taxi drivers from all over the world, Di Cintio reveals, among other things, the heavy price exacted by getting here, and staying here. The funny, savage, and poignant stories in these pages give a fresh urgency to an old saying that all of us should remember the next time we get into a taxi: 'Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.'"
--John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather
"A blend of reportage, social history, and personal profile, Driven is a triumph of curiosity and compassion."
--The Walrus
"Di Cintio takes the time and trouble to engage with a cross-Canada range of people representing a profession too often taken for granted. Most of them are immigrants; all of them are subject to scarcely conceivable challenges and obstacles, often exacerbated by the onset of Uber."
--Montreal Gazette
"A masterpiece of original sociological research, Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers is an extraordinary and deftly presented series of perspectives. Unique, engaging, entertaining, inherently fascinating, thoughtful and thought-provoking."
--Midwest Book Review