Anelyse Weiler

Assistant Professor
Sociology
- Contact:
- Office: COR A363 anelyse@uvic.ca 250-853-3780
- Credentials:
- PhD (Toronto)
- Area of expertise:
- Labour movements, environmental justice, immigration, rural studies, food security, and health equity
- Related links:
Dr. Weiler’s research examines struggles for workers' rights, dignified global migration, and environmental sustainability. Her projects have focused on opportunities to better protect workers from occupational health and safety hazards such as extreme heat, pesticides, and sexual violence. Within this area of study, her research has investigated how both social movements and industry lobbying can shape a broad range of laws and policies, including laws governing animal welfare. Currently, she is examining how trade unions in Canada are grappling with the climate crisis and prospects for good, green jobs.
Alongside her scholarly commitments, Dr. Weiler actively contributes to several non-profit organizations advocating for migrant health, strong employment standards, and thriving ecosystems. She often draws on community-engaged approaches to research and interdisciplinary collaboration, and she works on translating academic insights into forms of knowledge that are relevant to broad public and policy audiences.
Dr. Weiler is available to supervise graduate students in areas including labour movements, political ecology, immigration, food studies, animal welfare, and health equity.
Interests
- Occupational health and safety
- Climate change
- Migrant workers
- Political ecology
- Qualitative methods
- Labour movements
Publications
Weiler, A. M., & Zavitz, T. (2024). Nothing to hide: How governments justify the adoption of ag‐gag laws. Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie. https://doi.org/10.1111/cars.12489
Weiler, A. M., & Caxaj, C. S. (2024). Housing, health equity, and global capitalist power: Migrant farmworkers in Canada. Social Science & Medicine. Online First, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117067
Caxaj, C. S., & Weiler, A. (2024). “You’re Just Stuck in a Hole, Really”: Mechanisms of Structural Racism Through Migrant Agricultural Worker Housing in Canada. Qualitative Health Research. Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497323241285768
Caxaj, C. S., Weiler, A. M., & Martyniuk, J. (2024). Housing conditions and health implications for migrant agricultural workers in Canada: A scoping review. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 56(1), 16-28. https://doi.org/10.1177/08445621231203086
Weiler, A. M. (2023). Toxic freedom: How middle-class seasonal fruit pickers perceive and manage agrochemical exposures. Environmental Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2023.2251748
Basok, T., Tucker, E., Vosko, L. F., Caxaj, C. S., Hennebry, J., Mayell, S., McLaughlin, J., & Weiler, A. M. (2023). The ‘Contract’ and its Discontents: Can it Address Protection Gaps for Migrant Agricultural Workers in Canada? International Migration. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13121
Weiler, A. M., & Encalada Grez, E. (2022). Rotten asparagus and just-in-time workers: Canadian agricultural industry framing of farm labour and food security during the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadian Food Studies, 9(2), 38-52. https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v9i2.521
Johnston, J., Weiler, A., & Baumann, S. (2022). The cultural imaginary of ethical meat: A study of producer perceptions. Journal of Rural Studies, 89(4), 186-198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.11.021
Weiler, A. M. (2022). Bridging agrarianism: The potential of value‐added craft cider production to support rural livelihoods in the Pacific Northwest. Rural Sociology, 87(1), 44-67. https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12413
Weiler, A. M. (2022). Seeing the workers for the trees: exalted and devalued manual labour in the Pacific Northwest craft cider industry. Agriculture and Human Values, 39(1), 65-78. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-021-10226-w
Weiler, A. M. Sexsmith, K., & Minkoff-Zern, L.-A. (2021). Parallel precarity: a comparison of US and Canadian agricultural guestworker programs. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 26(2), 143-163. https://doi.org/10.48416/ijsaf.v26i2.57
Weiler, A. M., McLaughlin, J., & Cole, D. C. (2017). Food security at whose expense? A critique of the Canadian temporary farm labour migration regime and proposals for change. International Migration, 55(4), 48-63. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12342
Weiler, A. M., Levkoe, C., & Young, C. (2016). Cultivating equitable ground: Community-based participatory research to connect food movements with migrant farmworkers. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development, 6(2), 73-87. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2016.062.012
Levkoe, C. Z., McClintock, N., Minkoff-Zern, L.-A., Coplen, A. K., Gaddis, J., Lo, J., Tendick-Matesanz, F., & Weiler, A. M. (2016). Forging links between food chain labor activists and academics. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 6(2), 129-142. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2016.062.009
Weiler, A. M., Otero, G., & Wittman, H. (2016). Rock Stars and bad apples: Moral economies of alternative food networks and precarious farm work regimes. Antipode, 48(4), 1140-1162. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12221
Weiler, A. M., Hergesheimer, C., Brisbois, B., Wittman, H., Yassi, A., & Spiegel, J. M. (2015). Food sovereignty, food security and health equity: A meta-narrative mapping exercise. Health Policy and Planning, 30(8), 1078-1092. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czu109
Hennebry, J., McLaughlin, J. and Weiler, A.M. [Equal authorship]. (2021). "Fresh food, stale schemes: comparing agricultural labour migration in Canada and Spain." In T. Fouskas (ed.), Immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in times of crises: B. An international handbook on migration, asylum, social integration and exclusion (351-376). European Public Law Organization.
Johnston, J. and Weiler, A.M. (2020). "Eating our way to a sustainable future?" In M. Bell, M. Carolan, K. Legun, & J. Keller (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology: Volume II (pp.390-410). Cambridge MA: Cambridge University Press.
Weiler, A.M. (2019). "Whose labor counts as craft? Terroir and farm workers in North American craft cider." In A. Bonanno, K. Sekine and H. Feuer (eds.), The Role and Significance of Geographical Indication as a Tool for the Development and Democratization of Agri-Food. Routledge.
Skov, B., & Weiler, A. M. (2024). Find a place where you can be a part of the change: A thematic analysis of the conditions that influence direct pro-environmental collective activism. Journal of Interpersonal Relations, Intergroup Relations and Identity.
Dunkerson, A., & Weiler, A. M. (2023). “Oh! Based on Voice, Assigned Female at Birth”: Transmasculine Voices and Gender Construction. Canadian Graduate Journal of Sociology & Criminology.
Weiler, A. M. (2022). Photo Essay: Farmworkers, Climate Change, and “Converging Crises”. Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, 22(1), 44-49. https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2022.22.1.44
Weiler, A. M., & McLaughlin, J. (2019). Listening to migrant workers: Should Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program be abolished? Dialectical Anthropology, 43, 381–388. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-019-09563-4
Weiler, A. M. (2018). A food policy for Canada, but not just for Canadians: Reaping justice for migrant farm workers. Canadian Food Studies, 5(4), 279-284. https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v5i3.312
McLaughlin, J., & Weiler, A. M. (2016). Migrant agricultural workers in local and global contexts: Toward a better life? Journal of Agrarian Change, 17(3), 630-638. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12199
Kostuchuk, J., & Weiler, A. (2024, May 1). May Day 2024: Workers on a warming planet deserve stronger labour protections. The Conversation; Winnipeg Free Press: https://theconversation.com/may-day-2024-workers-on-a-warming-planet-deserve-stronger-labour-protections-224578
Caxaj, C. S., & Weiler, A. M., & Martinez, N. S. (2024). Raising the bar: Migrant agricultural workers' housing in Canada. Project Report and Videos: https://farmworkerhousing.ca/miha-project/
Weiler, A., & Caxaj, C. S. (2024, March 18). Housing crisis hitting migrant agricultural workers in Canada. The Hill Times, UVic Social Sciences: https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2024/03/18/housing-crisis-hitting-migrant-agricultural-workers-in-canada/414679/
Weiler, A., & Klassen, S. (2023, March 20). Turning up the heat on climate protections for workers. The Hill Times: https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2023/03/20/turning-up-the-heat-on-climate-protections-for-workers/381611/
Weiler, A., & Fairey, D. (2023, January 26). Will 2023 be the year BC farmworkers finally receive basic minimum wage protections? Policy Note: https://www.policynote.ca/farmworkers-minimum-wage/ The Tyee:
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2023/01/26/Farm-Workers-Deserve-Basic-Minimum-Wage/
Caxaj, C. S., Weiler, A. (2022, 12 July). For migrant farm workers, housing is not just a determinant of health, but a determinant of death. National Post; The Conversation: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/for-migrant-farm-workers-housing-is-not-just-a-determinant-of-health-but-a-determinant-of-death
Mayell, S., McLaughlin, J., Caxaj, S., Cole, C., Vosko, L. F., Basok, T., & Weiler, A. (2022, 9 March). Ontario must do more to protect migrant workers. Here’s how. TVO: https://www.tvo.org/article/ontario-must-do-more-to-protect-migrant-workers-heres-how
Weiler, A., & Fairey, D. (2021, 28 May). Opinion: Minimum wage rules should apply across the board. Vancouver Sun: https://vancouversun.com/opinion/op-ed/anelyse-weiler-and-david-fairey-minimum-wage-rules-should-apply-across-the-board
Faraday, F., Fudge, J., Hanley, J., McLaughlin, J., Ramsaroop, C., Tungohan, E., & Weiler, A. (2021, 24 February). Migrant workers need priority access to the COVID-19 vaccine. Globe & Mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-migrant-workers-need-priority-access-to-the-covid-19-vaccine/
Weiler A., Mayell, S., Vosko, L.F., Hennebry, J., & McLaughlin, J. (2020, September 7). Let’s accept migrant farmworkers as members of our food community. Toronto Star: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/09/07/lets-accept-migrant-farmworkers-as-members-of-our-food-community.html
Weiler, A. M., McLaughlin, J., Caxaj, S., & Cole, D. C. (2020, April 1). Protecting the health and rights of migrant agricultural workers during the COVID-19 outbreak should be a priority. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://www.policynote.ca/migrant-workers/
Weiler, A., Thompson, M., & Fairey, D. (2019, 31 August). This Labour Day, fruit pickers in B.C. may be denied minimum wage. Penticton Herald, Kelowna Courier, Policy Note (CCPA BC): https://www.policynote.ca/this-labour-day-fruit-pickers-in-bc-may-have-been-denied-minimum-wage/
Fairey, D., & Weiler, A. (2018, May 2). Government wrong to exclude farm workers from basic minimum wage protection. Vancouver Sun; Policy Note (CCPA BC): https://vancouversun.com/opinion/op-ed/opinion-government-wrong-to-exclude-farm-workers-from-basic-minimum-wage-protection
Weiler, A., & Cohen, A. (2018, May 1). Migrant farm workers vulnerable to sexual violence. The Conversation; Republished in The National Post, Alternet, OHS Canada, Canadian Occupational Safety, NPR Latino USA, The Tyee: https://theconversation.com/migrant-farm-workers-vulnerable-to-sexual-violence-95839