Temporary workers from Mexico and Jamaica who were unexpectedly laid off from a mushroom farm near Guelph say they have not been given an explanation for their termination and believe they are victims of harsh treatment by their former employer.

About 70 workers were let go last weekend.

Most of them have already returned to their homes in Jamaica and Mexico, but some of the workers appeared at a news conference in Toronto on Thursday to talk about their situation.

The workers were hired by Rol-Land Farms about eight months ago to pick mushrooms and do other farm-related work.

They signed two-year temporary contracts that allowed them to come from Mexico and Jamaica to work in Canada — part of the country's temporary foreign worker program.

Rol-Land Farms supplied the workers with housing and a plane ticket to Canada.

But on Dec. 6, just a few months into the contract, about 70 workers at the farm outside of Guelph were unexpectedly laid off and evicted from their accommodations.

The workers and their union — the United Food and Commercial Workers — say they don't know why they were let go, but they suspect it was partly because they complained about conditions.

"Rol-Land Farms is stripping these workers of their humanity. Any Canadian would be outraged if we allowed a landlord to evict a tenant with no notice, or if a boss was able to fire a worker without notice or compensation. In this case, Rol-Land farms has done both," said Chris Ramsaroop of Justicia for Migrant Workers, an advocacy group that works with migrant workers across Canada, in a news release.

Foreign workers have complained to Ontario's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in the past that workers were let go by Rol-Land Farms when they tried to form a union.

No one was available at Rol-Land Farms' head office in Blenheim, Ont., to comment.