Each year, when temperatures begin to spike, Kelowna residents look for signs that the summer's harvest will be fruitful — mounds of peaches at roadside fruit stands, the sagging branches of cherry trees, the number of tractors chugging down back roads, and the long line outside of a small Latin market.

In 2013, Sandra Zahuna opened San's Latin Market, now a bustling money transfer service and community store, 10 years after moving to the Okanagan from Mexico to work on one of the first farms in the region to employ temporary foreign workers.

For the thousands who power the Okanagan's fruit harvest each year, Zahuna's market is more than a store — it's a gathering place and a lifeline. As Canada's agricultural sector faces chronic labour shortages, migrant workers have become essential t

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