Unacceptable Deaths of Migrant Farm Workers in Southwestern Ontario
An increasing number of farm workers in
Southwestern Ontario have become infected with
COVID-19, especially migrant workers on the
federal government's two-year Temporary Foreign
Worker Program or its Seasonal Agricultural
Worker Program (SAWP). As of June 10, over 200
farm workers in Essex County are reported to
have tested positive for the virus and two have
died. Another two workers are in the Intensive
Care Unit at Windsor Regional Hospital. Farm
workers are said to represent around 22 per cent
of all positive cases in the Windsor-Essex
region. On June 8 and 9, there were 81 new
COVID-19 cases reported in Windsor-Essex; 72 of
these were farm workers. On June 10,
Windsor-Essex Medical Officer of Health Dr.
Wajid Ahmed said that these results are still
from testing done before organized mass testing
of farm workers began in Leamington on June 9.
He further stated, "We would expect to see more
cases as we expand the testing because now we
are actively looking for cases. The impact of
those cases, I think, is yet to be seen."
The health unit in neighbouring Chatham-Kent
has reported a total of 148 cases of COVID-19,
over 100 of them linked to an outbreak at
Greenhill Produce. Two of those cases remain
active, according to Chatham-Kent Public Health.
There has also been a large outbreak among
migrant workers at Scotlynn Farms in Norfolk
County and another one at Pioneer Flower Farms
in Niagara.
On May 30, Bonifacio Eugenio Romero, a 31-year
old worker employed at Woodside Greenhouses in
Kingsville, became the first migrant worker to
die of COVID-19 in Canada. Five days later, on
June 5, 24-year-old Rogelio Muñoz Santos also
died in hospital, the youngest person to die in
Windsor-Essex. Both workers were from Mexico. Workers'
Forum sends heartfelt condolences to the
families and loved ones, fellow workers and
friends of Bonifacio Eugenio Romero and Rogelio
Muñoz Santos for their tragic and needless
deaths.
 According to news
reports, Bonifacio was initially taken to the
hospital by his employer on May 21 after he
reported having symptoms. After being tested he
was moved from the bunkhouse where he and his
co-workers were being housed into a single hotel
room to self-isolate and given some instructions
to follow. Two days later, when his results came
back postive for COVID-19, his close contacts
were also moved into hotel rooms. During this
time the Windsor-Essex Health Unit checked up
"almost on a daily basis" on Bonifacio and the
others, presumably over the phone. After a week
spent this way Bonifacio called for help on May
31, saying he had trouble breathing. He was
taken to the hospital by Emergency Medical
Services (EMS) where he died within 30 minutes
of arriving. The circumstances surrounding the
tragic death of this worker, who had no known
underlying health problems, suggest it could
well have been avoided had he been afforded the
kind of care, monitoring and treatment he needed
instead of being dumped in a hotel room on his
own, far from home and family.
Right after Bonifacio's death was made public
it was announced that Erie Shores Health Care in
Leamington and the Windsor-Essex EMS had put
together two migrant worker assessment outreach
teams to provide in-person assessments, and in
some cases testing, for migrant workers at 15
different farms and greenhouses in Windsor-Essex
County, and at hotels where some of them were
self-isolating. The visits began the week of
June 1 and are being carried out by a team that
includes a nurse practitioner, a registered
nurse, a paramedic and Spanish translator. As a
result of their hands-on assessments, several
workers were sent to the Leamington hospital and
Windsor Regional Hospital for further assessment
and treatment.
 Rogelio Muñoz
Santos is reported to have been diagnosed and
hospitalized for COVID-19 in early May but was
eventually deemed to have recovered and was
released. However he continued to experience
complications and became weaker, returning to
Windsor Regional Hospital on his own, before the
outreach teams began their work of actually
carrying out in-person visits and check-up of
these workers. He was admitted to the ICU and
died a few days later. A GoFundMe campaign begun
on June 8 to help repatriate Rogelio's body to
Mexico and contribute towards funeral costs
described him as an honest, hard-working and
loving person whose dream was to be able to help
his family pay off its debts, but because of the
pandemic, he was left without work and without
money. By June 10 the campaign had surpassed its
goal of $10,000 and raised over $13,000.
The tragic and unnecessary deaths of these two
young workers has moved many people and alerted
them to the need for governments to be held to
account for what happened. For example at
the June 9 meeting of the Windsor and District
Labour Council, it was announced that the
Executive had voted to support the fight of
migrant workers for their rights, and to commit
$1,000 to the cause. Affiliated unions and
community groups will be informed of this
decision and encouraged to also do what they can
to support the cause of these workers.
It is of note that all incoming temporary
foreign workers and seasonal workers were
required to spend 14 days in quarantine before
starting work this year to ensure they were free
of the virus. Employers were given $1,500 per
worker by the federal government to cover the
cost of wages and food for the workers during
this period. Migrant workers that have
contracted COVID-19 are therefore assumed to
have acquired it in Canada. This should surprise
no one, given the often cramped, communal living
quarters many are provided by employers, and
workplaces some of them also have to navigate
without proper PPE or provisions for physical
distancing.
The initiation of mass
testing of migrant farm workers in Essex
County this week, along with certain other new
measures announced by the Windsor-Essex Health
Unit in the wake of the deaths of these two
young workers are positive first steps. Other
measures include a workplace being declared
"under outbreak" when two or more workers
contract COVID-19. If the workplace is deemed
to be putting the public or its staff at risk,
it will be shut down until the infection is
under control. Dr. Ahmed said a list of
workplaces that are currently under outbreak
will be provided on the health unit's website
sometime this week. Much more is still
required, particularly of senior levels of
government to urgently address the living
conditions of migrant workers as well as the
working conditions of all workers on these
farms and other agri-food establishments.
The deplorable
circumstances under which two workers have now
died, with a still unknown number also
infected and countless more put at risk are
totally unacceptable and must be addressed --
not as a policy objective for when it is
"realistic" as Premier Doug Ford has said, but
immediately.
This article was published in
Number 40 - June 11, 2020
Article Link:
Unacceptable Deaths of Migrant Farm Workers in Southwestern Ontario
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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