On September 23, a 30-year-old farm worker from Woolmer, Ontario was crushed to death on the job. That happened almost two weeks after agricultural workers Paul Roach and Ralston White suffocated to death when they inhaled fumes while cleaning a tank. The pump wasn’t working in the tank so one of the workers was forced to go into the tank to make the necessary repairs. He died of environmental suffocation. When the second man went into the tank to help his comrade, he died too. Ten years ago, three Mennonite agricultural workers entered a manure tank and died a similar death to Roach and White. Yet little has been done by the Ministry of Labour to prevent similar occurrences. Migrant worker rights activists are still waiting for inquests. Still waiting for snap safety inspections and health and safety protection for workers.

“We’ve seen not a goddamn instance of justice for any agricultural worker in the province of Ontario,” said Chris Ramsaroop, an organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers. “So we’re here (outside the Ministry of Labour) to send a message that we’re not taking this and we’re going to fight with workers.”

Shane Martinez from the Toronto Workers’ Health & Safety Legal Clinic accused the Ontario government of conspiring with its federal counterpart to get more migrant workers into Canada but with less access to the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Migrant workers, like Roach and White, can’t obtain on-the-job health and safety training. They’re sent into dangerous situations without knowing how to protect themselves or their co-workers. Often, they end up dying or getting injured while working in below minimum wage jobs with no access to health care. And risk being deported if they complain to their employers.

Once they’re sent back, there’s no way of tracking the number of deaths or chronic illnesses incurred that is a direct result of working on Canadian farms. In Ontario, workers have no legal recourse if they’re employer decides to send them home. “The Ontario government needs to implement an appeal mechanism for migrant workers so they can’t (arbitrarily) be booted out of the country,” said Martinez, an articling student with the Legal Clinic. “So they can access WSIB, the Human Rights Tribunal and other remedies available to others.”

But he believes that fundamental change won’t come through legal reforms or lobbying at Queen’s Park. Instead, he said it will come through marches, like the one workers are organizing for the Thanksgiving Weekend from Leamington to Windsor. They’ll walk with their allies to demand status, an end to exorbitant recruitment fees, better housing, safe working conditions and an end to racism and sexism in the workplace.

By pressuring the government, they hope that the Ministry of Labour will begin to take the protection of migrant workers seriously through a series of investigations to uncover health and safety violations on commercial farming operations. Over the last 12 years, 33 migrant workers have died in the workplace in Ontario. In the same period, over 1,100 workers have been repatriated or deported for medical reasons. This doesn’t include the thousands of workers sent home for breach of contract or denied access to the Canadian healthcare system.

Consuelo Rubio, manager of client services for Ontario’s Human Rights Legal Support Centre, told protesters at the September 24 rally that real equality and access for migrant workers won’t be achieved until it becomes a reality – not just a regulation change in the Human Rights Code. “Because when you have no access the Code is just a piece of paper and not very useful,” she said. “They (also) need equal protection for themselves and their families once they unfortunately die.”

At the moment, the Coroner’s Act doesn’t make it mandatory to conduct an inquest when a migrant worker dies, except if a worker dies in the construction or mining industry. Justicia wants an automatic inquest if a worker dies in any industry, especially since agriculture is the third most dangerous occupation in Ontario.

Mohan Mishra held a basket of apples as he spoke to the crowd. “Whenever we sit down to eat an apple, we don’t stop and think about the blood, sweat and tears that go into producing this food for us,” he said. “We don’t think about the lives that are lost.”

Lives like Roach and White. Or the brother who died the day before.

Protesters came and listened to Mishra and others not only with sadness in their hearts but with anger and resentment towards a government that appears to act with callous disregard for migrant workers who don’t have full status. That somehow their lives are worth less than others.

A few years ago, Ramsaroop met a Jamaican worker who came to Toronto from Owen Sound after he was injured. He tried unsuccessfully to convince the worker to remain here so he could get more medical attention and meet with people about obtaining workers compensation. The worker was reluctant to “make waves” because he wanted to return to Canada the following year. But a few weeks later, the worker died after he returned to Jamaica. “Many of the deaths that we may not think is a workplace incident, actually is one,” said Ramsaroop.

The deaths of Roach and White marked the fourth time in the last ten years that Justicia has filed for an inquest. They’re still waiting for an inquest into the death of Ned Peart, 39, who was crushed to death by a tobacco kiln in 2002. (The Jamaica Gleaner reported on December 20, 2004 that The Ontario Provincial Police declared the death as an accident.) Justicia also filed for two workers who died in a 2005 cycling accident near Delhi, Ontario. (Juxtaposition reported in their Spring 2006 edition that some mainstream media and officials blamed the deaths on the workers’ own actions.)

“And now let’s see how the government responds to this inquest,” he said.

After working on the farms in Ontario for 20 years, Dave (last name withheld) noticed that he was having severe problems with his kidneys. Jessica Ponting of the Industrial Accident Victims Group of Ontario read a statement on his behalf at Friday’s rally. Like most, Dave put in 50 to 70 hour weeks without proper breaks or compensation. Complaining about working conditions or pay meant an immediate plane ticket home. Exposure to pesticides on farms was constant – from nursery to harvest. Sneezing and coughing, itching and scratching, watery eyes and bleeding from the nostrils; he endured it all. Forced to clean sprayers, without gloves, leaving his hands exposed to chemicals and pesticides.

Yolisa Dalamba comes from a country where workers had no rights, where workers were treated like slaves, where workers died every day under apartheid in South Africa. She’s shocked that these practices exist today in Canada. “Shame on Canada,” said the Executive Director of the Association of Part Time Undergraduate Students at the University of Toronto (APUS). “Because Canada claims to be inclusive, committed to justice and equity and anti-oppression struggles around the world.”

She said the Ministry of Labour ignores the situation, deliberately allowing it to continue. Because it’s only happening to racialized, migrant workers.

“How would you feel if you got a phone call in the night that one of your relatives was killed on one of these farms?” she asked. “The government has to do better and we have to hold them accountable.”

John Bonnar

John Bonnar is an independent journalist producing print, photo, video and audio stories about social justice issues in and around Toronto.