COVID-19 deaths of 3 Ontario farm workers prompt coroner's call for changes

A deputy chief coroner'sreview of theCOVID-19 deaths of three migrant farm workersin Ontariois calling for better safeguards and improved working conditions for foreign seasonal agricultural workers, a population that faces barriers to accessing health care and added dangers due to communal living quarters.

The report includes 35recommendations, calling on everything from improved access to health care tobetter communication between governmentsand agencies involved in bringing foreign workers to Canada each growing season.

In 2020, the three Mexican nationals died in May and June. All three men were under age 60 and contracted COVID-19 after arrivingto work on Ontario farms.

They were:

• Bonifacio Eugenio-Romero, who workedon a pepper farm nearKingsville.
• Rogelio Munoz Santos, who workedat a farm in Windsor-Essex.
• Juan Lopez Chaparro, who workedon a vegetable farm near Simcoe.

The report by Ontario's deputy chief coroner,Reuven R. Jhirad, outlines steps to makeconditions safer for temporary foreign agricultural workers. Mostcome to Canada in pursuit of better wages.

Much of the report focuses on the need to streamline information sharing between the various agencies involved in bringing workers to Canada. The recommendations call for better ways to inform workers about their rightsand services available to them, including where to access health care and information on labour laws.

One recommendation calls for a single phone line to be set up that would allow workers toreport violations or concerns about work conditions, with information available in languages other than English or French.

Farm workers a vaccination priority: coroner

The report says foreign farm workers should be considered a high prioritygroup when it comes to accessingCOVID-19 vaccinations. It also calls for isolation centres to be set up in communities where they're working to deal with any outbreaks.

Generally, foreign farm workers have visas that tie them to a single employer. The report recommends changes to allow workers more freedom to move between different work sites during the growing season.

Most foreign farmer workers live in communal housing, generally bunkhouses, provided by their employers.

As the COVID-19 outbreak unfolded last year, many of those bunkhouses were found to be dangerously cramped with little separation between sleeping spaces.

The report also calls for:

• Better standards to make housing safer and calls for farms to be subject to unscheduled inspections to ensure the bunkhouses are safer.
• Better access to vaccinations for foreign workers, along withrandom and directed COVID-19 testing on farms.
• Foreign workers who are undocumented to have access to health care without repercussions to the workers or their employers.

The report's conclusion outlines plans to follow up on the status of the recommendations, to see whether they are accepteded and implemented, within six months and again a year later.