Justicia Demands Coroner’s Inquest
Posted: February 25, 2012
Categories: News from Sustain Ontario
On Friday February 17th, 2012 at 12:00 pm, Justicia for Migrant
Workers gathered at the Office of the Chief Coroner (32
Grenville St) to renew their demand for an inquest into the deaths of
Paul Roach and Ralston White and to call for an inquest into the
recent deaths of farmworkers in Hamstead. While there have been
several tragedies involving migrant workers, there has never been a
Coroner’s Inquest in Ontario examining the death of a migrant worker
employed under the temporary foreign workers program.
The group is calling on the Ministry of Labour to undertake the
following
· Stop wage theft: prohibit fees charged to migrant workers for work
· Modernize and enforce provincial labour laws for migrant workers
· Stop cutting the workers compensation benefits of injured migrant
· Implement industry specific health and safety regulations
for agriculture and extend health and safety protection to domestic
workers
· Strengthen anti-reprisal protection
At the Federal level J4MW is demanding:
· Status upon arrival
· Equal Access to entitlements and benefits for migrant workers
See their website for updates
David Armando Blancas-Hernandez, Jose Mercedes Valdiviezo-Taboa, Cesar
Augusto Sanchez-Palacios, Enrique Atturo Leon, Corsino Jaramillo,
Mario Abril, Oscar Compomanes-Corzo, Juan Castillo, Elvio
Bravo-Suncion, and Fernando Correa were employed as chicken catchers
and Christopher Fulton worked as a transport truck driver. All died
when the passenger van collided with a transport truck on February 6,
2012.
Mr. Roach and Mr. White were two Jamaican migrant workers who were
killed in a confined space accident at work in September of 2010. All
charges were recently dropped against three people who operated
Filsinger Farms where these deaths occurred. A plea bargain resulted
in a guilty plea for one supervisor of a minor charge of failing to
provide proper precautions against confined spaces and a miniscule
fine of $22,500 for both deaths.
“Migrant workers are vulnerable because labour laws don’t adequately
speak to their realities. We need stronger protections so that
tragedies like this don’t ever happen again” says Tanya Ferguson,
organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers.
Justicia for Migrant Workers is a volunteer run non- profit
organization that organizes around rights of migrant workers.
See their website for updates