After evidence that COVID-19 among farm workers has been coming from people hired via temporary employment agencies, the province’s labour ministry has launched an investigation of 17 of them.
Health officials warned that agencies that move workers from farm to farm could be contributing to COVID-19 outbreaks.
“Worker safety laws on farms apply to all workers in Ontario. This includes migrant workers and undocumented workers,” the labour ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “We stand firm against exploitation in our province.”
As of June 29, 21 outbreaks at farms and greenhouse operations had infected 954 people across Canada, according to federal data. Three workers have died, all in Ontario.
An “overwhelming majority” of farms with outbreaks were employing short-term workers through temp agencies, labour ministry staff said on a conference call about the outbreaks last week.
Contract workers have been a critical part of the agriculture, construction and hospitality sectors in Ontario for decades, but they now seem to be contributing to outbreaks, said Ken Forth, president of FARMS, a non-profit organization that co-ordinates the federal temporary work program.
Some farmers in Essex County, where there have been large COVID-19 outbreaks, are desperate for help so turn to the agencies even though they have known that some are undocumented foreigners.
It means they are illegally in Canada and there are reports that some of them have been exploited with threats that failure to knuckle under will lead to discovery by authorities and deportation.
