A migrant farm workers’ rights organization is calling for provincial regulations to specifically protect agriculture workers who pick fruits and vegetables in extreme heat across Ontario.
The provincial government committed to enacting new laws last July but has not followed through, according to an open letter the advocacy group Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW) recently sent the province.
The letter calls for agriculture-specific requirements for good drinking water and shade, as well as broader protections for workers such as security against reprisal if they file a complaint.
J4MW organizer Chris Ramsaroop said he is concerned someone will get seriously hurt before regulations are put in place.
“We should not be waiting for another tragedy to occur where a worker is sick or dies because of heat conditions,” he said.
Radio-Canada has reached out to the province for comment.
U.S. a potential model?
Ontario has set broad protections for all workers, including guidelines that suggest employees’ core temperature should not reach more than 38 C. However, the province does not have specific regulations in place for agricultural workers.
After June’s heat dome in Ontario and increasing temperatures across the country, advocates say it’s time for more.
South of the border, U.S. President Joe Biden proposed a new rule July 2 that would protect workers in that country from heat-related injuries on the job. States such as California and Oregon have mandated rules for clean drinking water.
Ramsaroop pointed to the United States as a possible model for Ontario.
“These are basic protections that all workers should have so they can return to their families at the end of the day,” he said.
Ramsaroop added the federal government has a role to play too, including providing workers permanent status on arrival in Canada.
He said without federal protections, employees are afraid of reprisal and a “tremendous” power imbalance exists between workers and employers.
More red tape for farmers feared
For some critics, the idea of more regulations means more red tape with little improvement.
Michel Dignard is vice-president of L’Union des cultivateurs franco-ontariens, which represents both workers and employers, and has his own farm in Embrun.
He said it’s a full-time job ensuring compliance with bureaucracy and that even if the province did regulate more safety measures, agriculture workers are already under the same general protections as other workers in the province.
“[Provincial regulators] are doing a lot of inspection right now. I don’t think if they do any more it’s going to make a difference,” he said.
For Jacques Lamoureux, who owns the farm Les Jardins Lamoureux in Hawkesbury, this year was his first hiring migrant workers after 15 years in business.
“All our farmer friends have foreign workers, whether from Guatemala, Peru or Mexico,” Lamoureux told Radio-Canada in French.
Dignard said the industry has changed significantly in the past three decades. Workers can leave for other opportunities, so “it’s not in the best interest of the employer to mistreat their employees,” he said.
According to Ramsaroop, mistreatment is still happening. Farm workers are 35 per cent more likely than others to die of heat exhaustion, according to J4MW’s letter.
“If we care about the people who put food on our table, we have to ensure they have decent and fair working conditions,” he said.