More than 240 migrant workers across several operations have the coronavirus, raising concerns over living conditions and adequacy of testing
Temporary foreign workers harvest mushrooms at the Highline Mushrooms farm, Canada's largest mushroom grower, in Leamington, Ont., on April 14, 2016.A growing number of migrant farm workers in Ontario are testing positive for COVID-19, turning agricultural workplaces into hot spots for outbreaks in a province that continues to see hundreds of new cases a day.
“I will definitely be addressing this with public health to make sure that we get all the migrant workers tested to keep them safe and the [food] supply chain safe,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford at a news conference this week. In the Niagara area, the recent cases on the flower farm were from local spread – not from travel, the region’s medical health officer emphasized – meaning migrant workers contracted the virus from the community. They had already completed a mandatory quarantine period and started working.
“These are all long-standing issues that should have been dealt with decades ago,” said Chris Ramsaroop, an organizer with Justice for Migrant Workers.
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