We write today, the International Day for the Elimination of Racism, to demand justice for migrant farm workers who are hurt or sickened on the job. What the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board does to injured migrant workers is deplorable and discriminatory.
The WSIB fails migrant workers. They get unequal health care, fewer return-to-work services, and less compensation than other agricultural workers. WSIB statistics reveal that, while migrant workers make up almost one-third of agricultural injury claims that require health-care treatment, they make up six per cent of the cases where the WSIB recognizes a worker’s permanent injury.
Thomas was sent home to Jamaica before he recovered. Once “deemed,” he lost his benefits and has had no way to support himself nor his family. Losing his livelihood as a farmer and a barber because of his injury in Canada, Thomas faces persistent poverty, often going without food and health care for his injury. With no realistic way of restoring his earnings or finding work he can do in Jamaica with his disability, his life has spiralled downward.
WSIB needs to be gutted and start over.