TORONTO – A horrendous crash that killed 10 migrant farm workers and a truck driver in rural Ontario rekindled calls Tuesday to bulk up safeguards for labourers in the province’s agriculture sector.
Workers’ rights advocates said the crash in Hampstead, a community northeast of Stratford, has brought to light the hazards faced by tens of thousands of migrant workers toiling on Ontario’s farms.
Long shifts under gruelling conditions leave workers exhausted and vulnerable to accidents such as Monday’s devastating collision, said Stan Raper of the Agriculture Workers Alliance.
Chris Ramsaroop of the group Justicia for Migrant Workers said fear of deportation prevents most workers from flagging safety issues on the job or in transit.
The deadly collision revived safety questions surrounding the transportation of migrant workers, with some pushing for a ban on 15-passenger vans, the kind that ferried Monday’s crew.
“More needs to be known about (this case) … but if the conditions weren’t adequate, would the workers speak up about the inadequacies of their transportation?” Ramsaroop asked Tuesday.
The van carrying workers from Peru collided with a flatbed truck late Monday afternoon. The impact of the crash sent the van hurtling across a lawn before smashing into the side of a house with the passenger side ripped nearly clean off.
It was the deadliest multi-vehicle crash in Ontario since 1999, when fog near Windsor caused an 87-car pileup that killed eight people.
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Investigators are working to determine what caused the collision, but said at least some of the passengers in the white GMC van were wearing seatbelts.
Ramsaroop said employers typically provide transportation for migrant workers.
Bob Chiarelli, Ontario’s Minister of Transportation, said driving a 15-passenger van requires special training and would not be permitted using a standard international licence.
He said it’s impossible to discuss any government action until the police investigation is done.
“Whether those are issues with itinerant workers and labour-related, or federal responsibilities in terms of what happens to 15-seat vans, certainly if there’s a coroner’s inquest – which I expect is highly likely – part of the action or reaction we’ll be taking will come on the coroner’s recommendations,” he told reporters.
Ontario’s Minister of Labour, Linda Jeffrey, said the province’s labour laws offer sufficient protection for farm workers, including seasonal migrant workers.
Legislators amended the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act in 2006 to include the agriculture sector, but workers’ groups argue there needs to be additional, industry-specific regulations.
New Democrat critic Teresa Armstrong, who represents London-Fanshawe, said the crash shouldn’t be used as political ammunition. But she agreed more steps should be taken to ease the plight of migrant workers.
“They should have better working conditions and the right to unionize,” she said.
The province bars agricultural workers from forming unions and collective bargaining, a decision upheld last year by the Supreme Court.
Monday’s deaths have caught the attention of two New Brunswick women whose sons were killed in a terrible crash four years ago while travelling in a 15-passenger van.
New Brunswick, Quebec and Nova Scotia have outlawed the use of the 15-passenger vans for public school students.
The pair are fighting an application by a local shuttle service seeking to use the vehicles to carry university students.
One of the women, Isabelle Hains, has lobbied Transport Canada to ban the vehicle. Hains teamed up with Stella Benedetti Gurr of Nanaimo, B.C., whose son died in a crash in Manitoba.
Gurr also filed a lawsuit in 2010 against the Ford Motor Company, claiming the type of van involved in the accident has design defects that make it susceptible to rollovers. The allegations have not been proven in court.
A spokeswoman for Transport Canada said Tuesday the department regularly investigates collisions involving passenger vehicles, vans, light trucks and school buses as part of its ongoing work to develop and evaluate national safety standards.
“We will wait for the police investigation report, it’s too early to draw any conclusions on this accident,” Kelly James said in an email.
Unsafe vans were targeted in a number of recommendations issued by British Columbia’s coroner following an inquest into the 2007 deaths of three migrant workers.
The inquest found the van was overloaded with passengers, most of whom had no access to seatbelts, and the driver wasn’t licensed for that kind of vehicle.
In a decision released in December 2009, the coroner called for the government to ramp up checks on 15-passenger vans and boost enforcement of licence requirements, among other recommendations.
– With files from Maria Babbage.
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