'If workers become injured or sick, there seems to be no use to the employer and they're discarded or sent back home'
Advocates for migrant workers are calling for urgent reforms to Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) after a greenhouse worker in Essex County lost a finger in a workplace accident and now faces deportation, according to a report.
Chris Ramsaroop of Justicia for Migrant Workers pointed to the case of migrant worker Pedro as emblematic of the precarious situation many temporary foreign workers face.
“If workers become injured or sick, there seems to be no use to the employer, and they’re discarded or sent back home,” Ramsaroop told the Windsor Star. “This is a perfect example.”
In September, Pedro suffered a workplace injury while operating a forklift to dispose of tomato plant scraps, losing a finger in the process.
Pedro said faulty equipment was to blame.
“The containers were in poor condition — rotten, broken, and unsafe — despite repeatedly asking my employer to replace them, no action was taken,” Pedro said, according to the Windsor Star report. “Due to the severity of the injury I was transported to a hospital in Windsor. My finger was stapled and then I was sent home.”
During the incident, a container tipped backward instead of forward, trapping Pedro’s finger. “Due to the severity of the injury I was transported to a hospital in Windsor. My finger was stapled and then I was sent home,” he said. However, complications arose. By the time Pedro arrived at a plastic surgeon’s office in London, Ontario, the following day, it was too late to save the finger. “My finger had already turned black and could not be saved.”
‘The federal government also failed him by denying him an open work permit as a vulnerable worker’
Despite the severity of the injury, the Ontario Ministry of Labour stated that it was not reported because it did not meet the requirements for a critical injury.
“The employer is not obligated to report it,” a ministry spokesperson said in an emailed statement to the Star.
Following the incident, Pedro was initially told his contract would be renewed, but later learned it would not be. “The owner said I didn’t get a renewal because I got injured,” he said. Now, with his current permit set to expire on January 18 and no prospects for renewal, Pedro faces deportation, according to the report.
His efforts to obtain an open work permit for vulnerable workers—a provision designed to help those escaping abusive conditions—were unsuccessful. “The federal government also failed him by denying him an open work permit as a vulnerable worker,” said Santiago Escobar, a United Food and Commercial Workers national representative. “This decision leaves him without the support and flexibility he needs during an already difficult time.”
Pedro described the frustration of being treated as expendable. “It’s the worst feeling because you’re just a number,” he said. “They don’t acknowledge your hard work.”
“The employer failed this worker by neglecting their responsibility to provide a safe and hazard-free workplace and training — both of which are essential for preventing such accidents,” Escobar told the Star. “The lack of action to address unsafe equipment contributed to the incident.
“The federal government also failed him by denying him an open work permit as a vulnerable worker. This decision leaves him without the support and flexibility he needs during an already difficult time.
“He arrived healthy in Canada and he should leave the same way.”
Richard Lee, executive director of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, said more flexibility for farms and the temporary foreign worker program could have helped Pedro.
“I see a better mechanism to manage that bad behaviour in the sector or those that mistreat workers,” Lee said in the Star’s report. “But we’ve got to recognize this is a two-way street. It’s a symbiotic relationship between the worker and the employer.
“The flexibility in being able to move workers is really what the federal government should be focusing on to ensure that workers aren’t sitting around doing nothing and not being paid for their time.”
