Advocates cite eight recent farm worker deaths in Ontario as Niagara-on-the-Lake cyclist killed in alleged hit-and-run
A migrant farm worker's death on a rural road in Ontario's Niagara Region has prompted renewed calls from labour advocates for reforms to Canada's seasonal worker program, including safer rural infrastructure and an end to work permits tying employees to a single employer, The Canadian Press reported.
Sinhue Garcia, 39, was killed the night of June 26 in an alleged hit-and-run crash while cycling home from the farm where he worked near Niagara-on-the-Lake, according to the CP report.
A 22-year-old man was arrested and charged with impaired driving and leaving the scene of a fatal crash.
Advocates cite pattern of deaths
Garcia had returned to the region for several seasons while his wife and two daughters remained in Mexico, according to CP. Migrant Workers Alliance for Change said his death is not an isolated incident.
Rally organizers said it is believed eight migrant agricultural workers have died in Ontario in recent weeks from varying causes, including two who died in a single vehicle crash, CP reported. Speaking at a rally outside the Ontario Ministry of Labour office in Toronto, Elizabeth Ha, an adviser to the equity unit of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, said: "Eight deaths, eight families grieving, eight families shattered, eight workers who came here to build a better life," according to the report.
Syed Hussan, co-executive director of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, told CP that workers under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program typically lack access to a vehicle and live in areas without transit, leaving cycling or walking as their only options on roads "never built for that kind of traffic."
Hussan said at least seven migrant workers have died or been seriously injured in the Niagara Region since 2019, blaming unlit roads, absent bike lanes and inadequate transit. He also linked the risk to housing conditions, saying long hours and a lack of laundry facilities sometimes force workers to travel at night. "Because people work such long hours... they're forced to travel at night because that's the only time. On unlit streets," Hussan said, per CP.
Hussan added that workers who speak up risk losing their job, employer-controlled housing and their legal ability to work elsewhere in Canada simultaneously. "They're not allowed to work for anyone else in the country," he said. "In that situation, people simply don't speak up, no matter what happens."
Legal experts call for inquests
Chris Ramsaroop, co-director of the Migrant Farm Worker Legal Clinic at the University of Windsor, told CP that advocates have called for coroner's inquests into occupation-related deaths for decades.
"Roads are a component of a large puzzle... of a labour system or labour regime that's built for business," Ramsaroop said, according to the report. "The tied work permits... deny workers labour and social mobility."
Following Garcia's death, Migrant Workers Alliance for Change started a petition calling for safe transportation, emergency family supports, a simpler path to permanent residency, and provincial housing standards.
Niagara-on-the-Lake said it has not received the petition but continues to prioritize road safety, citing reduced speed limits implemented this council term, according to CP.
