MARCH FOR MIGRANTS
Demonstrators stage a rally in Leamington demanding equal rights and better conditions for local migrant farm workers, many of whom are at the centre of the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge of cases in Southwestern Ontario.
LEAMINGTON Nearly 100 people took part in a march Sunday to support area migrant workers.
The march included members of the Justicia for Migrant Workers advocacy group, which held a caravan event earlier in the day in Leamington, along with members of the Windsor and District Labour Council.
“Really, this idea is only five days old,” Mary-catherine Crochaw, who helped organize the event with Vanessa Gaspar, said Sunday. “Honestly, it was my mom’s idea and I just ran with it.”
Crochaw and her mother, Cathleen Genley, were discussing some of the challenges facing migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were talking about how migrant workers were not getting tested,” Crochaw said. “The more we talked, the more we realized it was deeper than just the testing or COVID.”
The march came on the day that Windsor and Essex County reported its highest number of COVID-19 cases in a single day since the pandemic began.
Of the 98 cases reported on Sunday, 96 were agricultural workers, which is a big reason Leamington and Kingsville remain the only areas in Ontario still in Stage 1 of the province’s reopening plan.
“I did see the number and that’s one of the main reasons it’s so important,” said Elizabeth Ha, who organized the caravan and also serves on the labour council executive.
“In the past, before the pandemic, I always knew the workers had poor conditions in the workplace.
“A lot of people in the community didn’t know and because of the pandemic, they’re now starting to see that. This lets the workers know the community stands in solidarity, stands with them and wants to thank them. They’re essential workers like everyone else.”
Both Ha and Crochaw had heard some negative comments from people before the event, but Sunday’s march was greeted with honking horns of support as the group moved from the Big Tomato to various Leamington streets.
“That was pleasantly surprising,” Crochaw said. “We didn’t have any opposition and people were honking their horns.”
Both believe that helping to solve some problems facing migrant workers will not come from only the farms where they work, but will have to happen at the provincial and federal levels.
“The government needs to make changes and can’t keep avoiding it,” Ha said.
“They (the workers) don’t have the rights that we do. We’ve been on this long before this pandemic and it can’t continue.”
Buoyed by the response of Sunday’s march, Crochaw hopes it won’t be the last demonstration.
“It was great,” Crochaw said. “Maybe one a month through the summer.
“We had a really good turnout and it was a positive event. I think we got our point across.”