MAYOR WINS HIGH PRAISE
Mexico salutes Macdonald
One of the toughest tasks Leamington's mayor said she's had to perform this year was publicly urging the town's migrant farm workers to agree to get tested for COVID-19 and to stay on their farms to help slow the spread of the disease.
Hilda Macdonald said it's challenging enough trying to convince fellow Canadians and her municipality's permanent residents to abide by the social distancing and other restrictions that health officials encourage, so try to imagine the daunting task of communicating that need to those who don't speak the language, who come from different cultures and who are far removed from families and their own community supports.
“It's frightening for them here ... but it's also frightening for them because of what's happening with their families back home,” she said.
Leamington's leader is now being recognized from abroad for sticking her political neck out to help protect those foreign workers deemed essential to the success of the town's important agricultural sector.
“Mayor Hilda Macdonald has demonstrated a remarkable and unbeatable leadership on promoting the assimilation of the Mexican nationals to the community of Leamington,” the government of Mexico announced Thursday. Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs stated further that “her actions have been especially noticed in 2020” in promoting the well-being of that country's citizens in Essex County.
Macdonald will receive the Institute of Mexicans Abroad's Ohtli Award at a ceremony on Friday at the Consulate of Mexico in Leamington.
The annual award, named after the Nahuatl native language word for road or path, consists of a diploma, a silver medallion and a silver rosette. It is awarded to persons recognized for contributing significantly to the well-being of Mexican nationals abroad, as well as those who promote Mexican culture around the world.
“I'm touched, it's a really nice gesture,” Macdonald told the Star Thursday. “It's kinda cool.”
Leamington hosts thousands of temporary foreign workers annually, the majority of them from Mexico and employed as an essential workforce in the greenhouse agrifood sector that dominates the local economy and has become a nearly year-round activity.
“Oh my gosh, they allow the industry to be what it is,” Macdonald said of migrant workers and the contribution to her town. The decisions she's had to make during the pandemic have “weighed heavily on me,” said the mayor, who has also been on the receiving end of criticism levied by those hit hard by government measures aimed at containing the spread of the disease, including farmers and business owners.
Having two Mexican nationals employed on farms in Kingsville and Leamington who were killed by COVID-19 earlier this year “made it real” to those temporary foreign workers, said Macdonald.
“When you can put a face and a name to it, that only ramps up the fear. When it came to the testing, they were unfamiliar with it — there was a fear of the unknown,” she said.
Macdonald also deserves the Ohtli, according to Mexico, because “she represents the empowerment of women” and serves as a role model for “new generations of young girls to follow her steps.”