Jamaican migrant workers in Ontario pen open letter likening conditions to 'systematic slavery'

Jamaican migrant farm workers in Niagara Region wrote an open letter to Jamaica's Ministry of Labour requesting more support in the face of what they call "systematic slavery," days before a migrant worker died in Norfolk County.

Garvin Yapp, 57, of St. James, Jamaica, was killed on Sunday in an accident with a tobacco harvester at Berlo's Best Farm in Norfolk County, two hours southwest of Toronto.

The province has confirmed his death. The Van Berlo family, who runs Berlo's Best, said they were devastated by Yapp's death, adding "they did not lose an employee, but they lost a person they considered a member of their family," the family's lawyer Bernard Cummins told CBC Toronto.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Jamaican Ministry of Labour expressed "deep sadness" and said Jamaican Labour Minister Karl Samuda will be visiting and touring farms in Canada employing Jamaican workers under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) this week.

The Canadian government, meanwhile, said in a statement it "expresses its deepest condolences" to Yapp's family, friends and co-workers, and added that the investigation into the death is a provincial matter.

In its own statement, the Ontario Ministry of Labour, whom it falls on to investigate the matter, said the investigation is ongoing.

Two other Jamaican workers and a Mexican worker have died this week as well, according to Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC).

"As it currently stands, the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) is systematic slavery," the workers wrote in their open letter.

The letter was sent to the Jamaican Observer, where excerpts of it were published on Monday. The workers said they sent the letter to Samuda on Aug. 11.

"Jamaicans have been coming for generations, our fellow Caribbean and Mexican coworkers have too, and there have been no significant changes since the program started," the workers said.

Workers wrote they were scared of sharing their grievances with Samuda directly for fear of being kicked out of the SAWP. They also said that workers from Mexico and the Philippines share the same grievances.

Workers described housing conditions as so poor that rats eat their food. They live in crowded rooms with zero privacy with cameras, and lack dryers to dry their clothes after it rains, they wrote.

"It feels like we are in prison," the letter reads.

On working conditions, workers wrote they're "treated like mules" and punished for not being quick enough. They said they're exposed to dangerous pesticides without adequate protection, and their bosses are verbally abusive.