Ontario officials tell Windsor's top doctor that now-rescinded pause on migrant workers was 'discriminatory'

Letters from top Ontario officials to Windsor's acting medical officer of health scold him for sending now-rescinded written directives to businesses to halt the arrival of temporary foreign workers, CBC News has learned. 

The separate letters, addressed to Dr. Shanker Nesathurai and sent after his instructions to businesses were walked back, were from Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism Parm Gill and the province's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore. Copies of their letters were obtained by CBC News.

Nesathurai's letter of instruction told employers to cancel, suspend or postpone the arrival of temporary foreign workers to the region between Jan. 13 and Feb. 1. 

It was first issued by the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) on Jan. 12, with officials sounding the alarm over a lack of space and resources to safely house migrant workers in the region who needed to isolate because of COVID-19.  At the time, a federally funded Isolation and Recovery Centre was at full capacity after it had been empty a week earlier. 

WECHU rescinded the letter of instruction two days later, after resolving that issue with the help of "all levels of government."

In his letter to Nesathurai that was sent on Jan. 21, Gill said, "While we have had to take unprecedented steps to curb the spread of COVID-19 over the past two years, your direction to halt entry of temporary foreign workers was discriminatory and directly targeted a vulnerable population that has already been disproportionally impacted by the pandemic. 

"These targeted restrictions would have placed undue blame and substantial financial burden on the temporary foreign workers who come to work in Ontario to help put food on our tables."

The minister thanked Nesathurai for lifting his instruction, but urged him to offer the same protections to migrant workers that would be afforded to any essential worker in the province. 

Moore, in his letter to Windsor's top doctor, questioned the legality of Nesathurai's letter of instruction under Ontario legislation. Moore said the Reopening Ontario Act is aimed at supporting organizations and businesses in efforts to adhere to public health guidance. 

"We were concerned when we received your letter because, on our read of the letter, it went beyond instructing on public health measures for the safe operation of businesses and organizations, and instead sought to prohibit one or more aspects of their operation in a manner not consistent with O. Reg. 263/20: Rules for Areas at Step 2 under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to CoVvid-19) Act, 2020," Moore wrote. 

The province made it clear it would not support a move such as this in the future. 

CBC News requested an interview with Nesathurai on Tuesday, but wasn't granted one at the time of this publication. WECHU said it would make officials available during a regularly scheduled media briefing Thursday morning.

While some advocacy groups for migrant workers were skeptical of the move to pause their arrival, at least one local official saw reasoning behind Nesathurai's letter. 

Hilda MacDonald, the mayor of Leamington, Ont. — a major farming community in the region — said the health unit had been "pushed to the wall and saw [the order] as their only alternative."