Mayors pen letter to province, feds - again

REGIONAL — Local mayors, Hilda MacDonald, Nelson Santos and Gary McNamara, have once again written to Doug Ford and Justin Trudeau, begging them to address the gaps between international farm workers and their communities, in regard to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

The letter, written by MacDonald and endorsed by Santos and McNamara, was sent to the Prime Minister and Premier on February 25. It follows a similar letter sent back in January.

The area is due to receive a large influx of temporary foreign workers in the coming weeks.

It reads:

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens’ announcement this week only serves to underscore the urgency and importance of the Prime Minister and Premier responding to the letters sent to them on January 19, and February 5, 2021 by Essex County Warden Gary McNamara, Kingsville Mayor Nelson Santos, and myself, seeking clarity and resources to address the gaps between international farm workers and our local communities.

I understand and support Mayor Dilkens’ statement of frustration wherein he stated that running the Isolation and Recovery Centre (IRC) is not the City of Windsor’s responsibility as it assists workers almost exclusively from Leamington and Kingsville, and that other responsibilities fall on the province and Ottawa.

We require immediate answers from the Prime Minister and Premier regarding our specific requests, which include:

• Setting up a central accommodation site outside Essex County where incoming temporary foreign workers can complete their 14-day quarantine based on the British Columbia model. This would relieve pressures from regions like Windsor-Essex that are already challenged with COVID-19 community outbreaks. This would also provide an opportunity to educate incoming workers on their rights, responsibilities and resources.

• That Windsor-Essex be included in the High Priority Community Strategy, with immediate access to funding for an isolation centre, vulnerable community outreach and testing.

• Prioritize the delivery of vaccines to communities like ours with the highest COVID19 infection rates.

• Clarify the monitoring and enforcement responsibilities for quarantining incoming guest workers, through the Temporary Foreign Worker and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Programs (TFWP/SAWP), and that the federal government administer and monitor the housing and quarantine components for employers.

• Provide an increased presence of Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) locally to maintain integrity in our local workforce, and support the Provincial Ministry of Labour in establishing a Labour Contractor Registry.

We are calling upon the Prime Minister and Premier to do what we locally do not have the authority to do, and address and resource the measures we have outlined to prevent loss of life and tragic COVID-19 impacts on the greater community in all aspects.

At press time, there hadn’t been any official response from the Premier or Prime Minister.