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During the COVID-19 pandemic, many migrant workers have come
to shoulder the responsibility of providing essential goods and ser-
vices to Canadians, ranging from maintaining the food supply to
caregiving.8 This puts them and their families at greater risk of being
exposed to the virus. Above all, farms and food-processing facilities
have emerged as hotbeds of COVID-19 transmission for migrants.9
Cargill’s meat plant in Alberta alone, where a majority of the employ-
ees were foreign-born, was linked to over 1,500 COVID-19 cases, mak-
ing it the largest outbreak to date in North America attributable to a
workplace.10
To the extent that the danger of working during the pan-
demic can be mitigated by taking appropriate protective measures,
migrants’ ability to do so is significantly curtailed. In many industries
with a concentration of migrant workers, physical distancing is not
readily observable: migrants frequently work in cramped space, and
some must live in close quarters provided by employers.11 Inadequate
screening protocols and a lack of personal protective equipment at
these workplaces further enable the virus’s spread.12 Compounding
8. Zhenzhen Ye, “Maintaining Food Security During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Means Looking After the Health of Migrant Workers”, National Post (7 April 2020),
online: <nationalpost.com/opinion/zhenzhen-ye-on-covid-19-maintaining-food-
security-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-means-looking-after-the-health-of-
migrant-workers>; Verity Stevenson & Benjamin Shingler, “Quebec Relies on
Hundreds of Asylum Seekers in Long-Term Care’s Battle Against COVID-19”, CBC
News (8 May 2020), online: <www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-chsld-
asylum-seekers-1.5559354>.
9. See Sarah Berger Richardson, this volume, Chapter E-5; see also Jenna Hennebry,
“Canada Jeopardizes Migrant Workers Amid Pandemic”, Cornwall Standard
Freeholder (6 June 2020) A7; Omar Mosleh, “Dealing With a Precarious Present
for a Stable Future: Despite Virus’s Looming Threat, Immigrants Say They Must
Keep Working to Support Their Families”, Toronto Star (5 May 2020) B1.
10. Joel Dryden & Sarah Rieger, “Inside the Slaughterhouse”, CBC News (6 May
2020), online: <newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/cargill-covid19-outbreak>.
11. See e.g. Mosleh, supra note 9; Sara Mojtehedzadeh, “Migrant Farm Workers
from Jamaica Are Being Forced to Sign COVID-19 Waivers”, Toronto Star
(13 April 2020), online: <www.thestar.com/business/2020/04/13/migrant-farm-
workers-fear-exposure-to-covid-19.html>.
12. Carrie Tait, Kathryn Blaze Baum & Tavia Grant, “Unions Question Worker Safety
as Cargill Reopens Plant at Centre of COVID-19 Outbreak”, The Globe and MailÂ
(5 May 2020), online: <www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-union-ques-
tions-worker-safety-as-cargill-reopens-plant-at-centre-of/>; Ethel Tungohan,
“Filipino Healthcare Workers During COVID-19 and the Importance of Race-Based
Analysis” (1 May 2020), online (blog): The Broadbent Blog <www.broadbentin-
stitute.ca/filipino_healthcare_workers_during_covid19_and_the_importance_
of_race_based_analysis>.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Title
- VULNERABLE
- Subtitle
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Authors
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Publisher
- Ottawa Press
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Size
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Pages
- 648
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- International