NEVERENDING ROAD CARNAGE

Let's put risks to life in perspective. Bernardo and Homolka were multiple rapists and killers. Clifford Olsen as well. Robert Pickton may be at the head of that class. One single vehicle accident on Monday on the edge of Waterloo Region killed far more than Bernardo and Homolka. Perhaps Olsen and Pickton over a period of years killed more than this one accident claimed in a few seconds. Today's Kitchener-Waterloo Record carrys details of this horrific accident. The front page story is titled "Migrant workers on way home to Kitchener before deadly crash". Further stories are on page A4.

To my initial surprise there seems to be in these multiple stories a theme that there is more to this than simple driver error and inattention. It was broad daylight, the roads were dry and bare and the van failed to stop at the stop sign for an oncoming tractor trailer. The three other stories are titled "Time to look after migrant workers: prof", "Transportation minister might take action on van safety" and "Call renewed to ban 15-passenger vans". There have been a number of passenger van accidents and fatalities in Canada over the last five years and they are listed. Apparently there is evidence that these vans are not particularily well built to withstand crashes. Also two of these articles allude to a history of migrant workers being particularily susceptible to on the job health and safety issues including their transportation to and from the job.

In reading these multiple articles I've noticed some contradictions and discrepancies. It is possible that they are nothing more than reporter error. For example the workers were supposedly heading home to kitchener from the Shakespeare area. However all reports were that they were heading west on Line #47. Shakespeare is west of Kitchener and they therefore should have been heading east to get to Kitchener. Secondly it was reported that they left the chicken barn at 4:30 pm. and were involved in the crash twenty minutes later. Well the map in the newspaper clearly shows that the chicken barn was only a few hundred yards from the crash site and indeed it was stated in the article that the crash site was within sight of the chicken barn. So why did it take twenty minutes to drive a few hundred yards? Finally and most disconcerting to me is the following: "...many of the workers lived in a Jean Avenue apartment building in Kitchener's Centreville neighbourhood". Further "Three of the names on the building's tenant list are listed as Marc Poultry, a poultry vaccination company that has experienced eerily-similar tragedy. In 2004, a van carrying a crew of nine Marc Poultry employees failed to stop for a red light at the intersection of Highway 6 and White Church Road in Hamilton when it collided with an 18-wheel flatbed truck.". Three men in the van died.

What the hell! Is this an incredible unlikely coincidence? One of the James Bond books mentions his opinion that once is happenstance, twice is coincidence and three times is enemy action. Who is the possible enemy here? These migrant workers are not here in Canada on humanitarian grounds. Neither are they here as the excuse is often given that Canadians won't do manual labour. There are literally millions of workers here who have come years ago from everywhere around the globe and are willing and able to do dirty and heavy labour. Groups like Justicia for Migrant Workers, who are mentioned in these articles, know that migrant workers are here because they are more desperate for work and more vulnerable to exploitation than our permanent labour force. It's all about money and that money includes slipshod health and safety standards. It was only a little over five years ago here in Ontario that the Occupational Health and Safety Act finally included the agricultural sector. Does it cover migrant workers equally with full time residents or is this simply one more incentive for employers to go with cheaper migrant labour? Whatever the answers to these questions one thing is certain. Maybe it's as simple as driver error or maybe not. This connection with Marc Poultry needs to be seriously investigated. There is a peculiar odour and too many discrepancies at present.