A recent report from the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change outlines was supposedly happened at Scotlynn Group leading up to their current outbreak.
In the official report released on Friday, titled “Unheeded Warning”, it does a deep dive into outbreaks at farms across Ontario including Scotlynn.
The report says that the first worker to fall ill was left unattended until he wasn’t able to get out of bed – at which time a fellow migrant worker called 911.
While this employee and a few others were being tested, MWAC says they received calls from multiple workers stating that their employers instructed workers to keep working in large group settings after testing had begun and before results were announced.
They believe this caused the outbreak to grow.
Furthermore, the report indicated the living conditions of the migrant worker that was rushed to the hospital stating that forty workers were being housed in a single dorm with a single shower between them.
Two migrant workers who are in the ICU, this has been confirmed by the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit, but the report goes more in-depth as to what happened with at least one specific migrant worker in ICU.
Their write up states that three hospitalized workers outside of the ICU called them about lack of translation or interpretation.
Migrant workers were allegedly unaware of their diagnosis or treatment and no one had communicated with them in English and Spanish.
On June 1st, the report says that MWAC staff were called by an anesthesiologist in the Intensive Care Unit asking us to translate for one of the workers regarding being placed on a ventilator as his verbal consent was required for him to be anesthetized.
It says that the doctor had tried to communicate using the Google Translate app on his phone.
MWAC then spoke to the worker who said no interpretation had been provided in the previous days and that he did not have his phone, his family in Mexico had not been informed, and he needed support to get in touch.
They say the call was then cut short as they were trying to get information on the employee’s phone location and have not been able to get any further updates.
Since this report came out, a migrant worker from Scotlynn that goes by the name Edgar has spoken out.
According to CTV News, he said that Scotlynn Group didn’t respond quickly enough after employees started getting sick and they brushed off concerns after workers developed fevers and coughs.
The first signs of sickness, according to Edgar, began around May 22 but it wasn’t until a worker was taken to a hospital on May 27th that the employer started to take it seriously.
Scotlynn Group denied the allegations being made against them.
According to conversations myFM had with President and CEO Scott Biddle prior to this report, he said they did everything in their power to keep their employees safe.
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change detailed Scotlynn’s incident as part of a large document looking into the farming system and the outbreaks across Ontario.
In their report, they go into detail regarding living conditions, what lead to these outbreaks, and even racism on certain farms.
That full report can be found here.