After the hit-and-run death of a seasonal farmworker in rural Niagara-on-the-Lake, an advocacy organization is calling on elected officials at every level of government to take action to improve safety and support for migrant workers, including safe transportation and road safety improvements.
The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change has launched a petition, endorsed by the Niagara Community Legal Clinic, urging local, provincial and federal representatives to back a funded migrant worker safety and support plan.
The campaign follows the June 26 death of 39-year-old Sínhue Garcia, who was struck while cycling home on Concession 6 near Line 4 Road. Garcia, who worked at St. David’s Hydroponics, died at the scene. He is survived by his wife and two daughters in Mexico.
A 22-year-old NOTL man was charged with failure to stop after an accident resulting in death and impaired operation causing death.
The alliance says Garcia’s death has renewed concerns about the safety of temporary foreign workers, many of whom rely on bicycles to travel to and from farms in Niagara.
In a news release announcing the petition, the organization said Garcia was riding on a rural road without streetlights, paved shoulders or bicycle lanes.
“The reason people keep dying is that governments have never treated migrant workers as full human beings,” said Kit Andres of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change in the release.
The alliance said Garcia’s death is one of several serious collisions involving migrant farmworkers in Niagara over the past several years.
It points to the 2019 hit-and-run death of a Mexican farmworker, known as Zenaida, in NOTL, the 2022 death of Fermin Soto Sanchez and serious injuries to two co-workers after they were struck, including Ceto Reid in 2022 and a worker known as Omar in 2023, and other collisions that injured migrant workers riding bicycles.
The petition calls for governments to fund free transportation for migrant workers, road safety improvements, emergency support for families after workplace injuries and deaths, and permanent funding for legal, health and community services.
It also calls on the federal government to grant migrant workers permanent resident status, saying workers should be able to report unsafe conditions without fear of losing their jobs, housing or ability to remain in Canada.
“We are asking a simple question,” Andres said. “What are you willing to do so that no one else dies? Every candidate and level of government owes migrant workers an answer.”
The alliance also criticized elected officials for what it described as a lack of public response following Garcia’s death.
The petition is available on the organization’s website, at migrantworkersalliance.org/sinhue.
