St. Catharines to consult with migrant workers on transportation planning, after roadside death
CBC
When Blanca Islas Perez heard about the death of Fermin Soto Sanchez in St. Catharines, Ont., earlier this month, it brought her straight back to the 1990s.
That's when her husband died and she became a migrant worker, like him, in order to take care of her family. She has been travelling to Canada to work now for almost 20 years.
"Now I start to think, 'what is going to happen to [Soto Sanchez's kids]?" she asked, reflecting on his wife, children and parents who have been left back in Mexico without their loved one and source of income.
Like Soto Sanchez was, Islas Perez is one of the 4,000 seasonal workers living in the area who form "the backbone of Niagara's billion-dollar agricultural industry" and whose voices continue to be excluded from city policies and planning, St. Catharines Councillor Karrie Porter says.
On Monday, that city's council passed a motion put forward by Porter to begin consulting with migrant workers on city initiatives that affect them, such as its upcoming Active Transportation Master Plan.
Soto Sanchez was hit and killed by an SUV on June 13 while walking by the roadside with two friends. All three were migrant workers from Mexico.
Porter was moved by Soto Sanchez's death, prompting the motion. It received unanimous support.
"Migrant workers typically use bicycles, they walk, they use transit and they've been historically excluded from city rights and regional rights," Porter said in an interview with CBC.
"They live here eight months of the year... They should have the same rights as everybody else, and that includes having the right to speak at council meetings and being consulted on city and regional matters that affect them."
The motion is a step in the right direction, Islas Perez told CBC Hamilton, in an interview translated from Spanish. "But it has to be done, not just promises... May it be a reality, may there be protection, security for all."
Porter agrees.
"I don't want to see this consultation and this work as a one-off, I want to see established policies put in place," she said.
Porter said the area is "very far behind" other regions when it comes to cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, and she is not surprised that migrant workers have not been consulted in the past, she said. Now is the time for city officials to see them as residents, she added.
Islas Perez said she doesn't feel safe walking or biking on the streets of St. Catharines, especially after what happened to Soto Sanchez. Police told CBC Hamilton they continue to investigate the incident.
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