Gov’t Awaiting Report on Deaths of Jamaican Farm Workers in Canada

Minister of Labour and Social Security, the Hon Pearnel Charles, says that the Jamaica Liaison Service (JLS) in Toronto has been instructed to provide necessary legal support for the investigations into the deaths of two Jamaican farm workers in the Canadian city on Friday.
“We are awaiting a report from the Canadian authorities, including the police, as well as the autopsy before making a full statement on the matter,” Mr. Charles told JIS News Sunday (September 12).
“In the meantime, I wish to express the Ministry’s condolences to the families of the two men, and to let them know that we will also be working with the Canadian authorities to ensure that there is full compensation under the Canadian workmen’s compensation laws,” Mr. Charles stated.
The two men, 37-year-old Paul Roache of Clarendon and 43-year-old Ralston White, both regular farm workers on the Canadian Overseas Employment Programme, died Friday in a work related accident.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Alvin McIntosh, said Sunday (September 12) that the Ministry was informed about the deaths and that investigations were being done by JLS lawyers, but that the details would not be available until later this week.
Chief Liaison Officer in the JLS in Toronto, Larkland Stone, told JIS Toronto on Friday that the two workers died in a “job-related accident” on the Filsinger Farm in the Owen Sound area of Ontario. He said that the Canadian Ministry of Labour and police were conducting investigations. The bodies were removed to the morgue Friday, where the autopsies will be done.