Jamaican farm worker says he's still waiting for proper compensation after 2008 accident in Niagara Region

Jeleel Stewart came to Canada for the first time in 2007 with a desire to support his family in Jamaica and make their lives better. 

His plans did not work out that way.

During Stewart's second year with the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), his left hand was crushed by a forklift at his workplace in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Today, Stewart is back in Jamaica. He spoke to CBC Hamilton by phone, recalling what led up to his injuries and what's happened since.

Stewart said the forklift incident has left him with both physical and psychological injuries that still prevent him from working. According to Stewart, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Ontario has not compensated him appropriately. 

Stewart worked at Mori Nurseries in Niagara-on-the-Lake. His job included a bit of everything — whatever needed to be done, workers were expected to do it, he said.

Stewart said that on the day of the accident, he and a co-worker were placing plants on a forklift when he saw the machine heading directly toward his head. 

He said he tried to get out of the forklift's way when he slipped and fell, and it came down and "crushed" his left hand. 

Stewart said he was taken to a hospital in St. Catharines and then transferred to Niagara Falls, where he spent hours in surgery. 

After months of recovery and physiotherapy in Canada, he returned to Jamaica, where he continued to receive physiotherapy. Stewart said the accident left him with cuts, broken bones, a severed nerve and more. He said he's been in pain ever since. 

Now, Stewart and advocates have raised questions about the WSIB system when it comes to migrant farm workers.

'I'm just tired of this'

The farm where Stewart worked closed in 2015 following the retirement of longtime nursery grower Leno Mori, according to Stewart and his friend Jane Andres, a longtime Niagara-on-the-Lake resident and an advocate for migrant workers in the area.

Stewart said even today, he can't hold a cup of tea or do anything with his left — and dominant — hand. 

"I'm just tired of this," he said.

Stewart said he received compensation from the WSIB after his 2008 accident, but the payments stopped in 2010 when they deemed him capable of working to "restore [his] pre-injury wages," according to a letter sent to him by WSIB in 2010.

The WSIB said in the letter that an appropriate job for Stewart could be a "self-serve gas bar cashier" in the Niagara Region.

CBC Hamilton has reviewed a copy of the letter.

There was one problem: Stewart was already home in Jamaica at the time, and his physical condition would have been an impediment in him getting a visa to return to Canada.

On top of not being able to use his dominant hand, he said, he has been in "a lot of pain" since the accident, especially during the colder months in Jamaica.

He recalled one particular day after the accident, when he was still in Canada and alone in the farm residence where he lived. 

Stewart remembers being "so hungry," and having only a tin of sardines and a bag of bread. He was unable to open either, so he held down the can with his right hand and opened it with his teeth.

Stewart said he has never forgotten that day and how he was "left alone" after his injury.

Advocates says there's a systemic issue

Not much changed for Stewart when he went home. Instead, Andres said the "fight" became getting him to and from physiotherapy, where Stewart said the money from the WSIB went.

CBC Hamilton reached out to the WSIB and a spokesperson would not comment on Stewart's case specifically.

But WSIB public affairs manager Christine Arnott did say: "In general, someone injured at work would receive loss of earnings benefits until they have recovered and are safely able to return to work." 

This is when Andres started to realize the systemic issues.

"We just started to become aware of all the paperwork, the paper trails, the language used — everything seemed designed to alienate the injured person."

According to Arnott, from 2017 to 2021, there were 7,724 allowed claims for migrant agricultural workers (including 2,884 COVID-19 claims).

'He was full of vitality'

Since Stewart hasn't been able to work, he said, his family has struggled to put food on the table, and three of his five children have had to drop out of school to help out. He said the situation has sent his mental health in a downward spiral.

He said he's always had faith, and that's what's kept him going all these years, but he has also felt like "giving up."

His friends, Andres, and Jodie Godwin, another Niagara-on-the-Lake resident, have helped him through the years both financially and emotionally. Stewart said that if it wasn't for them, he wouldn't be here today.

Andres and Godwin, who have known each other for 27 years, have advocated together for migrant workers' rights in the area.

They met Stewart in 2007. The following year, the two met his family during a trip to Jamaica.

"They lived modestly, but they really made us feel welcome. They were just so excited to have us," said Andres.

She said although they only saw him a handful of times in 2007, she was struck with how "full of life he was."

Andres said Stewart used to take care of the other men, cooking for them and teaching them how to cook.

"He was full of vitality."

Years have changed Stewart drastically, said Andres, who was "shocked" when she visited him in 2020 at how much he has "aged" as a result of all the years of pain he's endured.

Andres and Godwin have been helping Stewart financially since the accident, but it wasn't until the WSIB stopped all payments to him that they realized they had to go even further.

Compensated for psychological injuries

In 2016, Godwin's and Andres's advocacy and the Industrial Accident Victims' Group of Ontario (IAVGO), which represents Stewart, were able to get the WSIB to compensate him because of his psychological injuries.

The payments stopped in 2019, when WSIB determined Stewart hadn't fully recovered from his psychological injuries, but he was still able to do some work, according to David Arruda, Stewart's case worker at IAVGO.

Arruda said he's still working at helping Stewart, but communication between Canada and Jamaica is challenging.

Stewart said although the road has been immensely difficult for him, he still has hope things could change, and he'll continue to speak out "louder" in 2023. 

Stewart also said farm workers in Canada need to be treated better, adding: "We are humans."