St. Catharines to consult with migrant workers on transportation planning, after roadside death

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 eventually 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. 

Unanimous support for motion

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. 

'The same thing can happen to us at any time'

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. 

"At any moment [a car] can run us over. The same thing can happen to us at any time."

"[We want] protection for all of us. For all migrants. It would not only be for migrants, it would also be for the Canadians who are here," Islas Perez said. 

Soto Sanchez was killed about 200 meters from a school on Seventh Street Louth. A vigil was held at the site on June 17, bringing dozens out to mourn.

Islas Perez said her story has also been filled with pain and hardships — partly because the details of her husband's death are still a mystery, after he was found dead in an airport washroom in the U.S. while flying from Canada back to Mexico. 

She also recalls the difficult times when she worked in Mexico shortly after his death, trying to provide for her children.

"I made what I could for them. Some tortillas with salt, or some beans when I had enough. When I didn't, then some tea. There was never enough for a piece of bread, for a piece of meat, for an egg," she said. 

She said with darker times behind her, she's proud of the good men and women her children have become in the years she has been working in Canada. 

Now, two years away from retirement, she asks for justice, good transportation, sidewalks and permanent resident status for all, she says.

"There are many people who are very afraid to speak out. Why? Because there are times when the bosses get to know [what we say] and they no longer ask for us," she said.

"But I'm not afraid. Why? Because I'm on my way out."

Breaking down barriers for consultation

Job security is one of the many concerns community members have when it comes to possible obstacles in consulting migrant workers.

Porter said she doesn't "pretend these consultations will be easy to get off the ground," but she acknowledged the city will need to set budgets and write new policies to remove these barriers.

Other obstacles might include language differences, transportation, and access to a computer.

Porter said budgets need to address all of those barriers, as well as "additional time needed to search out participants, build relationships, and meet people where they are at."

Porter points to the need for regional cooperation as well. 

"Another challenge is that I represent the City of St. Catharines, but most workers live in neighbouring municipalities. The most recent accidents have been happening on regional roads under the purview of Niagara Region, not our city.

"The Niagara Region and all 12 municipalities in Niagara must take on this issue," she said. 

A copy of the motion will be sent to all local area municipalities and regional councils in Niagara, Essex and Norfolk counties.

"Our consultant hired for our upcoming Active Transportation Master Plan is currently working on a project in Essex County and he is about to start consultations with migrant workers and advocacy groups," Porter said. 

"I hope there will be some learnings from that."

According to Islas Perez, that will be needed for the workers who will follow in her footsteps. 

"A lot of people are coming," she says of other migrant workers. "And it is not fair that they continue to suffer, that they continue to live life here with so much injustice."