45 farm workers need to be in quarantine but funds for Windsor's isolation centre have run out

With 45 temporary foreign workers in isolation across the region, local politicians say they're trying to reopen the city's migrant worker isolation and recovery centre as the facility's contract ended Wednesday.  

Funding for the Canadian Red Cross to operate Windsor's isolation centre ran out this week and, while the city has decided it will continue operating the facility, it is still looking for continued federal support.

Pressure is mounting to secure a federal government commitment as the need to isolate migrant workers resurfaced on the weekend, with two dozen more people requiring shelter, bringing the current number to 45. 

According to chief of staff Andrew Teliszewsky, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens had a meeting with Canada's Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair on Friday about funding. 

"We left that meeting feeling very positive that the minister and the federal government would come to the table," Teliszewsky said. "We're hopeful that we'll have confirmation shortly." 

Teliszewsky confirmed to CBC News that the city wasn't able to place the temporary foreign workers in isolation at the Holiday Inn over the weekend as federal funding to run the isolation centre out of the hotel would run out prior to the completion of the workers' two-week quarantine period. 

As a result the workers are isolating elsewhere in the region, though Teliszewsky could not confirm where. 

He said the workers are being looked after by farm owners and through privately-raised funding. 

He also could not confirm how long the isolation centre, located at the Holiday Inn on Huron Church Road, has sat empty. 

If funding is approved, it's unclear if the hotel would continue to be the designated isolation centre. 

City seeks 'equitable treatment'

In a letter to the federal government on Sept. 24, the provincial government said it would also like to see "continued federal assistance." 

"Continued federal support for an isolation site for farm workers living on farms will ensure that all farm workers in Ontario and their communities remain healthy and safe," reads part of the letter to the deputy minister of health Stephen Lucas and the deputy minister of public safety, Rod Stewart. 

Teliszewsky said the city is looking for "equitable treatment" as the federal government recently announced $13.9 million in funding for a 12-month isolation centre in Toronto. 

"We're basically looking at them [to acknowledge] that Windsor and Essex County have a unique need as a result of the the migrant farm workers and this isn't news to the federal government, given all of the attention to this issue over the course of the summer," he said.

"So if they're prepared to cough up money for the City of Toronto, we're hopeful that the City of Windsor is also on their radar."

Brian Masse, the NDP MP for Windsor West, is also advocating for more federal support on this issue saying that, "there's no doubt that the City of Windsor needs to be supported with regards to the isolation centre and migrant worker supports ... the migrant situation needs to be improved and this is part of the solution."

Despite harvest season coming to an end, national representative with the United Food and Commercial Workers of Canada Santiago Escobar said there are still thousands who live in the area year-round. 

"It's important that we welcome the initiative that the city will be in charge of these facilities ... to centralize and especially ... when it comes to fighting COVID," Escobar said, adding what the industry went through in the first wave could have been prevented had these accommodations been in place earlier. 

Justine Taylor, the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers' science and government relations manager, said they want to see the centre be supported in case of a second wave. 

"As we begin to head into the second wave its really important to ensure that we have a regional response plan in place to effectively manage any new outbreaks that might arise," she said.