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The Current

Migrant worker crash survivor Juan Ariza granted permanent residence

We have an update on a story Laura Lynch brought us last year about Juan Jose Ariza who survived a horrific car crash. Ten migrant workers died. Juan has had a painful recovery and a long fight to win permanent residency in Canada but there is good news.
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Juan Jose Ariza, pictured here with his wife, Edith, and eight-year-old son, Flavio, was involved in a 2012 crash near Hampstead, Ont., that killed 10 Peruvian migrant workers. Ariza sustained a fractured pelvis and broken ribs. (Roxana Olivera)
The Current3:37Migrant worker crash survivor Juan Ariza granted permanent residency - April 30, 2015

We have an update on a story we first brought you in April of last year. That's when Laura Lynch told the story of Juan Jose Ariza.

On that terrible night in February of 2012, Juan Ariza was involved in a horrific car crash in southwestern Ontario. Returning to home base in a company van with 13 other migrant farmworkers, the driver ran a stop sign and smashed into an oncoming truck. Eleven men died that night - ten migrants and the driver of the truck, Christopher Fulton.

Since then, Juan Ariza has struggled through a long, painful recovery... and a long fight to win permanent residency in Canada.

Well, just a few days ago, Mr. Ariza opened a letter from Citizenship and Immigration. It said he has been granted permanent residency based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds - pending medical and security checks. 

Something else good happened last week. Ontario's Workers Safety and Insurance Board offered to pay for Juan Ariza's wife and son to visit him this summer.

Laura Lynch caught up with Juan Ariza in Toronto this week as he arrived for six weeks of intense therapy aimed at reducing his pain and improving his strength.

If you want to find out more about his story and about the challenges facing migrant farm workers who are injured or become ill in Canada, you can read Laura Lynch's article written for CBC News.

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