Migrant workers awarded damages from OPP in racial profiling case

In a landmark decision, a human rights tribunal in Ontario has ordered police to pay out thousands of dollars in damages in Canada’s first legal case examining allegations of discrimination and racial profiling of migrant farmworkers.

During hearings, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) learned that Ontario Provincial Police planned to take DNA samples from dozens of migrant workers before interviewing the victim of the crime; coordinated with bosses to carry out the DNA canvas; kept the biological data from the samples on file after the investigation was closed, and even visited a bank where workers kept their accounts.

The importance of the tribunal’s decision goes beyond the specifics of this case, and points to major problems with the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), a part of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).

Read the full story at The Breach.