The Ontario Provincial Police has struck an agreement with 53 migrant farm workers who were subjected to a DNA canvass almost 10 years ago during a sexual assault investigation. Their DNA samples will now be destroyed and they will each receive $7,500.
Almost a decade after subjecting nearly 100 migrant farm workers to aThe erasure of the data this month was part of a settlement reached between the Ontario Provincial Police and 53 of the workers who were canvassed for their DNA samples in a 2013 investigation into a sexual assault in rural Ontario, and later filed a complaint against the practice. The workers were primarily from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
“This settlement represents a complete victory and vindication for those workers who were subjected to racial discrimination by the OPP nearly 10 years ago,” the workers’ lawyer, Shane Martínez, said on Thursday. “While this does not solve the problems of racial profiling and discrimination, it will hopefully add some level of protection for racialized communities — especially those in rural parts of Ontario.”
Much work remains, he said, to fight for permanent status on arrival for workers; to ensure an end to repatriations; to equal access to entitlements such as employment insurance and the Canada Pension Plan; and to full protection under provincial workplace legislation. Officials collected 96 DNA samples from “Black and brown” migrant farm workers in four farms near the crime scene. Logan was among the workers who signed a consent form to give his sample.
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