Jamaican widow wants ‘better’ treatment of Canada’s seasonal agricultural workers in wake of husband’s death [Video]

A Jamaican widow is calling for “better” treatment of farm workers in Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), following the death of her husband — years after he was injured at his workplace in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Suzana Stewart said her husband, Jeleel Stewart,  died at Spanish Town General Hospital in his homeland on Jan. 24. He was 49. 

Jeleel’s left hand was crushed by a forklift in a 2008 accident at Mori Nurseries — which closed down in 2015 — and up to the time of his death, he’d been in a years’ long battle with Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) over compensation.

Stewart said Jeleel’s health gradually deteriorated from the time of his injury. In the months before his death he suffered a stroke, developed high blood pressure, kidney and heart failure, and was always in pain, she said.

“What I would like for the farm workers is …