May 8, 2024
This week marks a milestone anniversary in which we honour the life and legacy of Jeleel Stewart. Despite decades of being written out of our history, we remember those who have paid the ultimate price for the prosperity we enjoy in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
On a beautiful sunny morning in May, 2007, a crew of Jamaican men were hustling to load trucks at a busy nursery on Niagara Stone Rd.
A bang, a flash of metal, and one man’s life was altered forever. A forklift slipped, crushing the hand of Jeleel Stewart, a 33 year old employee of the nursery. He remained conscious during the entire 3 hour surgery that followed as doctors attempted to reattach severed nerves and tendons.
The following 3 months he was in severe pain and despair as day after day he sat alone in the bunkhouse.
He could not afford the expensive phone plan to stay in touch with his wife and family. He had only been in Canada for 2 months and was still paying off his airfare and related work fees. He had no money for groceries for himself or his family back home.
Jodie Godwin and I had visited him and his family in Jamaica just 3 months earlier. We empathized with the extreme anxiety that his family was now feeling with their beloved husband and father so far away.
For the first 8 weeks he received no financial assistance so Jodie and I saw to it that he had meals. We raised funds to send grocery money to his family ensuring they wouldn’t go hungry as well.
He experienced serious depression because of the pain, isolation and fear for his future. He was sent home in August with the assurance of continued physiotherapy and compensation.
The compensation was inadequate but at least there was the hope that therapy would help recover the use of his hand.
Until November 2010.
He received a letter stating that WSIB’s new deeming policy had come into effect. His compensation and therapy were being terminated, based on the fact that employment was available at a Niagara gas bar that he could perform with one hand.
It was the beginning of a 14 year nightmare and battle for justice.
Jodie and I continued to visit Jeleel on subsequent trips to the island and witnessed the family’s constant struggle to simply survive. We were committed to caring for them until WSIB corrected their “mistake”. Often the Stewarts had to choose between having enough to eat or sending the children to school.
HIs declining health was directly related to the accident and without the necessary therapy, his pain increased dramatically.
Watching his family suffer and go without necessities eroded his self respect. On several occasions he had to fight overwhelming thoughts of suicide but the strength of his wife Suzan, intense love for his children and faith in God kept him hanging on by a slender thread.
In Ontario meanwhile the deeming process was considered a great success, providing massive bonuses for WSIB’s CEO and top executives. Eventually the resulting cuts for compensation to injured workers created a $1.6 Billion surplus, which was refunded to employers in 2022.
Despite the claims that farm workers enjoy the same rights of Canadians, the lived experiences of those injured show that it is not true. Regardless of country of origin, injured employees have been repatriated, their plight ignored since the inception of the program in 1966.
WSIB is counting on the fact that injured workers will give up or die before they receive justice.
MP Wayne Gates ( NDP) has been the lone exception, introducing Bill 57 in 2019 to end the policy of deeming. It passed the first reading but the government chose not to move forward.
“Injured workers deserve better, “he states. “We should be providing the support they need, not punishing them when they are acting in good faith.”
Institutions which have historically possessed the power to bring change – agricultural lobby groups, churches and politicians – instead have instead turned a blind eye.
Experiences of injured farm workers have been written out of our history.
Jeleel Stewart, a man who was known for his joy, his vibrant faith and exuberant love of life became a mere shadow of his former self. By mid 2023 his life was confined to a shabby, underfunded hospital ward, relying on his wife’s daily visits for feeding.
He passed away in the hospital this past January at the age of 51, just a few weeks before his scheduled hearing at the WSIB tribunal.
He had shared the words “Never lose hope” when we visited him 10 years ago. It has been a painful journey witnessing his pain first hand but we choose hope and believe that justice will come.
There has been a shift in recent years, largely due to the ripple effect of growing public awareness.
The injustices inflicted as a result of injury and work related illness are gaining the attention of academics and researchers who are gathering the data. Courses in the politics of food are being taught in colleges and universities prompting further action.
Rhea Bhullar, a local resident, recently graduated from Western University majoring in Media, Information and Technoculture. The course “The Politics and Representation of Food” inspired her to dig deeper in her studies.
She chose Jeleel Stewart’s story and the devastating impact on his entire family as the focus of her final project.
Using copies of his story from the last print edition of the Local, she constructed wall mounted sculptures as part of a curated exhibit at the university. A new generation is discovering how to unearth this chapter of history, to use their privilege, resources and creativity to bring hope for the future.
I passed by the sight of the accident today. The evidence of one of the largest nurseries in Canada has been bulldozed and all that remains is the dust swirling in an empty field.
The legacy of Jeleel Stewart, however, remains and we refuse to lose hope.
Let us not give up on this family.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.