Future uncertain for migrant worker isolation centre: Windsor wants out, Essex County can't take over

Windsor City Council announced Monday, they will “extricate” their staff from the Temporary Foreign Worker Isolation and Recovery Centre (TFWIRC) effective June 30.

“The folks who use this really come from Essex County. It’s not really a city issue. We’ve done more than our fair share,” says Mayor Drew Dilkens.

“Frankly we need the county to step in and help.”

“It’s not a question of being interested in picking it up, we don’t have the resources,” says Essex County Warden Gary McNamara.

“Housing needs, whether in good times or bad times, is the responsibility of the city."

The warden says he was surprised when he heard about the move by the city late Monday, and tells CTV News he wishes administration and leaders from all the parties involved, had said something sooner.

The TFWIRC opened in the summer of 2020 to give sick migrant workers a safe place to quarantine to get better, before returning to work.

It is managed by the city, operated by the Canadian Red Cross, funded by the federal government, with medical oversight provided by the medical oversight provided by Essex-Windsor EMS and Erie Shores Healthcare.

“We have to have a continuance if it’s required no matter what because you can’t just dispel and cut it off and say you’re on your own,” says McNamara. “We’ve got work to do.”

“I think it’s not an unreasonable request,” says Kingsville Mayor Nelson Santos, who’s quick to add his municipality doesn’t have the resources to take over the TFWIRC, even if it is funded by Ottawa.

Santos believes the centre does need to exist, beyond June 30, 2022.

“But it has to be one that has a transition in place, again, so we don’t miss anyone, don’t let anyone fall through the cracks,” he says.

Leamington Mayor Hilda MacDonald says her municipality couldn’t run the centre on their own either.

She believes, the next phase of TFWIRC needs to include the greenhouse operators themselves, through the Ontario Vegetable Greenhouse Growers (OGVG).

An email to the OGVG on Tuesday morning was not returned.

“I’m pretty sure it (threat of COVID-19) isn’t going to be over this year so we will need to have a longer term plan,” says MacDonald. “Workers come and go, and this may very well present itself again, next February, next January.”

This development comes just one week after the federal government announced it would continue to support the TFWIRC through March 2023.

Dilkens says the transition to a different level of government can be seamless.

“We have all of the manuals in place and so it really is a very smooth handoff,” he says.

The mayor says the city will continue to operate an IRC for the homeless population.

The Windsor Essex County Health Unit said in a statement to CTV News it will continue to work with its partners to identify housing needs.

“Since the outset of the pandemic, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit has advocated for safe and appropriate isolation supports for all residents, including people who work the agricultural sector. The WECHU will continue to work with municipal and agricultural partners to identify the needs for housing supports related to the COVID-19 pandemic.”