February 10th, 2012
Posted in 
Ontario, Canada – Victims of a deadly truck accident in Ontario may not be eligible for compensation due to their legal status.
A collision between a flatbed truck and passenger van transporting migrant workers in Ontario has led to the deaths of ten immigrants as well as the truck driver. While the incident was tragic, the remaining three survivors are not in the clear.
Because of the fact that they are immigrants, the survivors may not be entitled to any compensation for their injuries, pain or suffering. Oddly enough, the families of the victims that were killed in the collision will be compensated, but the survivors are in danger of being deported without any benefits.
According to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, the survivors will be eligible for health care coverage and benefits, however, a group of legal aid workers says this may not be the case.
The Industrial Accident Victims Group of Ontario claims that the surviving workers are likely to be deported, and if they are, will lose access to all workers’ compensation benefits.
“We’re very pleased to hear that families of the men who died will receive compensation, but at the same time, we have to ask what’s going to happen to the men who survived,” said Maryth Yachnin, a lawyer with the group. “In our experience, what happens to migrant workers is shortly after (they get injured), they are deported to their home country.”
Yachnin added that once they are deported, their rights to any benefits from the crash are forsaken. For this reason, many immigrant workers in Canada don’t even report injuries out of fear of being deported back to their home countries.
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Tags: Accident Victims, Aid Workers, Compensation Benefits, Family Reunification, Flatbed Truck, Health Care Coverage, Home Countries, Immigrant Workers, Immigrants, Immigration Attorneys, Immigration Lawyer, Industrial Accident, Legal Aid, Migrant Workers, Ontario Canada, Truck Accident, Truck Crash, Workers Compensation, Workplace Safety And Insurance, Workplace Safety And Insurance Board