Forests ministry knew of conditions in squalid camps; workers not yet paid

A group of tree planters have not yet been paid a full year after they were found living in squalid conditions in a forestry camp near Golden, B.C. This comes despite the fact that they've won labour decisions ordering they be paid.

A B.C. Employment Standards Tribunal recently upheld a February, 2011 Employment Standards Branch (ESB) ruling ordering contractor Khaira Enterprises Ltd. to pay the employees.

Furthermore, a Vancouver-based non-profit law firm is now distributing documents that show forests ministry staff knew of poor conditions at camps operated by their employer, Khaira Enterprises Ltd., months before the situation was outed in the media. The company was allowed to continue working on their government-issued contract work, as ministry and other government officials failed to take action.

The camp that ultimately drew national attention is located in the Columbia Forest District, which is administered partially from the Revelstoke forests ministry office. The March, 2010 incidents happened in camps on the coast, including on Texada Island. Things were so bad, an RCMP officer who attended a camp on Texada Island after a public complaint consulted with his superiors about possible criminal charges.

The British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BCPIAC) is a Vancouver-based non profit law firm that is representing some of the silviculture workers affected. They say the Ministry of Forests knew of the conditions at the camp and about non-payment of wages months before the issue became public, yet didn't act to effectively remedy the situation.

BCPIAC lawyer Ros Salvador said flawed low-bid policy was at the root of the problem. "All the government cared about was getting the trees planted and paying as little as possible" Salvador said. "Under the low-bid policy, government saves money through the exploitation of workers. We think the Ministry of Forests should pay the full amount of the workers' wages, otherwise, government profits from the abuse caused by refusing to consider workers' rights."

Salvador forwarded a series of internal government communications she attained through a freedom of information request. The emails were exchanged mostly in March, 2010 between ministry of forests managers, B.C. Timber Sales staff and health authority officials, amongst others.

Following a complaint from a resident about workers living in substandard conditions in a camp on Texada Island, the RCMP and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority became involved. On March 17, 2010 an environmental health officer with Vancouver Coastal Health and an RCMP officer investigated the camp and found the uncomfortable, cold and hungry workers sleeping in a "boxcar on wheels" without proper ventilation. Their mattresses covered the floor, preventing cleaning. They used a single outhouse, had no showers and were cleaning themselves using cups of water. The workers also complained they hadn't been paid. The RCMP officer felt the condition of the camp warranted follow-up with his supervisors for possible criminal charges, though the documents don't indicate what happened with that investigation. The reports note the workers complained they were only getting one meal a day and that many of them were performing heavy bush work in street shoes. Similar conditions a few months later at the Golden camp sparked outrage across the country.

A March 18 email from the health officer informed forests ministry supervisors of the conditions.

(story continues below)

Photo: This image taken on March 17, 2010 by a health inspector on Texada Island shows sleeping conditions for camp workers employed at a camp run by Khaira Enterprises Ltd. Despite government claims of "immediate steps" to rectify the situation, the conditions persisted, eventually culminating in the discovery of another squalid camp run by the company on July 21, 2010 near Golden, B.C.

The internal government emails provided by the BCPIAC paints a picture of several agencies taking limited steps to rectify some of the issues, but the company was soon done work on Texada and left the island in early April. Salvador said the communications amounted to government buck-passing "rather than terminating the contract" immediately.

Treeplanter Moka Balikama spoke to the Times Review on July 20 through with the assistance of a translator who translated from Swahili.

Balikama worked in camps near Revelstoke and Golden for two months before the camp near Golden was discovered in July, 2010.

Like the camp on Texada Island, it was again an alert by members of the public that brought the situation to light. After a report from the public about illegal burning, the conservation service attended the camp and shut it down. Golden residents rallied to aid the stricken workers, housing them at a church and helping feed them.

Balikama, 37, is a native of Congo. He recounted the abuse and mistreatment he received in the camps.

"We were not living in good conditions," Balikama said. "We were not treated like human beings." He said the workers endured racial slurs and other verbal abuse.

Balikama moved to B.C. from Winnipeg for the job, and now resides in Vancouver. He wasn't able to make payments on his apartment in Winnipeg, and has spent periods begging on the streets for money in Vancouver.

Despite it all, Balikama says government inaction is the main issue for him. Despite advocacy on their behalf by the B.C. Fed, and BCPIAC, and a series of investigations announced by the provincial government and wins at the Employment Standards Branch, it hasn't translated into results for him. "Nobody is denouncing this," he said.

A bevy of investigations were launched by the provincial government after the conditions at the Golden camp became public, but in light of the documents obtained by her freedom of information request, Salvador sees it as a charade. "I see that as a performance, " she told the Times Review.

In response to preliminary questions from the Times Review, a forests ministry spokesperson issued a brief statement saying "immediate steps" were taken to address health and safety issues of workers in the camp on Texada Island. He also said that no new contracts were issued to Khaira Enterprises in 2010, and that the contracts held by Khaira had been issued earlier in 2008 and 2009. He also committed to attempting to get a ministry representative available for an interview on July 21.

The B.C. Federation of Labour has led advocacy work on behalf of the roughly 30 workers who were left unpaid after the camp was discovered.

B.C. Fed president Jim Sinclair is calling for provincial and federal bodies to act to make sure the former employees receive $236,800 in wages. "These workers have waited far too long for the back wages and Employment Insurance to which they are entitled. The appropriate provincial and federal agencies need to ensure that former Khaira workers receive this money immediately," Sinclair said.

The B.C. Federation of Labour is also rapping the federal government's knuckles for failing to correct paperwork issues that have prevented the employees from receiving employment insurance benefits, saying Service Canada promised to make adjustments with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) once the ESB made their determination. Five months after the ESB made its determination, the B.C. Fed claims the matter has yet to be referred to the CRA.

The B.C. Forest Safety Ombudsman is compiling a report on the incident, which is expected to be released shortly. Salvador is looking for recommendations that will address systemic failures that led to this incident and others. "We hope the report will address the underlying government practices that ignore workers' rights in favour of saving money," she said.

Columbia River – Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald (NDP) is the official opposition critic for Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. The Golden camp was uncovered in his own riding.

He said the government's reaction since the situation became known has been unacceptable. "Is this the standard for worker protection in the province? Is this what we've come to?" he questioned. "Is this the level of oversight that we have on public lands?"

Macdonald said the vast majority of silviculture operations were above board, and praised the work of the Western Silvicultural Contractors' Association, an industry group. Macdonald said it was no coincidence that the workers at the camp uncovered in Golden were drawn from a vulnerable demographic – recent migrants with language barriers who are less likely to understand their rights as workers. In the end, it was the government's responsibility to monitor their contracts, he said.

Macdonald noted a trend away from silviculture workers being drawn from nearby communities, saying local workers had traditionally been better connected to community networks, helping prevent abuses.

"Workers rights come second to trying to just get cheap contracts," Macdonald said. "The government will assure you that things are in place to prevent it, but clearly there is a failure here.

"What we have seen over the past decade is the removal of one protection after another and one level of oversight after another," Macdonald said. "The euphemism that the B.C. Liberals use is 'cutting red tape,' but the result for many people on the ground is they are left vulnerable in a way that they shouldn't be."

He underscored that the issue arose on a government-issued contract on government property. "It's just disturbing to see that exploitation being done in the name of the Province of British Columbia. These aren't multinational corporations that are doing this. This is the Province of B.C."

He said the effectiveness of several investigations launched after the Golden camp was discovered will depend on the scope of the inquiries, noting the workers nevertheless remain unpaid a year later.