BC work camp compared to slave camp
Posted Aug 11, 2010 7:30 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s a story you’d expect from a third world country, not the interior of British Columbia.
There are allegations of shocking work conditions at a tree-planting camp near Golden, that has now been shut down by the BC Forest Ministry.
Some are even comparing the camp to slavery.
Single mother Christine Barker is one of the people who worked there and says workers had to endure 15-hour work days, sometimes without a break.
“Basically we’d be going to work without water. They did not supply water. They told us to get water from the creek. The food we were supplied was bread, peanut butter, rotten apples, and chicken and rice every day. Some of us did not accept to eat that food because it was not refrigerated properly,” she recalls.
On top of that, they didn’t have proper bathrooms and some workers were denied showers.
She also says they were verbally abused and endured racial comments. To top it off, many workers haven’t been paid what they’re owed.
In mid-July, they started a work stoppage and they were eventually “rescued” when forest ministry staff showed up to check out burning piles of garbage.
The workers are now being backed by the BC Federation of Labour, who says the company had a $280,000 contract with the province.
An investigation is now underway.
In the meantime, the company that ran the camp, Surrey-based Khaira Enterprises, has been banned for a year from bidding on contracts with the government.
