Sex assault claim spotlights abuse of migrant workers
A migrant farm work has alleged she was sexually assaulted by her boss at his Mount Baldy ski chalet earlier this month, not long after a United Nations special rapporteur warned Canada’s system for permitting temporary foreign workers is ripe for exploitation.
Details of the local case are contained in court documents retrieved from the Penticton courthouse this week by The Herald, which is naming neither the victim, due to the nature of the allegations, nor the suspect, because the newspaper was unable to determine if he has been charged with a crime.
“The RCMP does not confirm any investigation until such time as charges have been laid or there is a need for public assistance to advance the investigation,” said RCMP spokesman Cpl. James Grandy in an email.
The complainant is a Mexican national who was employed at the suspect’s farm in Cawston.
The complainant told police she and two female co-workers were picked up by their boss at the Tim Hortons in Osoyoos on the afternoon of Dec. 2 and driven to his place at Baldy Mountain Resort, approximately one hour away...
Sexual assaults are one of the most under-reported crimes in the country, according to a 2014 report from Statistics Canada that estimated 83% of such acts never result in calls to police.
The odds are even longer when migrant workers – there were approximately 32,000 of them in B.C. in 2022, according to the most recent data available from Statistics Canada – are victimized...