Document Details

The events occured in 2000 and 2001, in québec. The commission is exercising the recourse with the consent of 4 Quebecers of Haïtian descent: Ronald Champagne, Célissa Michel, Célianne Michel, and Cupidon Lumène. They worked for the Centre Maraîcher Eugène Guinois Jr Inc, located in Sainte-Clotilde-de-Châteauguay, a family business which grows lettuce and carrots. The farm uses workers from the UPA (Union des producteurs agricoles du Québec). For the most part, the UPA workers were Haïtian.

"The Centre Maraîcher also hired foreign workers of Mexican origin, who lived in buildings separate from all the others."

This case is one of racial discrimination, segregation, housing standards including heating and access to water.

The Whites had a cafeteria where which the Blacks were not allowed to go near. Very clean, with ovens and refrigerators, heating, coffee machines, vending machines...
The Blacks, about 96 of them, had a small shack, located far away from the other buildings. Very small, extremely dirty no hooks, no changing rooms, no lock on the single room, therefore no privacy, the refrigerators were extremely dirty and broken, two microwaves, one broken, one too dirty to use. No material to clean; they would wipe off the dirt from the ground with cardboard. No running water, therefore no sink, no showers and no toilets. No soap. A hose outside, but only cold water, and the workers would stay until november.
3 chemical toilets (porta-potties) located outside, "filled to the top" and "disgustingly dirty".

Some Haïtians tried to enter the cafeteria to use the microwave: "You don`t belong here. This is for whites" and "You Blacks are pigs, you go there" they were told.