Canada failing migrant farmworkers on COVID-19, living inspections: audit

FILE PHOTO: A blueberry picker picks fruit at Lohas Farms in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada on July 3, 2016. REUTERS/Julie Gordon//File Photo

TORONTO (Reuters) - As the COVID-19 pandemic raged, Canadian government inspectors frequently deemed migrant workers' employers compliant with health and safety rules without any evidence for doing so, according to an Auditor General report released Thursday.

While Canadian provinces and territories set housing standards, the federal government is responsible for ensuring that tens of thousands of migrant farmworkers have adequate accommodation and their employers comply with quarantine rules.