"Foreign workers assigned unsafe housing during contracts at Ontario baby formula plant: documents", 12 April 2021

Workers brought to Canada by a B.C. contractor to work at the Canada Royal Milk plant in Kingston, Ont. lived in overcrowded conditions that violated local fire and building codes until the city's fire inspectors intervened. [...]

Kingston's fire department investigated five single-family homes owned by Canada Royal Milk's contractor, Realgoal Technology Inc., after a neighbour complained of seeing unsafe propane storage at one of the residences. [...]

Inspectors determined the homes should be classified as rooming houses under the fire code and documented a range of fire and building code violations, including unsafe cooking facilities and partitioned sleeping quarters constructed without proper permits.

Realgoal appealed to Ontario's Fire Safety Commission. An agreed statement of facts in this case described the violations at each address in detail, including how one two-bedroom home provided accommodations for 26 workers, with 18 people sleeping on bunk beds in its basement. [...]

When all three levels of government backed a $332 million foreign investment by China's Feihe International to build the baby formula factory, public announcements said it would employ 200 to 300 people in manufacturing and research positions while adding a thousand more spinoff jobs in construction, services and local supply chains. [...]