It's peak season for Windsor-Essex County Health Unit inspectors, who are responsible for ensuring the housing accommodations for international agricultural workers meet public health standards.
Windsor-Essex hosts approximately 12,000 to 15,000 international agricultural workers every year, mostly from Mexico and the Caribbean, who work on farms and in greenhouses across the area, with the majority in the Leamington and Kingsville areas.
The influx of workers usually begins in April, which means that farm owners and operators who employ and house the workers are required to arrange seasonal housing inspections with the health unit and other municipal authorities before their arrival.
Manager of Environmental Health Elaine Bennett says the majority of housing units are meeting the standard, but they remain consistent when it comes to checking for everything from occupancy to cleanliness to sanitary or safety issues.
Bennett says they've seen steady growth in seasonal housing accommodations being built across the area, which is driving an increase in requests for inspections.
"It has grown quite a bit. It's taking up the majority of the inspectors in the county area, specifically in the Kingsville, Leamington, and Cottom areas, where we're seeing a lot of the expansion," she says.
Between 2023 and 2025, the region has recorded steady growth in seasonal housing accommodations, increasing from 947 in 2023 to 1,147 in 2025, an increase of 280.
Bennett says they consider the international agricultural workers to be a high-priority population.
"In the spring, for example, if one of the units has a tear in the screen, we're going to say we need you to repair the screen and replace it. We don't want the mosquitoes coming in. Those mosquitoes could be carrying West Nile virus. We want to make sure they have a healthy workforce," she says.
The health unit has conducted more than 1,200 inspections in each of the past two years.
Bennett says this is peak season, and they're dealing with an influx of special requests.
"We always tell the operators to ensure that they get their requests in early because this is the time of year that it does get quite busy. We try to prioritize those that come in first. So, we always ask for a four-week turnaround," she says.
The health unit's Leamington office has six inspectors, who do work with building and fire inspectors within a given municipality as part of the inspections of seasonal housing accommodations.
International Agricultural Workers (IAWs) include those working under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), which permits workers to stay up to eight months, and the broader Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program, which allows stays of up to two years.
The health inspections are mandated under Part III of the Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA) and the Ontario Public Health Standards: Requirements for Programs, Services and Accountability 2018 (OPHS) and its related protocols and guidelines.