The families of the three female Punjabi farm workers who died in a road accident in March 2007 held special prayers for the deceased at an Abbotsford Sikh temple this past weekend.

Amarjit Kaur Bal, Sarabjit Kaur Sidhu and Sukhwinder Kaur Punia died while 14 others were injured when a van carrying farm workers crashed on Highway 1 three years ago.

WorkSafe BC took a year to nail the owner of the van for flouting road safety laws, while the driver of the vehicle, Harwinderpal Kaur Gill, pleaded guilty to various charges.

As a result, Gill was sentenced to a $2,000 fine and one year prohibition from driving. She and the owner of the vehicle faced eight charges under the Motor Vehicle Act. While six of the charges were dropped, Gill pleaded guilty to the two remaining charges, one being driving without an appropriate license.

The victims’ families called the sentencing "a slap on the wrist." What was more insulting to them was the way some community leaders wrote a letter of support for Gill. Ironically, these leaders had joined the candle light vigil that was organized in memory of the dead last year. Among them was Abbotsford city councilor Moe Gill.

The victims’ families want this whole episode to be reexamined so that exploitation of B.C. farm workers stops. In fact, the accident has brought into sharp focus the safety of farm workers in the province.

Outrage over these deaths forced the B.C. Liberal government to promise amendments in the Employment Standards Act during last year’s Throne Speech, though this was not the first time farm workers have met with a fatal accident.

A female farm worker died when an overcrowded van carrying 19 farm workers crashed in 2003. Following that incident, the Workers Compensation Board (WCB), made numerous recommendations for the safety of farm workers, including roadside inspections.

Had these recommendations been followed, the 2007 accident wouldn’t have happened. In an unrelated episode, three farm workers died in September last year following a gas leak at a Langley Mushroom farm. The government should either stop claiming that B.C. is the best place on earth to live, or should try to improve the working conditions of disorganized labour.

Turning a blind eye to the plight of farm workers could prove a bitter harvest to B.C. politicians.