Justice for Migrant Workers

Call for Action against migrant worker wage cuts!

+++Please Forward Widely+++

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/298747456880328/

Equal Pay for Equal Work

Call for Action against migrant worker wage cuts! 
 
The Conservative government has given employers in Canada freer rein to exploit migrants. Employers can now pay migrant workers 15% below the average wage. This is an outrage! To discriminate on wages simply on the basis of nationality is unfair. Considering that most migrant workers are people of colour, this wage cut is simply racist. 
 
The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, a community-labour alliance of over 40 organizations, will be demonstrating at MP Joe Oliver (Cabinet Minister for Toronto)’s office on May 24th. 

Toronto
11am, May 24, 2012
Outside MP Joe Oliver’s Office
511 Lawrence Avenue West (Bathurst & Lawrence)
http://www.facebook.com/events/298747456880328/
 

Simultaneous Pickets & demonstrations are also happening in Vancouver, Kitchener-Waterloo & London. Get involved! Additional actions in other cities to be announced soon.

Kitchener-Waterloo
11am, May 24th, 2012
Outside MP Peter Braid’s Office
22 King Street South, Kitchener
http://www.facebook.com/events/305862182832282

London
11am, May 24th, 2012
Outside MP Susan Truppe’s Office
546 King St, London
http://www.facebook.com/events/233239723452828/

Vancouver
9:30am, May 24th, 2012
Outside MP Wai Young’s Office
6406 Victoria Drive, Vancouver

 

Migrant Workers Alliance for Change’s demands:
- A RIGHT TO LANDING STATUS be granted upon arrival for migrant workers. They must not be tied to one employer, be required to live in their employer’s home, or be subject to further medical examination;
- A RIGHT TO EQUAL ACCESS for all social programs, including Employment Insurance, health care, settlement services, social services and Workers’ Compensation;
- A RIGHT TO A FAIR APPEAL PROCESS for migrant workers prior to a pre-removal order, and a stop to deportations until this process is in place;
- A RIGHT TO FULL PROTECTION UNDER THE PROVINCIAL EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS ACT AND REGULATIONS currently enjoyed by Canadian Citizens and Permanent Residents, including NO FEES for any work placement.
- Immediately implement a NATIONAL REGULARIZATION PROGRAM granting permanent immigration status for all non-residents living in Canada.

Migrant Agricultural Workers’ Human Rights and Health Conference

Migrant Agricultural Workers’Human Rights and Health Conference

May 17 & May 18, 2012 
Ramada Plaza Toronto
300 Jarvis Street

The Industrial Accident Victim’s group of Ontario (IAVGO), Asian Community AIDS Services ( ACAS ) and Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) invite you to participate in the Migrant Agricultural Workers’ Human Rights and Health Conference taking place May 17th and 18th in Toronto .

Participants will have an opportunity examine various areas of law as well as healthcare issues relevant to migrant workers. The conference aims to provide a platform to exchange ideas and updates on law reform work as well as formulate strategies that will increase the capacity of workers to improve their rights and protections.

While the targeted audience is community health clinics, community legal clinics, members of the private bar, organizers and activists, the conference is open to anyone who is interested in developing and implementing strategies to improve the working and living conditions of migrant workers in Ontario.

If migrant workers from your community are interested in attending this event please let us know in advance so that we can estimate numbers for our translators.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Adrian A. Smith is an assistant professor in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University and has acted as co-counsel for Justice for Migrant Workers and the Industrial Accident Victims Group of Ontario in their intervention in Fraser before the Supreme Court of Canada. He holds a doctorate in law from McGill University. His dissertation is entitled: “Enduring Unfreedom: Law and the State in the Regulation of Trinidadian Sugar Workers”. He has won numerous research awards relating to international labour migration and precarious work. He is currently working on a book on law, development and temporary labour migration.

Please register by May 9th, 2012 by faxing the Registration Form to IAVGO at 416-924-2472 or e-mailing it to dinuccim@lao.on.ca

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mary DiNucci at 416-924-6477.

Registration Form
Formal Invitation
Conference Agenda

Student looking for Mexicans in Canada to interview about multiculturalism

In Spanish:

Soy un estudiante de doctorado de la FLACSO México. En afiliación con el  CERLAC (Center for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean) de York University, estoy realizando una investigación sobre multiculturalismo. Ando buscando mexicanos  y mexicanas  mayores de 25 con por lo menos dos años de residencia en Toronto para entrevistarlos acerca de sus experiencias viviendo en Canadá. Mis entrevistas son  completamente anónimas, con una duración de una hora en promedio y no incluyen ningún tipo de preguntas  de tipo personal sobre los entrevistados o sus familiares en México. Solamente me interesa saber su opinión sobre temas relacionados con su vida en Canadá. Toda la información recabada es para usos académicos y de investigación exclusivamente y se apega a los estatutos éticos  y normas de investigación social de CONACyT. Si les interesa participar  me pueden escribir al siguiente correo: jesus.pena@flacso.edu.mx, Con gusto les puedo contestar todas sus dudas sobre el proyecto. De antemano les agradezco mucho su atención. Considero que este tipo de proyectos son una buena oportunidad para apoyar el desarrollo de la investigación científica en México y ensanchar las redes entre profesionistas mexicanos.

Atentamente,

Jesús Peña

No One is Illegal - Toronto Presents: Whose Borders?

No One is Illegal - Toronto Presents:
Whose Borders?

An evening of politics and picture shows!
http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/node/702 
http://www.facebook.com/events/361783113865124/361788120531290/ 
Friday, April 20, 2012 at 7:30pm (doors at 7:00 pm)
Palmerston Library Theatre
(560 Palmerston Ave., North of Bloor St. W., west of Bathurst Subway Station - the station is wheelchair accessible)

Featuring:
*El Contrato (dir. Min Sook Lee, 51 mins.): El Contrato follows Teodoro Bello Martinez, a father of four from Central Mexico, and several of his countrymen as they make an annual migration to southern Ontario. For eight months of the year Leamington’s population absorbs 4000 migrant labourers who pick tomatoes for conditions and wages no local will accept. Facing racism, exploitation, and constant threat of deportation, the workers voice their desire for dignity and respect, and better working conditions.

*Borderless (Min Sook Lee, 25 mins): They sew clothes in Montreal, clean high rises in Vancouver and build houses in Toronto. Their low wages subsidize Canada’s first world economy. Using silhouetted interviews and stylized imagery shot on Super 8 and mini-dv, Borderless tells the story of Angela and Geraldo. Angela works as a domestic help caring for other people’s children while her own child is growing up motherless in the Caribbean. Geraldo arrived from Costa Rica to work in the construction industry, which heavily relies on undocumented workers. Through the eyes of undocumented workers, we see the inner workings of the city.

**Plus speakers from Justicia for Migrant Workers**

Join us as we continue our film series and highlight issues of indigenous sovereignty, migration, resistance, and together ask “Whose Borders?”

This time, we focus on the realities of exploited migrant labour, and how the latest changes to the immigration system threaten to make these conditions worse, unless we stop them.

Join us in the streets on May Day 2012 as we demand justice, dignity, and status for all!

*The theatre and washrooms are Wheelchair Accessible * *Childcare Available* *Pay what you can* *please let us know how we can make this event more accessible for you by emailing us at nooneisillegal@riseup.net by April 14th*

May Day and South Asian Heritage Month Celebration

May Day and South Asian Heritage Month Celebration

When

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Time

5:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Location

Sagan Banquet Hall

7180 Edwards Boulevard, Mississauga

[East of Highway 10 Derry Road & Hurontario Street]

Featuring

Recognition of South Asian activists

Dinner and cultural entertainment

                                                       Admission is free 

Please RSVP by May 1, 2012 to:

jgairey@ofl.ca, 416-347-9732 (cell)

gbhandal@clc-ctc.ca, 416-441-3710, x.225

Sponsored by:

Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL)

Canadian Labour Congress–Ontario (CLC)

Brampton & Mississauga Labour Council

Coalition for Black Trade Unionists (CBTU-Ontario Chapter)

Latin American Trade Union Coalition (LATUC)

Asian Canadian Labour Alliance (ACLA)

UFCW Canada

PSAC Ontario

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