Countdown to Metropolis 2011 - Vancouver, B.C. March 23 - 26, 2011
On March 23, 2011, about 30 UFCW Canada delegates and various allies from across the country will take a stand at the 13th National Metropolis Conference — Immigration: Bringing the World to Canada to be held in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Metropolis Conference has historically been a place for the federal departments of the HRSDC and CIC to pat themselves on the back while being willfully blind to the inhumanity of the Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) program. UFCW Canada continues to be a leading national advocate with regard to immigrant and migrant rights and has consistently spoken out about the plight of over the 250,000 Temporary Foreign Workers who are imported annually to Canada as disposable workers.
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As part of our ongoing national outreach to immigrant and migrant worker communities, in March 2009, UFCW Canada along with 15 UFCW Canada activists from across the country took part in the Metropolis Conference in Calgary, Alberta on national and regional issues regarding the rapidly growing population of immigrant and migrant workers in Canada.
In 2010, in Montreal, UFCW Canada again made history, this time with almost 25 activists from UFCW Canada Local Unions 1518, 401, 1000A, 500R, 501, and 503, by leading the 50-person strong progressive caucus of activists at the conference. Where governments and academics spoke about the TFWP being a model program, UFCW Canada activists were there in a coordinated manner to make sure that all were aware that it is only a model program for injustice, state sponsored brutality and worker abuse. UFCW Canada again encompassed the largest labour contingent at the 2010 conference, and through participation as panelists and participants, and shoulder to shoulder with our community allies, succeeded in raising the profile of the exploitation of migrant workers amongst over 1,000 participating representatives from government and national and local community groups
Together we were the predominant voice of resistance to employer calls for lowering of employment protections for temporary migrant and immigrant workers in the name of “flexibility”. UFCW Canada Local 832 and Local 1000A also continued to raise the profile of Canadian abuses of migrant workers on the international stage by participating in the International Metropolis Conference in October, 2010.
As with our delegation in 2010, UFCW Canada, the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA) and community allies such as Migrante B.C. and Migrante Canada will be mobilizing once again at Metropolis 2011 to ensure that the federal government and its provincial allies does not sell the TFWP as a model program because we know that it is a national embarrassment.
“As one of the largest immigration based conferences in Canada, one of the primary impetuses for our strong and vocal attendance at Metropolis is to ensure that the story and allies of migrants are heard loudly. Whether it is at plenary discussion or workshops, UFCW Canada delegates and allies in Montreal in 2010 and Calgary in 2009 were able to decisively respond to the misinformation campaign promoted by the federal and some provincial governments” said UFCW Canada President Wayne Hanley.
“In Vancouver, we will again strategically mobilize to ensure that such myopic analysis which commodify migrant workers with little care for their well being, are not left unanswered.”
HIGHLIGHTS OF UFCW CANADA’S UPCOMING INVOLVEMENT
AT THE 2011 METROPOLIS CONFERENCE:
UFCW CANADA/MIGRANTE CANADA “GEWGES” RESISTANCE BOOTH:
The centre of operations for our various initiatives at the Metropolis Conference will be our GEWGES (“Good Enough to Work, Good Enough to Stay”) Resistance Booth. Starting on March 23, and running through to March 26, there will be a UFCW Canada interactive, media-rich display table highlighting the many UFCW Canada, AWA and Migrante documents, posters, academic studies, and informational packages that are available to all delegates.
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Please feel free to come by and check out our Migrant Worker Book of Abuse; pick up some free bottles of Jason Kenney Hand Sanitizer; a copy of the National Report on the Status of Migrant Farm Workers in Canada 2010-2011; and the UFCW Canada National Report on the Status of Migrant Workers 2011. Learn about our regional, national, and international initiatives. Take the 2 minute Migrant Worker Quiz. Come and chat about the most recent edition of the Exploitation Express. Join the UFCW Canada HRED Email List Serve - the largest migrant worker email list serve in Canada. Speak out at our roaming Speaker’s Corner and have your say on our website, or just visit us at www.ufcw.ca/socialjustice to get more information about our regional, national and international strategic initiatives on behalf of migrant workers.
Some programs that are currently in place include Education Has No Borders – Migrant Workers Scholarships, a program that provides scholarships for the children of migrant workers; webCampus, the UFCW Canada state-of-the-art, online learning facility with hundreds of online courses, many of which qualify for community college credits. webCampus is available at-no-cost to migrant and temporary workers, as well as to communities served by to our community partners including Migrante Canada, the Workers Action Centre, the Academic Support Network; and Students Against Migrant Exploitation (SAME).
PRESS CONFERENCE AND PUBLIC FORUM:
On March 23, 2011, at 6:00 p.m., UFCW Canada and Migrante B.C. will be hosting a press conference and public forum for the media, community advocates, and the general public entitled Migrant Workers@ Denny’s: Equal in Rights? to highlight the $10 Million lawsuit filed by Herminia Dominguez on behalf of migrant workers at Denny's in B.C., as well as to bring attention to the perilous TFWP and upcoming legislative changes.
Presenters include Naveen P. Mehta, Lawyer, Director, Human Rights, Equity & Diversity Department, UFCW Canada; Maita Santiago, Representative, Migrante B.C.; Christopher J. Foy, Kestrel Workplace Legal Counsel, Vancouver; Herminia V. Dominguez, Representative Plaintiff, Denny’s Class Action Lawsuit; and Janet Dench, Executive Director, Canadian Council for Refugees.
An additional aim of this press conference is to allow access to community advocates who are sometimes hindered from fully participating at the Metropolis Conference due to limited resources. This Press Conference and Public Forum are in the same hotel as the Metropolis Conference but no fee or registration is required. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
WORKSHOP:BEING A TEMPORARY FOREIGN WORKER IN CANADA: HUMAN RIGHTS, REGULATIONS, AND CULTURAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EXPERIENCES:
On March 24 at 2:00 p.m. at Workshop A4, Junior Ballroom D, Sheraton Hotel Vancouver Wall Centre, Virgilio Ayala, UFCW Canada, Coordinator, St. Eustache AWA Support Centre, will be presenting on a panel with Sarah Marsden, University of British Columbia and Daniel Parrott, University of Victoria.
WORKSHOP: MAPPING MIGRATION FROM THE AMERICAS: EXPLORING MIGRATION FLOWS TO CANADA FROM LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN:
On March 25 at 2:00 p.m. at Workshop C, Junior Ballroom B, level 3, South Tower, Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, Naveen Mehta, UFCW Canada’s director of Human Rights, Equity & Diversity will be on a panel with Tania Shephard, Canadian Foundation For The Americas (FOCAL), Jenna Hennebry, Associate Director, International Migration Research Centre (IMRC), Janet McLaughlin, International Migration Research Centre, James Restrepo, University of Western Ontario, and Jill Bucklaschuk, Department of Sociology at the University of Manitoba.
THE DENNY’S DEMO:
Come out, join throngs of community advocates, the general public, trade unions and academics and have a loud yet peaceful march to raise public awareness of the plight of migrant workers at Denny’s in Canada employed by Northland Corporation. The march will take place on March 26, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. in front of Denny’s Restaurant Downtown, 1098 Davie Street, Vancouver. Bring your banners, flags and signs to show Denny’s that migrant workers are not alone. More information will available at the Press Conference and Public Forum.
PICK UP YOUR COPY OF THE EXPLOITATION EXPRESS: METROPOLIS EDITION:
If you are interested in the truth then you’ll want to read the Exploitation Express. This UFCW Canada HRED News Magazine will be in all 1,100 conference kits to ensure that all of the delegates have a better understanding of what the TFWP is doing to strip away our “nation building” capacity while dehumanizing some of the most vulnerable workers in Canada.