2010 Black Eagle Award Recipients, International and Academic
The Cesar E. Chavez Black Eagle Award was established 11 years ago to recognize exceptional activists who make outstanding contributions to the fight for justice in Canada’s agriculture industry.
Every year, Black Eagle Award recipients are named in several different fields of activism that include Labour, Legal, Political, Cultural, International, and Academic categories.
This week, we focus on the 2010 Cesar E. Chavez Black Eagle Award recipients for the International and Academic categories.
Black Eagle – International: Governor Leonel Godoy Rangel
Governor Leonel Godoy Rangel from the Mexican State of Michoacán has been named the 2011 Black Eagle Award recipient in the International Category for his tremendous contribution to the establishment of a landmark cooperation agreement with UFCW Canada and the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA).
The landmark cooperation agreement was signed by the Michoacán government and Canada’s leading private-sector union in 2009 to ensure the human and labour rights of agricultural workers from the Mexican state are recognized and enforced while they work in Canadian fields and greenhouses.
Under the pact, workers from Michoacán are assisted in Canada by UFCW Canada and the AWA though 10 support centres across the country that offer counseling and advocacy services regarding labour rights, housing conditions, medical claims and other work-related issues.
Black Eagle – Academic: Kerry Preibisch
Kerry Preibisch is a renowned sociologist specializing in the area of international migration and development. Her research interests are in the areas of gender and migration, international labour migration and global agro-food systems, and immigration issues in rural Canada.
For nearly a decade, Professor Preibisch has dedicated much of her academic expertise to focusing on international labour migration and the issues facing food industry workers, and her work on the subject of temporary foreign workers has contributed greatly to the growing discussion about the many issues facing Canada’s most vulnerable and precarious workforce.
A prodigious and respected scholar, Professor Preibisch has been published in International Migration Review, International Migration, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Signs, Rural Sociology, Canadian Review of Sociology, Canadian Woman Studies, Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Human Organization, and the Journal of International Development.
Governor Rangel and Professor Preibisch – along with Brother McGowan, Mr. Cavaluzzo, Mr. Pietropaolo, and Ms. Chow – will be officially named recipients of the Black Eagle Award at the 11th Annual Cesar E. Chavez Black Eagle Award Dinner on November 3 in Toronto.
Vol. X No. 43 • November 1, 2010