Students Against Migrant Exploitation participating in “The Summer of S.A.M.E” at the AWA Support Centre in Virgil, Ontario, on June 5. To see a full photo gallery of the event, click on the image above.

The Students Against Migrant Exploitation “S.A.M.E” recently embarked on their “Summer of S.A.M.E” which has seen the group of student activists already conduct several outreach and educational programs, along with several charity fundraisers.

Their most recent activity saw a group of 14 high-school students visit the Agricultural Workers Alliance center in Virgil, Ontario, as part of The Summer of S.A.M.E’s migrant worker outreach and education program. 

Through a partnership between S.A.M.E and the Center for Spanish Speaking People, a group of youth volunteered to become active in their communities, by encouraging family and friends to learn how to harvest their own vegetables, and to bring to light the deplorable conditions under which agricultural workers live and work in Canada and to witness these injustices first hand.

By touring Virgil, visiting working and living conditions and by meeting with migrant workers themselves, the group was able to see first-hand the hardships and perils of the more than 30,000 migrant agricultural workers that come to Canada yearly.  The experience moved many of the youth who have already launched a community bicycle collection drive for migrant workers.

“Seeing youth and students alike witness such injustice and immediately propose and plan to take action is truly inspiring and speaks to the aims of S.A.M.E,” says national representative Pablo Godoy, who helps student activists to organize S.A.M.E. chapters across Canada.

The Summer of S.A.M.E has just begun, for more information on upcoming events, outreach and educational programs or for more information on how to become involved in the S.A.M.E movement , check www.thesame.ca