Hard Thanksgiving for Injured Farm Workers

The Tyee – Hard Thanksgiving for Injured Farm Workers

When B.C. residents sit down this weekend to their Thanksgiving dinners, few will pause to think about those who pulled the vegetables from the fields, or to give thanks that we don’t have to live with the dangerous working conditions and government neglect that can turn the lives of farm workers into a long harvest of heartbreak and injustice.

No Thanksgiving for migrant workers

While Thanksgiving means a feast with family and friends for most Canadians, scores of migrant workers will be gathering in Leamington for a much different type of event.

They will be embarking on a gruelling march of more than 50 kilometres from Leamington to Windsor — the “Pilgrimage to Freedom” — to draw attention to the conditions many migrants face in Canada today.

Sudbury Against War and Occupation: No Thanksgiving for migrant workers

Migrant workers in Ontario embark on ‘Pilgrimage to Freedom’

Migrant workers in Ontario embark on ‘Pilgrimage to Freedom’ this Thanksgiving weekend | rabble.ca

Show Notes:

Migrant workers grow, harvest and process much of the food Canadians enjoy, but instead of feasting at the dinner table this coming Thanksgiving weekend, a great many of migrant workers from the fields, farms and factories will undertake the “Pilgrimage to Freedom”, a historic and arduous march of more than 50 kilometres from Leamington to the Windsor’s Monument for Freedom, dedicated to the underground railroad that brought slaves to freedom in Canada. Tzazna, with Justicia for Migrant Workers talks about why.

Justicia For Migrant Workers is a volunteer-run collective that strives to promote the rights of migrant farm workers (participating in the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program and the Low Skilled Workers Program) and farm workers without status.

For more info:
http://www.justicia4migrantworkers.org/march.html

Justice for Migrant Workers Historic March-Ontario

Join migrant farm workers and our grassroots collective, Justicia for Migrant Workers, in our first and historic…

Pilgrimage to Freedom: Breaking the Chains of Indentureship
Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend – October 10, 2010
Leamington to Windsor, ON
10 hour march to make visible migrant farm workers and the injustices they confront in a country that refuses to see….

Check out our page for more info:

http://justicia4migrantworkers.org/march.html

Agricultural deaths are preventable, says migrant advocacy group

On September 23, a 30-year-old farm worker from Woolmer, Ontario was crushed to death on the job. That happened almost two weeks after agricultural workers Paul Roach and Ralston White suffocated to death when they inhaled fumes while cleaning a tank. The pump wasn’t working in the tank so one of the workers was forced to go into the tank to make the necessary repairs. He died of environmental suffocation. When the second man went into the tank to help his comrade, he died too. Ten years ago, three Mennonite agricultural workers entered a manure tank and died a similar death to Roach and White. Yet little has been done by the Ministry of Labour to prevent similar occurrences. Migrant worker rights activists are still waiting for inquests. Still waiting for snap safety inspections and health and safety protection for workers.

Agricultural deaths are preventable, says migrant advocacy group | rabble.ca