Actor Details

Fuerza/Puwersa is a volunteer-run group based in Guelph, Ontario that has experience working in various regions with migrant farm worker communities, partnering with local organizations and service providers to aid migrant farm workers in accessing health support and services. This group has developed health related workshops for migrant farm workers, and also provides transportation, translation, and advocacy support.

Formerly Student Support for Migrant Workers-Guelph, Fuerza/Puwersa (meaning 'strength' in Spanish and Tagalog) is an all-volunteer grassroots group of community members in Guelph, ON dedicated to exposing the injustices faced by migrant workers, "no status" people, and racialized working-class immigrants within Canadian borders. Above all and central to our work, is to be an effective ally to migrant racialized working-class people themselves, prioritizing their dignity and agency, and working to ensure they have a central position in what we do. Our work is grounded on the belief in the right of all beings to dignity, agency, and to be able to both"move" and "stay" wherever on Earth we choose, according to our basic and self-determined needs.

We formed in the fall of 2008 and since then a large portion of our group's activities have involved awareness raising and critical discussion about migrant justice issues, particularly about the situations of migrant workers labouring throughout Turtle Island (where the colonial state of Canada is now located). We promote and bring about critical discourse on the subject of the Seasonal Agricultural Worker's Program and the Live-in Caregiver Program, as well as on the broader issue of temporary worker programs. The state and corporate powers gain from these programs, gaining from the blood and sweat of hardworking racialized im/migrants. These programs need to be critically examined and challenged. Ultimately the state needs to move towards granting status and rights for all.