Event Details

Last year, over 150 migrant workers and allies marched over fifty kilometres from Leamington to Windsor, Ontario to demand justice, respect and dignity for the hundreds of thousands of migrants employed under the auspices of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Programs. After years of harassment, intimidation and exploitation, migrant workers organized to stand up to these abuses. Over the last year, thousands of people heard the testimonies and the stories that lead to organizing the march. Status, an end to repatriations and deportations, labour law reform, equal access to social entitlements and and to the coercive role of recruiters and contractors has inspired many others about the realities faced by migrant workers in Canada.
The march called the ‘Pilgrimage to Freedom: Breaking the Chains of Indentureship’ ended in Windsor at the Tower of Freedom. The Monument was chosen as the ending point to show the connections to the past and the present. The Tower of Freedom is dedicated to those who travelled the underground railroad. This year the pilgrimage continues. Migrant workers, and members of Justicia for Migrant Workers are once again organizing to demand that the chains of indentureship must be broken. This year migrant workers and their allies will be recreating the stops of the underground railroad.

Across southwestern Ontario, communities will serve as rallying points to show how the present mimics the past. This year’s Pilgrimage to Freedom will take the form of a caravan across Ontario. J4MW is requesting the support of community, religious, labour and allied organizations to join us for this year’s action. Migrant workers and their allies will be calling community meetings, and organizing meetings across southwestern Ontario. This year’s actions will take place across several communities If you are interested in further information feel free to contact Justicia for Migrant Workers. Tentative dates for stops on the caravan include