2009
Agriculture Workers Alliance
- AWA staff and migrant worker among recognized at the 10th Annual Black Eagle Awards Dinner
- Your help is needed!
- Another year gone by!
AWA E-News
Agriculture Workers Alliance
AWA staff and migrant worker among recognized at the 10th Annual Black Eagle Awards Dinner
In a crowd of more than 300 social justice activists, our sisters Fanny Belcoski and Stella Mendoza, from the AWA Simcoe centre, and our brother Bonifacio Santos Moreno, an organizer and a Mexican migrant worker volunteering at the AWA St. Rémy centre in Quebec, were awarded the highest honour for their work and commitment to the agriculture workers’ struggle: the César Chávez Black Eagle Award.
Both Fanny Belcoski and Stella Mendoza have been involved with the movement since the centre in Simcoe first opened back in May 2003. Both are well recognized within the Simcoe community and for all the hard work they do advocating for migrant workers in the area.
Brother Bonifacio Santos Moreno first started working alongside Patricia Perez back in 2003. He is a long-time Quebec community activist and UFCW Canada union organizer. However, Mr. Santos was not at the dinner where he was being honoured since Canada Immigration and Citizenship denied him a visa to come be part of the event declaring him a “flight risk.”
Among the other winners were Dave Killham, executive director of Ontario’s Workers Health & Safety Centre; Wayne Samuelson, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL); and Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) President Ken Georgetti.
Your help is needed!
The FCJ Refugee Centre in Toronto is asking people for donations to help the family of a Mexican woman who was deported to her death. The family is safely back in Canada and is asking people to help them cover the government imposed costs of their relocation. Although this family is relieved to be on Canadian soil again, they are now indebted to the Canadian government and others for $7,500.
(You may also read the Toronto Star article, “Mexican woman deported to her death,” dated October 23, 2009 or the Canwest News Service article, “Killing of deported woman exposes flaws in refugee system: critics,” dated October 25, 2009.)
Donations can be made through their website www.fcjrefugeecentre.org, by clicking on the Donate Now icon. Please designate the funds for ‘Special Appeal: Mexican Case’. Tax receipts will be issued to those who ask for them. The Centre will provide feedback on how the fundraising is going and will stop when it reaches the $ 7,500.00.
Another year gone by!
The AWA team would like to thank its entire readership for their support over the last year. As the centres gear up to close for this season, we are reminded that much work still needs to be done. Coming next month is the hearing at the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the right of agriculture workers to be part of a union and bargain collectively.
We will continue to update you over the winter months about our struggles and victories and would like to remind you once again that should you want to make any comments or would like to make a donation to the AWA program you can do so by contacting us at info@awa-ata.ca
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