Wednesday, 18 December 2024

Migrants Rights Network

Media Release: Migrant farm workers release report of abuse and neglect in housing across Canada

Migrant Rights Network is releasing a report comprising testimonies, surveys, photographs and demands for change in housing from 453 migrant farmworkers across Canada. The report also puts forward migrant worker demands for basic human rights that must be at the core of any national housing standards, and yet are shockingly absent from the government’s proposals: privacy, space, quality of life, family unity and worker control.

In Nova Scotia undocumented migrants may miss out on vaccination, group fears

Local organizations that advocate for migrants are worried that undocumented residents will miss out on vaccination in Nova Scotia. “We have heard that the vaccine roll out is going to be done through MSI. And this would exclude undocumented people, and others who don’t have access to MSI, people who might fall through the cracks as a result of this,” says Stacey Gomez, a spokesperson for No One Is Illegal Halifax / Kjipuktuk.

Migrant workers’ rights still on backburner in Nova Scotia

Shavan is a father of three from Jamaica who’s been coming to Nova Scotia as a migrant farm worker for eight years. This past year, his bunkhouse was overrun with large rats. He says, “I know that’s not part of Canada’s standards.” Even during the heatwave over the summer, Shavan and other migrant workers were working 10-hour days in the blistering sun for minimum wage.

As we brace for the second wave of COVID-19, Stacey Gomez, Asaf Rashid, Jessica Tellez and Wanda Thomas call for uregnt action to end systemic racism faced by migrant workers.

“We come here to work, we don’t come here to die” – COVID-19 and migrant workers in Nova Scotia

“We’ve seen migrant workers being impacted by COVID-19 from coast to coast, and that highlights that this is a systemic issue. It’s not a coincidence that so many migrant workers are becoming ill.” We speak with Stacey Gomez of No One Is Illegal – Halifax/K’jipuktuk about migrant workers in Nova Scotia, their exposure to both Covid-19 and xenophobia, and what the province should do.