On Oct 21st 2013, The Mainlander hosted the The Sanctuary City Movement: Challenges and Possibilities, featuring Gil Aguilar of the Agricultural Workers Alliance-Surrey, Harsha Walia of No One Is Illegal-Vancouver, and Alejandra Lopez of Sanctuary Health.
Introduction: Dani Aiello, of The Mainlander.
Gil Aguilar of the Agriculture Workers Alliance-Surrey. AWA-Surrey promotes the recognition of the value of migrant agriculture workers while raising awareness about the conditions of exploitation, inequality and workplace discrimination faced by migrant agriculture workers. AWA-Surrey supports workers from Mexico, Guatemala, and the Caribbean who come to Canada as part of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program. AWA Surrey provides advocacy in cases of violation of migrant workers labour and human rights.
Alejandra Lopez of Sanctuary Health. Sanctuary Heath is an alliance of concerned citizens and health care providers formed in response to Bill C-31 (The Refugee Exclusion Act) and to cuts in IFH coverage for refugees. Sanctuary Health’s membership includes health care providers and service professionals, refugees and migrants, representatives from organizations supporting refugees and migrants, and concerned members of the public. Sanctuary Health believes that access to healthcare is a fundamental right for all people, including refugees and migrants.
Harsha Walia of No One is Illegal-Vancouver Coast Salish Territories. NOII is a grassroots anti-colonial migrant justice group with leadership from members of migrant and/or racialized backgrounds. NOII strives and struggles for the right to remain, the freedom to move, and the right to return. As a movement for self-determination that challenges the ideology of immigration controls, NOII combats racial profiling, detention and deportation, the national security apparatus, law enforcement brutality, and exploitative working conditions of migrants.
