The UFCW Canada – AWA Awards Dinner

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The UFCW Canada – AWA Awards were established to recognize exceptional individuals and organizations for making outstanding contributions and engaging in groundbreaking social justice work on behalf of Canada's agricultural workforce.

Since 2000, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW Canada) and the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA) have hosted the UFCW Canada – AWA Awards Dinner in recognition of these courageous individuals and organizations.

Some of the past UFCW Canada – AWA Award recipients include:

2016

• Randy Richmond – Reporter at The London Free Press

• Carole Neault – Unionized Farm Worker and TUAC Local 501 Steward

• Josie Baker – Community Activist and Educator at the Cooper Institute, P.E.I.

• Honourable Rachel Notley – Premier of Alberta

2015

• Michel Tardif – UFCW Canada Local 501, Quebec Agriculture Workers Coordinator

• Phillipa Thomas – Health and Safety Activist and Advocate

• Derek Fudge – Director of Public Policy and Development, National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE)

• Donna Cripps – Chief Executive Officer, Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network (LHIN)

• Coletta McGrath – Executive Director, Quest Community Health Centre

• Peter Szota – Executive Director, Grand River Community Health Centre

• Wayne Hanley – President, UFCW Canada Local 206

2014

• Romeo Yup Iquite – UFCW Canada Local 501 Steward and Activist

• Alain Lachaîne – President, UFCW Canada Local 501

• Jackie Edmonds – Staff Lawyer, Income Security Advocacy  Centre

• Jennifer Pothier – Executive Director, Niagara North Community Legal Assistance

• Jinny Sims – MP, NDP Critic for Employment and Social Development

2013

• Community Category: Lorna Chandler – Community activist in the province of Alberta

• Political Category: Jennifer Howard – Government House Leader, Minister of Family Services and Labour, Minister charged with the administration of the Workers Compensation Act, and the Minister responsible for the status of women and persons with disabilities, Manitoba

• Labour Category: Mario Delisle – Secretary-Treasurer of UFCW Canada Local Union 501, Quebec

• Legal Category: Hastings Labour Law Office – a law firm that represents trade unions and their members throughout British Columbia

2012

• Media Category: Maureen Brosnahan - National Reporter with CBC Radio

• Political Category: Andrea Horwath - Leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party

• Labour Category: Ivan Limpright – President of the UFCW Canada Local Union 1518 in New Westminster, British Columbia

• Community Category: KAIROS Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives

2011

• Agriculture Workers’ Category: Mindy Ling, Leader of Rol-Land Farms Organizing Committee

• Agriculture Workers’ Category: Thomas Dunmore, Supreme Court of Canada challenger —  from Highline Mushroom Farm — for farm workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively in Ontario

• Political Category: Raj Chouhan, MLA Bournaby-Edmonds NDP, B.C.

• International Category: Ambassador Gary Doer, former Premier of Manitoba

• Labour Category: Pierre Gingras¸ former President of TUAC Canada Local 501

• Cultural Category: Carole Condé and Karl Beveridge, Artist-Activists

• Religious Category: Father Hernan Astudillo, Spiritual Leader for San Lorenzo’s Church

As well as:

• Michael Fraser, former National President of UFCW Canada

• Howard Pawley, former Premier of Manitoba

• Olivia Chow, former MP and Immigration Critic for the federal NDP

• Jean Lashley, member of "El Sembrador"

• Patricia Perez, TUAC Canada Organizer

• Lionel Godoy, Governor of the Mexican State of Michoacán

• Gill McGowan, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour

• Ken Georgetti, former President of the Canadian Labour of Congress

• Wayne Samuelson, former President of the Ontario Federation of Labour

• James Clancy, President of the National Union of Provincial Government Employees

• Teresa Ferrier, farm worker widow

• Chin Liu, farm worker who launched a legal challenge for health and safety protection and the right to bargain collectively in Ontario

• Paul Cavalluzzo, lawyer for legal challenge for farm workers to bargain collectively in Ontario

For information about this years' event click here.