Family Heroes - Profiles of the nominators for the 2011 UFCW Canada Migrant Workers Scholarships Marlene Gordon
Marlene Gordon came to Canada in 2009 as a temporary foreign worker. As a proud mother of two young children and one stepson, she felt compelled to seek international employment outside of her native Jamaica to provide for her family. She didn’t see migration as a choice but as a need to improve her family’s livelihood. Marlene hoped that by working full time in Canada, she’d have the opportunity to pursue her studies in early childhood education.
The Students Against Migrant Exploitation, or the S.A.M.E., are continuing to spread their message and hundreds are listening, especially in Facebook where the group’s new Page already has over 1,100 Likes.
Walter Sanchez, 40-years-old, arrived in Canada from Honduras in June 2008, under the Temporary Foreign Workers Program. He had worked in a variety of precarious, contract jobs back home after completing a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Sciences, because he couldn’t find secure work in his field. "In Honduras, contract work can be found but full-time work with benefits for your family is almost impossible to secure," says Walter. "It is a way for companies to avoid being accountable to workers over the long-term."
On a beautiful and sunny Sunday afternoon, approximately 100 migrant agriculture workers joined the Spanish community in downtown Bradford, Ontario to celebrate El Sembrador’s annual barbeque. Two of the workers won brand new bicycles donated by Students Against Migrant Exploitation (SAME). The festivities included an array of Spanish food specialties from Latin America and music to please the crowd. 
In 2010, 
Thanks to the efforts of UFCW Canada and the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA), Guatemalan migrant agriculture workers across Quebec will share in a $250,000 settlement. The settlement comes in the wake of complaints filed by the AWA St-Remi Support Centre in 2009 and 2010 with the Quebec Labour Standards Board, originally on behalf of 40 Guatemalan migrant workers at a Quebec agriculture operation whose housing deductions exceeded the provincial maximum of $20 a week.
