Remembering the Dead, Standing up for the Living: March and Vigil to Commemorate the Hampstead Accident

WHO:	Migrant workers, community allies and Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW)
WHAT:	Vigil and March to Commemorate the Hampstead accident
DATE:	Sunday July 22, 2012
TIME AND PLACE:	Vigil - 12:00pm at the site of accident (Intersection of 47 Line and County Road 107 in Hampstead, ON
	Reception- 2:00pm Working Centre Café (43 Queen Street South) in Kitchener, ON

KITCHENER, ON, July 19, 2012 /CNW/ - Six months have passed since the tragic accident that killed eleven people near Hampstead, Ontario. Amongst the dead were nine migrant chicken catchers from Peru and two Canadians.  Three other migrant workers were seriously injured. The impact of this tragedy has been felt across the hemisphere as families struggle to cope in the wake of this accident.

To commemorate the Hampstead accident, migrant workers, community allies and Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) are organizing a vigil on Sunday July 22^nd. The vigil will take place at noon at the site of the accident in Hampstead, Ontario.  There will be a reception at the Working Centre Cafe in Kitchener, Ontario (after the vigil).

Working with the survivors of the accident, the vigil is being organized to raise awareness of the thousands of migrant workers who have been injured, or become sick while working in Canada. 

Two of the survivors of the crash, Javier and Juan, wish to break the invisibility not only of their situation but to raise the profile of the conditions faced by migrant workers across Canada. Their message is clear: Federal and Provincial laws designed to protect migrant workers don't work! Fundamental steps need to be taken to ensure that migrant workers are treated with respect and dignity.

Our demands are as follows:

• Safe working conditions
• Status upon arrival
• No fees for work
• Equal access to all entitlements
• Modernize labour laws to reflect the realities of migrant workers
• No repatriations and deportations

"Six months have passed since this preventable tragedy occurred. Yet there has been no proactive measures from either the Federal or Provincial governments to prevent accidents like this from happening again," says Tanya Ferguson, an organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW).  "Lives are at stake but our governments continually disregard their responsibility to act."

Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) is a volunteer run political non-profit collective comprised of activists from diverse walks of life (including labour activists, educators, researchers, students and youth of colour) based in Toronto, Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We are engaged in this work alongside our personal commitments and numerous social justice struggles.

Jessica Ponting 647-401-9611, Chris Ramsaroop 647-834-4932.