This Canada Day we are participating with Amnesty International Winnipeg, the Canadian Labour Congress, Migrante Manitoba, and Reaching Out Winnipeg to help educate Winnipeggers about what refugees face on their journey to Canada.

Carol Sanders of the Winnipeg Free Press wrote about our Refugee Tent outreach:

Want to feel extra lucky to be a Canadian this Canada Day? Visit the Refugee Tent in Osborne Village on Sunday.

The digital simulation, hosted by non-profit groups, lets visitors experience some of the challenges refugees face on their journey to Canada. Participants put on virtual reality goggles for an interactive experience simulating the global displacement crisis.

The multi-media Refugee Tent was developed for the Canadian Labour Congress to help the public gain a better understanding of why Canada is being asked to welcome desperate people seeking refuge.

If you were at the Osborne Village Canada Day celebrations, you might have seen members of the MWSN – we were distributing a short quiz in conjunction with Migrante Manitoba that managed to get some much-needed media attention on Canada’s unfair immigration system.

From the article:

“People used to come here with nothing and be willing to work very hard and they’d prosper, and their children would get an education and make huge contributions to society,” said Thomas Novak with the Migrant Worker Solidarity Network in Winnipeg.

Members of the group advocating for temporary foreign workers and Migrante Manitoba were in Osborne Village on Canada Day quizzing passersby to see if their ancestors would be allowed into Canada today.

Of the dozens who took the test early in the afternoon, only two had ancestors who would now be eligible, Novak said.

“Today, they can only come as temporary workers. We separate them from their families for two years then send them back….

“If they’re good enough to work here, they’re good enough to live here,” he said.

Take the quiz!

Want to find out if your ancestor would currently be eligible to immigrate to Canada? You can download and complete the quiz yourself and find out if your ancestor would be eligible to immigrate to Canada using today’s rules.

You can download the quiz here.

Photos from the Canada Challenge

Check out some of our fantastic participants below!

The Migrant Worker Solidarity Network released our report, Migrant Voices: Stories of Seasonal Agricultural Workers in Manitoba, in May of 2013. This report, done in conjunction with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, was successful almost before it was even launched – at the official release, provincial Immigration Minister Christine Melnick announced that the government was going to extend provincial health care benefits to all workers coming to Canada as part of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP).

Needless to say, the Migrant Worker Solidarity Network is very pleased at this development, and applauds the governments support for migrant workers in this province.

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