 So, welcome everyone. My name is Elaine Gahau and I'll be your moderator today. I live in Berry, Ontario, situated on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabek and the Wata First Nations, and as well as the historic Métis communities in our region. I'm the co-chair of Great Lakes St. Lawrence Kairos region. Welcome to our first virtual fall forum. And welcome to the participants in this forum who are coming in from the Ontario-Quebec region, but also to participants from across Canada, from BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. I hope you'll be inspired by our speakers in the first hour on migrant justice and by the many local projects undertaken by speakers in the second hour. This forum is sponsored by the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Coordinating Committee. And if you live in Ontario or Quebec and you don't see your region represented on this committee, please contact me. The wider the representation, the stronger we are. Before I introduce our first speaker, let's take a collective moment to centre ourselves and reflect on the lives of migrant workers and on migrant justice. This poem was written by the Kamboni missionaries from the Philippines. Don't call me a stranger. I need to feel at home, especially when loneliness cools my heart. Don't call me a stranger. The soil we step on is the same, but mine is not the promised land. Don't call me a stranger. The colour of my passport is different, but the colour of our blood is the same. Don't call me a stranger. The language I speak sounds different, but the feelings it expresses are the same. Don't call me a stranger. I toil and struggle in your land and the sweat of our brows is the same. Don't call me a stranger. Borders we created them and the separation that results is the same. Don't call me a stranger. I am just your friend, but you don't know me yet. Don't call me a stranger. We cry for justice and peace in different ways, but our creator is the same. So in this first hour, we'll hear from two speakers on the question of status for migrant farm workers. And during their presentations, I would invite you to write any questions that you'd like to ask of the speakers in the chat box. Please write the questions to me personally to avoid filling up the chat box. And after both presentations, we'll have a chance to hear their responses to your questions. So let me first introduce to you Shane Matinez. Shane is a Toronto-based criminal defence and human rights lawyer and serves as pro bono legal counsel to the advocacy group Justice for Migrant Workers. Shane litigated the first successful human rights case of a migrant farm worker in Ontario, Monroe's versus Double Diamond Acres. In 2010, as an Articling student on a rotation at Justice for Migrant Workers in Toronto, he met Adrian Monroe's who had come to Canada under the seasonal agricultural workers program and was fired and sent back to St. Lucia for complaining to management at the Double Diamond Acres Tomato Farm in Kingsville, Ontario about racial slurs that he and his fellow workers were receiving on the farm. In 2013, Shane filed a complaint on his behalf with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and one. No migrant farm worker had ever won a case before the Tribunal up to that point. Shane won the President's Seder Award in 2019 for this case. Currently, Shane is representing 54 migrant farm workers in a mass application to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario related to the racial profiling by the OPP during a DNA sweep. Shane regularly lectures on transnational labour and migrant rights and we discovered Shane's work upon reading a piece he wrote for the Windsor Star. You'll find a link to the article in the chat box at some point during the call. Welcome Shane and thank you for agreeing to speak today. Thank you very much for that nice introduction Elaine. What I'm going to be speaking about today is the seasonal agricultural worker program specifically and also why it's important for migrant farm workers generally but specifically those under that particular program to have access to permanent residency. And I'm going to explain some of the problems as well that arise when workers don't have access to permanent residency. So we do know that farming has never been an easy business in Canada. It's characterized by dangerous work, long hours, low pay, and it's recognized as one of the most dangerous lines of work in fact that there is. But despite how important it is farm workers typically get very little recognition and very little respect. Many approaches have been tried by Canada over time to try and deal with deficiencies in terms of labour in the agricultural sector. Originally the Canadian government many years ago tried to bring workers in from Europe that proved to be unsuccessful. They've also tried to have prisoners do the farm labour. They've tried to have people come off of First Nations reserves to do the labour and they've tried to recruit young people to do the labour. All of those endeavours as well have been unsuccessful. So back in 1966 the Canadian government started the seasonal agricultural worker program relying on workers from Jamaica. Program was later expanded to include workers from Mexico and today nearly all Ontario produce from tomatoes, apples, tobacco comes from migrant labour. We've seen these farms in Tilsonburg, Simcoe, Leamington all across Ontario and all across Canada. And when we hear the jingles that are associated with the agricultural industry, for example in Ontario that good things grow here, good things grow in Ontario. We typically see smiling white families in front of farms. However that's often times very different from the individuals who are actually growing and harvesting the food that's brought to our tables. Migrant farm workers, racialized workers are the lifeblood of the agricultural industry in Canada and they live a very different reality from that lived by farm owners. A large part of that is owing to their status in Canada or rather their lack thereof. I'm going to endeavour to demonstrate this by relying on four arguments in support of migrant farm workers being provided with an opportunity to attain permanent residence in Canada. First, separation from families. We know that workers under the seasonal agricultural worker program come to Canada for eight months out of every year. Some come here for years, even decades. Some workers have been coming up here from Jamaica for over 30 years. They've in fact spent more time here in Canada than they have back in their own home countries. However, they can't bring their families with them when they come here to work and their families in fact are not even permitted to come up and visit. Workers that come here by virtue of being here eight months out of the year are subjected to prolonged separation from their children and their spouses. And although financial support is positive and they have an opportunity to earn money to send back home, the distance takes a significant toll on the development of parent-child relationships and also the relationships between spouses. Being apart from children for such a long time is something that we would never want for ourselves, so we have to ask ourselves why do we tolerate it for others? Permanent residents would facilitate family reunification and that really keeps in line with one of the predominant legal principles in Canada, which is that we have to look to the best interests of children when we decide how we arrange certain affairs in our society. Furthermore, the UN has something that's known as the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Farm Workers and Members of their Families. It's a very long name for this convention. Specifically, Article 44 of it encourages the following, quote, States parties recognizing that the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state shall take appropriate measures to ensure the protection of the unity of the families of migrant workers. Although Canada is not a signatory to this convention, I think we can take some guidance there in realizing that our own domestic policy needs to be shaped by this overarching concept of ensuring that families are united and they're not separated unnecessarily. Second, migrant farm workers, when they come here to Canada under the seasonal program, they have no choice with respect to where they live. Workers who participate under the seasonal program are typically required to live in housing that's provided by their employers and this housing is usually on the farms or very close to it. Now in rural areas, they're disconnected from the nearest towns and commercial centers. They're oftentimes as we might say in the middle of nowhere. Being from New Brunswick myself originally, I can attest to what it's like being in the middle of nowhere and I was certainly not as isolated as many workers are today. If you go to the most remote areas in southern Ontario, you can find workers that have no ability to get themselves into town on their own. They're entirely reliant on their employers for transportation to get into centers where they can do banking, buy food or other necessities. And this reliance can create an enhanced vulnerability in those working relationships where there's already a power imbalance. Also the pandemic has revealed some of the really deplorable conditions that many workers have to contend with year round. What we've seen in videos that have been leaked during the pandemic from certain farms and greenhouses is that workers are contending with overcrowded living spaces, infestations, substandard conditions of living. We've even seen videos of workers sleeping on mattresses that are laid out on wooden pallets and warehouse settings. We've seen many bunk beds crammed into small rooms and the bunk beds are simply separated by pieces of cardboard. This is in the midst of a pandemic mind you as a protection measure. These kinds of arrangements as well also post fire hazards overcrowding and whatnot. And we've seen firsthand that electrical problems can lead to fires. One such fire happened in Branford back in 2016 where dozens of workers lost all of their belongings. And many of them also lost all of their savings because they were not keeping their money in banks, they were keeping their money in cash. When the bunkhouse burned down, they lost everything that they had. Now in Ontario, housing for seasonal agricultural workers is actually exempted from enforcement under the Residential Tensies Act. By virtue of it being quote living accommodation whose occupancy is conditional upon the occupant continuing to be employed on a farm whether or not the accommodation is located on that farm. Permanent residents would enhance worker mobility and autonomy and it would allow for workers to reside in places that they choose to reside in as opposed to forcing them to reside in housing that's provided by an employer. Third, workplace abuses and repatriation is also a consideration when we're looking at why migrant farm workers need permanent residents. I think it's perhaps uncontroversial that migrant farm workers are regular targets for abuse and exploitation. This can be racial abuse as was seen in the case of Adrian Monroe's which was described. Or it can be sexual assault as was seen in the Presti Foods case from 2015 where two sisters from Mexico were sexually harassed and assaulted by their employer. Or it can be racial profiling by the police as was seen in the case that was also described that's still ongoing before the Human Rights Tribunal involving a DNA suite that was conducted by the OPP in Tilsonburg, Ontario. I should note that that DNA suite was facilitated by the employer of these workers as well. So we can see there the nexus between the employer and the state and some of these oppressive power dynamics. We also see cases such as that of Luis Gabriel Flores Flores and Scotland's Sweet Pack Growers. This was a case that's recently been in the news where a worker was awarded damages after the Ontario Labour Relations Board found that his employment was a threat. He was wrongfully terminated after he spoke out about health and safety issues related to the spread of COVID-19. So whether it is inadequate training and safety equipment or pesticide exposure, risks such as this which existed for years or something such as the pandemic. We see that repatriation can be a risk that workers face but sometimes it can be far worse than that as well. What we know is that a worker named Ned Peart was crushed to death on a tobacco farm near Brantford, Ontario back in 2002. We saw workers Paul Roach and Ralston White, they died in September of 2010 at Filsinger's Organic Foods. As a result of being overcome with fumes, this was a place that produced products such as apple cider and vinegar as well. We see vehicle accidents as well, overcrowded vehicles. There was an accident in 2011 where 11 migrant workers from Peru were killed when their van careened off the road. And we also know that this year as well, three migrant farm workers from Mexico died from COVID-19. There's never been an inquest into the death of any migrant farm worker in Ontario. This is something that many people are pushing for and demanding as long overdue so that we can have a very direct inquest into the conditions underlying their presence here in Canada. And there's a culture of fear as well that prevents people from doing anything when they encounter these types of problems in the workplace. It causes them to live in silence due to possible repatriations and being sent back home. That's a power that an employer has under the contracts, these seasonal contracts is to send a worker home at any time for no reason whatsoever. They can state whatever their justification is to the liaison office and so long as they give the liaison office notification that the person is being sent home, they can be done with them. So it effectively prevents people from speaking up and raising concerns about what's happening in the workplace knowing that they can be removed from the country at any time as occurred in the Adrian Monroe's case again that was referenced earlier. Permanent residents effectively removes the precarity that workers face and it does this by no longer allowing them to be subjected to repatriations that are used as tools of reprisal. It removes the culture of fear and silence which characterizes their existence here in Canada. And by doing so this facilitates their access to justice when abuses arises. It allows them to have access to courts and tribunals and other mechanisms in the same way that we would if we encounter problems in our workplaces. And it also enables them to participate in a meaningful way in civil society at large. And that really takes us to the fourth argument in support of permanent residents, which is it's simply being a matter of dignity. If somebody is good enough to work, then it would stand to reason that they should be good enough to stay. They do the work that Canadians are unwilling to do even though we enjoy the literal fruits of their labor every day. They risk their lives growing and harvesting this food for us and they sacrifice relationships with their families. They endure unimaginably difficult conditions which we wouldn't tolerate for ourselves. And they don't deserve to live in isolation and invisibility, which oftentimes leads to these abuses and as well deaths. So I would say that basic human decency and compassion for our neighbors behooves us to call for their inclusion in our communities. And by doing so, we're able to take an important step towards fully respecting the immense contributions that they make to Canadian society. And that is essentially the position that I'm taking with respect to why migrant farm workers should be provided with an opportunity to attain permanent residents in Canada. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Shane. I'd like to call on Sherilyn Sprachman to thank Shane on our behalf. Thank you, Elaine. And thank you, Shane. Thank you. Anyone see me? Yes. Okay, good. So my name is Sherilyn Sprachman and I am co-regional chair of Great Lakes St. Lawrence with Elaine. And I thank you very much, Shane, for a very well-reasoned argument, very well set out. I was taking notes because I'm thanking you and I wanted to be thorough in my thanking of you, but it's very reasons for supporting our farm workers, our temporary farm workers who come into Canada and really do provide us with so much of our food. And as you said at the end of your presentation, just to provide those people at the very least with the basic human rights and the dignity of being included in Ontario. And there's farm workers in other provinces too, which we learned about listening to some of the presentations earlier this year from Kairos in New Brunswick, Manitoba. There's farm workers also. So thank you very much, Shane. That was excellent to hear your advice and being a lawyer and supporting these temporary farm workers. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks. And again, I'd like to encourage all the participants to put any questions you have for Shane. In the chat box, and after the next speaker, we'll look at the questions for both Shane and our migrant worker at the same time. I'd now like to introduce Connie Sorio, who is the migrant justice program coordinator for Kairos Canada, and she'll introduce our next speaker. Thank you very much, Elaine. Hello, everyone. Thank you very much, Shane, for your presentation, very, very informative. As Elaine introduced me, I'm the migrant justice coordinator at Kairos, and we have a speaker with us this afternoon too, who's going to share her experience as a migrant worker. I just, before I introduce her, I just want to give a little bit of an overview. Okay, not a big overview, but just to mention that under the temporary farm workers program, there are several groups or sectors of workers. So the seasonal agricultural workers program is one of that, that Shane has extensively shared with us, and under the two, or maybe just recently we took it away, but under the two is the caregivers program. And we have the express entry program, the skills trade or program, the international mobility program, and even the international students, you know, that to bring in here to Canada at some point is under the temporary farm workers program, but just there provided, you know, an open, an open work permit that they're allowed to work for 20 hours a week. Our next speaker this afternoon is Marilyn Faigle. Marilyn, you know, came to Canada under the caregiver program. She arrived in Canada last, last September, 2019, and has gone through many horrible experiences under her former employer. And I would say that continues with, you know, her current employer. Marilyn filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labor under the, with the support of the Park Day Legal Community Services, one that pays and employer is currently, you know, appealing the decision of the, of the Ministry of Labor. Marilyn is a registered nurse in the Philippines before coming to Canada last year under the caregiver program. Marilyn. Hi, so good afternoon everyone. First, I would like to thank everyone for giving me the chance to partake in this forum. It's truly an honor to speak with everyone here, especially on behalf of the caregivers here in Canada. So yeah, my name is Marilyn I'm 33 years old single never married nor have kids. I'm just a breadwinner of my family in the Philippines, and Miss Connie is right. I'm a registered nurse back home and used to work as a mortgage banker and chase bank for nine years in the Philippines before I came here to Canada. I came here to work as a living caregiver, hoping to have a better life, and to further provide for my family back home and hopefully one day get them here and experience how beautiful it is here in Canada, until I got abused and exploited by my previous employers. I used to work as a living caregiver and at the family in Vaughan. And then I was physically emotionally financially verbally abused by them. They've violated everything that's on the contract they made me work 70 to 80 hours a week, including weekends and holidays without pay. And sometimes if I would refer to my to my contract, they would tell me, really, you're asking us that. You know what the contract is just made for the sake of you. Being here in Canada. That's really being disregarded by all employers so please stop asking us about the contract. And the next time you ask us about that, we're going to have you deported. That's really being silenced and being intimidated by that statement. I never ask any questions about my situation anymore and everything that's on the contract, but then they started calling me stupid, idiot drama queen like I, I couldn't. Help it. And then I got emotional breakdown. I was so depressed. I wasn't eating anymore until I was rushed to the ER. And that day that I was rushed to the ER. They even told me that hey you have to pay us back that 100 that we gave you. And that moment that I was rushed to the ER. I took advantage of that moment to go to the Philippine Embassy to seek for some help. And that was the only time I found the courage to finally stand up for myself and fight for my right. And so I filed a case against them, because they made illegal deductions as well from my salary. I've only been getting technically I've only been earning $3 per hour from what from from what they gave me. And despite of that, they've been deducting money from me still for my plane ticket and for the third party agency that they've hired to process my work permit. And just lucky. I'm just lucky because I got, I won the case, but they're still appealing. So we'll see what's what's going to happen next. And now with my own employers. I was granted and a vulnerable open work permit by CIC, but then they, they didn't know they weren't aware that technically I was already eligible and entitled to work. By the time I got my open work permit, but then they've been, they were not remitting the taxes this by the deduction. So I had to pay for my own taxes just for me to be able to count those months because I need 24 months for my PR application. It was very tormenting for me because I don't have anybody here. And I only came here to legally work. And have a better life. See the beauty of Canada and provide more for my family back home. They never knew what was happening to me until I won the case. So imagine those horrible things. I almost committed suicide and jump out of the 11th floor of the building because it was really, really tormenting and it was really horrible. So there, I really hope that all the caregivers who would come here just to work and have a better life. Would not go through the same thing that I've gone through. That's all. Thank you so much for this opportunity of being heard. God bless. Thank you, Marilyn. I'd like to introduce Betty Ann Platt and ask her to thank Marilyn on our behalf. Hello everyone. My name is Betty and Platt and I'm on the coordinating committee for Great Lakes St. Lawrence. I would like to thank Marilyn for her personal story that she shared with us. I'm sure it was very, very difficult for her to let us know all of the difficult things that she has been going through. And I realized that it was very hard for her to do that. But she has a great deal of strength to be able to do that and I appreciate very much that she would share with us. I would like to wish her well in her ongoing struggles and I know that she is not alone in how she has been treated and in her personal story that there are many others. So I wish, as I say, I wish her well and I thank her very much for sharing these very difficult stories with all of us. Thank you very much Marilyn. Thank you. Thank you Mary, Marilyn and thank you Betty Ann. I'd now like to ask the questions of our guests that participants have put in the chat box. And because I'm having technical difficulty and I can't figure out how to show my PowerPoint and see my chat box at the same time. I am going to close down the sharing option so that I can see people's questions and ask the questions of our guests. Elaine, do you mind if I choose one? Yeah, go ahead. There's a question Shane to you. How this is the big question. How can the average citizen help in your work to obtain permanent residents for migrant workers. Thanks for that. I think one of the biggest things that people can do is to voice their thoughts on the issue to their member of parliament. I know that sometimes it seems as though that doesn't get a lot of traction. But I can tell you that based on what we know at Justice for Migrant Workers about what happens behind the scenes is that when people do contact their members of parliament and when you contact, for example, the parliamentary secretary to the immigration minister or the immigration minister directly. This does trigger discussions and when people do it on mass, it generates larger discussions. So I would definitely encourage people to reach out to elected officials at the federal level and explain why this is absolutely essential. And why there needs to be a mechanism in place for migrant farm workers to be able to attain permanent residents. If we're going to excuse me if we're going to have systems in place that allow people to obtain permanent residents by investing money in Canada, effectively being able to purchase your way into the country. Then we need to be able to recognize the contributions of migrant farm workers who are doing the most difficult and dangerous work oftentimes over a prolonged period. And we need to ensure that they're treated with the respect that they're due. So definitely reaching out to elected officials would be would be one way of doing that, especially if you're able to in a coordinated campaign with others so that you can stylize your requests together and you can direct them. For example, you could target different politicians different months so one month you could perhaps send as a group letters to the parliamentary secretary to the immigration minister the next month. You could send them all to your own MPs and then you could find different targets over a longer period of time and in that will trigger attention. Thank you Shane. Connie, you wanted to ask a question you're on mute. I just want to add to, you know, Shane's response. I'm sorry I cannot find in my thing how to raise. Anyway, just to yeah just to add to what Shane said, currently, there is a status for all status now campaign that the migrant rights network has launched since June and it is going on going at the moment. The virus is a signatory and is actively participating in that campaign. And I just want to mention that as of September 14, where we had a press conference around on this company, 248 organizations assigned up, signed on the letter to the Prime Minister calling for you know granting status for all migrant workers who are here in Canada including who are undocumented and has lost their status, because of bureaucratic, you know, requirements of the 248 organizations it represents about 8 million Canadians, you know, who are you know joining this campaign calling actively for the Canadian government to to provide status to all migrant workers, including of course Shane the farm workers. For caregivers, you know, like, like my lane, this is very important and as already mentioned before status is very important in making sure that there is no discrimination, there is no, you know, and an equal access to services protection and so forth. And so the, the importance of, you know, supporting this campaign, engaging members of parliament elected officials to support, you know, this campaign is very important. Yesterday, Kairos had a meeting with one with a member of parliament, and this member of parliament is very, very engaged and interested in supporting, you know, well he said, there is no. Don't quote me but this is what you know he said that there is no support within the parliament to grant status for all, but they're open to looking at ways in providing status to, to some sectors or some of the workers. Last week, the immigration and citizenship minister, Marco Mendocino announced, you know, the increased levels in the immigration caught our targets for the next three years, and it accounts for about 1.2 million new newcomers who will be accepted here in Canada for the next three years, and he actually recognizes, you know, the temporary foreign workers who are here now in Canada should be able to access this and become permanent presidents and later on, you know, become citizens. I can send you a link, you know, to that announcement so that we can use that, you know, as a basis in meeting with MPs and supporting this call. Thank you. Thank you, Connie. One of the questions I received privately. Shane, what are the political lobbies out there that are opposing permanent residency. Do you have any idea of the percentage of votes in rural writings. I think the person here is referring to the percentage of perhaps of MPs that might be for or against granting status for all, and the possible issues in provincial and federal elections. Great questions. Based on my experience, I what I can tell you is that support for status is oftentimes drawn along the predictable party lines, which you're all likely familiar with and can use your imaginations on about who is in support of status who's not and who is kind of sitting on the fence. What I can tell you is that in terms of lobbyists and entities that are opposed to it. Although they don't necessarily come out and say that they're opposed to it. One of the organizations that benefits from workers having precarious status and being as some people would say permanently temporary is an organization called farms and farms is the employer organization for farms and greenhouses here in Canada. It represents the agricultural industry, I should say specifically not in Canada but in Ontario. It represents the Ontario agricultural industry in in its dealings with both the provincial and federal governments, and it also participates in the negotiation of contracts that govern the program. So one thing that's important to keep in mind is who has a seat at the table, who benefits from workers being kept permanently temporary. So we have to look at who has a voice who is drafting these contracts that allows employers to repatriate workers at any time that that provides no pathway for workers to ever be able to apply for permanent residents in Canada. It is the Canadian government. It's the governments of the sending countries, so the countries that the workers are coming from. And it's also the organizational representative of the employers. So the employers have a seat at the table, the sending countries do and the Canadian government does who does not have a seat at the table, the workers. Farm workers don't have a seat there. One of the reasons why they don't have a seat there, at least in Ontario, is because in Ontario, farm workers cannot legally unionize. They have no right to collectively bargain here in this province. You can imagine how that accelerates their vulnerability and increases the dangers that they're faced with when they cannot actually have their voices heard. And at the end of the day, employers in the state, whether it's here or abroad, everyone seems to have an interest and a benefit in workers being kept temporary. The law and the way that these things are structured is not by accident. It's not a mistake. It's not that they're short-sighted. There are benefits here that are gleaned by certain entities and by the state. And it's only by allowing migrant workers to have a voice in helping to facilitate and amplify their voice and act as allies for them that we can make sure that the contracts are changed and ultimately that legislation is changed to allow them to have that opportunity to attain residents here in Canada. Thank you, Shane. I'd like to combine two questions here. Has anyone done any research on how much the cost of food would rise if we began to pay living wages under decent conditions to migrant workers? And what guidelines are in place for salary and wages for migrant workers in Ontario? So I guess to deal with the wage question first, for migrant farm workers. And my comments are specifically with respect to farm workers as I think you've probably gathered by now. There's other types of migrant workers as well. But in terms of migrant farm workers in Ontario, typically it's minimum wage. It's almost always minimum wage when that's whether you've worked here for a year, if it's your first season, or if you've been coming here for over 20 years. And there's a great saying about minimum wage from a comedian named Chris Rock, which is, you know, minimum wage is an employer's way of saying that they would pay you less if they could, but it's illegal. So we see that, you know, we see such little respect that's given to the workers that despite the fact that you can give decades of your life to an employer, they'll still continue to pay you minimum wage. With respect to the increase in the cost of food, I think we have to ask ourselves, why should there be an increase at all? This is a multi-billion dollar industry. It's extremely profitable. These are not some, you know, what we're what we're sold oftentimes is this concept of the traditional family farm. And, you know, what existed 50 years ago, 60 years ago and more is not the reality that exists today. Are there still some small family farms? Certainly that there are. But those are the exceptions. Buying in large, it is large corporate bodies, which operate these agricultural operations. Massive farming companies that have millions and millions of dollars in profits and as I said, as an industry, billions. So we'd have to ask ourselves, well, why are the costs going up because they want to maintain their profit margins? You know, so I think we need to direct our critiques and our analysis there at the, in the proper direction, which would be at the employers if the cost goes up. And of course, you know, the state always has the ability to step in and attempt to regulate this. And there's there's many, many ways that they have at their disposal to try and make sure that the cost of food doesn't increase unreasonably. Okay. Thank you, Shane. There, you know, people are asking how they can help. If there's, of course, one of the ways they can help is to join the status for all campaign that Kairos has going on. And perhaps Connie, you can put the link in the chat box for the status for all campaign. Also, if you want to learn more about migrant rights, there are two PowerPoint presentations that Kairos has. And I believe Shannon is going to put a link in the chat box for those. Shane, they ask also if there's a template for letter writing that that you could share or ways, other ways that people can help farm workers. But also I see that many people were moved by Marilyn's presentation and are asking about how they can help Maryland. So maybe Connie can speak to that after you do, Shane. Sure. With respect to letters. Yes, there are templates and I can certainly provide those to you Elaine if you're able to distribute those to the group. Justice for migrant workers does have letters like that. I'll just note as well in the chat window, a couple messages were sent to me privately. One was from Peter Besson and New Brunswick, a fellow New Brunswicker. So I'll just say greetings to him there. And also there was a there was a question as well from Russell, which was do farmers hire both foreign and local workers to work together? Yes, they do on occasion. Employers are required to first try and fill the jobs here before obtaining a labor market opinion to prove to the government that they can't fill the jobs here and that they're required to hire using individuals from abroad. So occasionally some positions are filled with with workers here but oftentimes in these larger operations especially and even in the smaller ones, most of the workers are foreign workers. Okay, Connie, did you want to speak to how people can help Maryland and people in Maryland situation? Thank you for for for asking and the interest of helping. If you visit, you know, the Carols website, we have their the information and place of being able to support migrant workers like Maryland. We also have workshop guides in terms of facilitating relationship between, you know, allies, community organizations, folks with migrant workers in their local communities. And this is specific to, you know, caregivers situation like marines. Actually, this shouldn't happen anymore. There has been some changes in the program where, you know, Ireland should be able to come under an open work permit and be able to bring her family, her spouse and her children, and she should, she is automatically assessed, you know, as a permanent resident, but required to finish the 24 months before, you know, that transition from a permanent residence from caregiver to a permanent resident and I think we just need to keep the government reminding reminding them that, you know, we already have this in place. This should be followed up and if there is a need for inspection and monitoring, then let's put that in place. Immigrant workers, temporary workers or caregivers like Marlene would stop experiencing, you know, this horrible treatment and so forth. I also want to mention that, you know, there is already this program again that the government introduced late last year, where workers who are exploited can go to IRCC and file a complaint and they are given an open work permit to be able to leave that abusive, you know, employer and this is what we call the open work permit for vulnerable workers. But again, to honor us, you know, is on the workers to be able to provide evidence or proof that they are being abused and exploited and many of the workers would not do that because they are afraid that, you know, IRCC would deem their claim not sufficient and they are forced to go back to the employer and the more abuse and exploitation they would experience. And this is where, you know, the importance of this status for all campaigns about, like we're not, you know, we're not donating or we're not, you know, separating or dividing who should get permanent residency and who should not. Because already the government is doing that and a role, I guess, as, you know, concerned citizens and members of Kairos is to demand that everybody should be treated equally in the same way that workers who are from other countries should be treated in the same way that local workers are treated. They should have access to the same rights and services and they should have, you know, they should be treated with, you know, dignity and human rights perspective. Thank you, Connie. There's another question here for you, Shane, about follow up. What kind of follow ups are in place to ensure that employers are being, are treating their workers correctly. So I presume that's in reference to follow ups after a complaint has been made. It doesn't say in the question. Okay. Yeah, I mean, there are sometimes surprise inspections by the government. Unfortunately, the surprise element is oftentimes absent. We hear from a lot of workers that employers will catch wind of when an inspector is coming by, and they'll immediately direct the workers to clean certain things up to work in certain areas. It seems as though there needs to be some significant improvements in terms of how inspections are made to ensure that they are actually legitimately surprise inspections. You know, we've also seen situations where some employers, after they've been caught breaking the law, go right back to the same behavior a year or two later. One of the issues is that the government is potentially not creating consequences that will prompt behavior modification on the part of employers. Why should employers be allowed to continue to hire migrant workers and make, as I mentioned, millions and millions of dollars in profits, if they're not willing to respect the law and abide by it and respect the rights of the workers who come here. It's a difficult question about, you know, what kind of follow up exists there right now. There's not a lot. And for that reason, in fact, a lot of the enforcement and raising of awareness and trying to push consequences on employers is coming from grassroots organizations more than actually from the state. That seems to be the reality right now. Okay, thank you. Well, I, I'd like to thank everyone for your questions. If we weren't able to get to your questions, we'll try to get back to you privately to see what to see what answers we can get for you from Shane. And on that note, I'd like to again, thank Shane and Marilyn for sharing their wisdom with us today on this really complex issue. And hope to see some, that is the silver lining of COVID is perhaps that we're focusing in on some issues more more pointedly and we can see real change take place. Thank you again. And we, we could now move to our second hour. And I will again, share the screen my screen with you in this second hour. We'll hear from people from across the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence region who devote time, energy and passion to social justice projects that speak to people in their localities. We'll hear from each of these speakers in a round table format. And as in the first hour, I'd invite you to write your questions for the speakers in the chat box. And after all eight people have had a chance to speak, then we can have a round of questions. And we've also reserved some time at the end for Shannon you felt who's our network coordinator at Cairo's Canada to make some national announcements. So, let's begin with Dave Gordon in Aurora, Ontario. Thank you. It's been about a decade of social justice activism, working with a water project in the nisky asking nation and the places but can you come back and campaign the news internationally as the youth suicide capital of the world. And in 2010, in answer to the deputy corners report, the chief of the time Gordon Peters answered the corners report with projects that would help bring the community to health. And one of those projects was water running water in the homes of the most vulnerable. Parallel to that, the diocese of Toronto at an outreach conference had our national indigenous bishop give a workshop. And after that workshop, a few of us talked to the bishop and said, What can we do. And parallel to this was a group of engineers, Bob White and Dave steves, who were working with the corner to address some of these projects that chief Gordon Peters had created project number one was on the hydro grid of Ontario. Number two was water. So we started with raising money for water, and we aligned ourselves with the United Church's Reverend Dr. Charles Cato, who was the founder of frontier foundations, which had already built homes for the Kree in northern Quebec. And we two needed a technical guy on the ground to train young adults in electrician plumber and carpenter to retrofit these homes. We, we raised sufficient money to for phase one and phase two, and then using political suasion we embarrassed the Honourable Carolyn Bennett to meet what the Anglican Church of Canada did, and the phase three was accomplished by 336,000 investment by the government of Canada. Going through the development, we always had trouble with having an oversight manager make sure these young people in the trades were doing things properly and had a license ticket to sign off as a product is was safe. Forest fires slowed to building periods down. And we're now at the point of phases four and five being completed after COVID sometime in the future. We were so successful in raising money that we became an embarrassment to CRA and the Anglican Church. Right now there's $550,000 dollars waiting for phases four and five. And CRA are really getting irritated because it's sitting there not being invested in what people had given it for. So we're taking a pivot. And we have now, as of less than a month ago, signed a Memorandum of Understanding between another NGO, Water First Education and Training Incorporated of Cremor, and the public, the Private's World Relief and Development Fund, which is the banker for the National Church. We will be working at arm's length and Water First will be making all the relations of building trust with the community with the Tribal Councils to train young men and ladies who want to be trained as water systems operators, water quality analysis, sanitation systems operators. It's going to take 15 months of apprenticeship. We've charged it out at $5,000 a month per person and we're raising money to that effect. We're investing in people because we've now found, since Water First has been doing this, everybody's had opportunity for a career job and staying in their community with their family. So it's a new way of looking at things. First, we looked at investing in stuff like water systems, but now we're investing in human beings, which is probably more to what we should be doing as a faith group. Thank you so much, Dave, for that. Our next speaker is Nancy Labonte from Montreal, Quebec. Hi, everyone. So I'm going to speak about Roger, but first I want to present myself. I'm Nancy Labonte. I'm an active member of the Feminist Christian Collective, l'autre parole, the other word, which is my church or if you prefer my ecclesia. I'm also a coordinator of the action of Christians for the abolition of torture at Canada, and a member of the steering committee of the Ecumenical Justice Ecology and Peace Network called Roger. I have a master degree in practical theology which focused on a theology on the threshold of religion. So the Roger history began in December 97 during a meeting with the Ecumenical Coalition of Toronto and Sergio Torres theologian of the Latin American Amerindian network that several groups decide to form the Quebec network on the jubilee. This network was then made up of 25 Christian groups. From 98 to 2000, three major campaigns focusing on the themes of the jubilee and focused on the remission of the external depth of the poorest countries were carried out and resulted in extraordinary mobilizations around across the country. It is in January 2002 in Montreal that more than 35 Christian groups confirmed that the network must be a place of consultation, reflection and exchange to promote a theological and spiritual perspective that places commitment to justice at the heart of the Christian faith. So it was therefore decided that this network would have an open structure while supporting the broader commitment of Christian groups, working for justice, peace and the integrity of creation in the wake of the biblical jubilee. The Bishop does not want to overlap with existing groups but to be at their service by promoting networking that is both flexible and effective. In conclusion, we help to increase the capacity to act according to our Christian faith. Several types of engagement make up the network of an average of 30 groups from different churches. Feminist group organization for helping migrant farm workers in Quebec, others for social or ecological justice for dialogue between natives and Quebec are for social reconstruction and so on. Our social Christianism aims to growing together within a contextual theology that is built to include non-theologians in the analysis of our time in the light of the Holy Spirit. Thank you very much, Nancy. You're welcome, Ann. Our next speaker is Kathleen Lichti from London, Ontario. I was asked to share how I got involved in the blanket exercise in the teaching and sharing circles and to explain a little bit about what that is. Well, I am a sister of St. Joseph in Canada. I live in London on the territory, really, of the First Nations communities here, the Chippewa of the Thames, the Oneida First Nation from Moravian town, and the Muncie Delaware. And I've become friends with three of these women and I'll explain that in a minute. But what really impelled me to get involved in the blanket exercise was after my near-death experience, I knew that my life wasn't over. I mean, I'm no young chick anymore, and I nearly checked out. So the fact that I came back, literally, and I made a conference in 2014, I believe, it matters to us and I made my first blanket exercise and I was really moved by Maria Sinclair. His statement, well, it's education that got us into this mess and it's education that will get us out of it. Now, I am a retired teacher. I think I'm retreaded at this point. And the whole doctrine of discovery and what has been done to the First Nations people in the belief that they are inferior, that they believe that of themselves and certainly the Europeans believe that of them. And that's that behavior was embodied in so many ways. So my personal involvement was after this conference, I got training to be a Kairos facilitator. And I partnered and I actually in about 11 months, I think I did about 65 blanket exercises and mentored other facilitators worked closely with with Kairos. And then partnered with local organizers in London, pillar non-profits and also requests that came from Kairos. And I also assisted in coordinating teams in the area, London area. Now, with COVID, with the arrival of COVID, it's been a grace in disguise, because here anyway, the blanket exercise is kind of on hold. In June of 2020, there were three teaching and sharing circles that were held here. And it was at the initiation of three indigenous women with whom I had worked very closely and presenting blanket exercises. And they came to me and said, How could we do a sharing circle? And I said, Well, hey, let's talk about it. And I said, This is your baby, you're going to do it. And I'll support you in any way. And I did take out a zoom account. I learned how to do zoom. And I said, I can provide you with the platform. You do it. And so what we do, and I want you to show you these three women. I've got them up here. There it is. You see it. We see a document. Okay, now that is Mary Ann Cachago. And as you can see on there, they are two to two hour zoom based interactive sessions led by an experienced Kairos blanket exercise or indigenous facilitator or knowledge keeper. It is $25 to be self sustainable. And registrations now are done through Kairos. And Mary Ann has done the two bro wampum belt treaty. And these, we found that they, they are more available to people in the evening, seven to nine. This November 24, Tina Stevens is going to be doing a presentation on the social injustice in the court system. And Tina works at the courthouse. So she speaks from her own experience as does Mary Ann from her own experience. Tracy white I is working on her masters in social work with the indigenous people. And she, she said, she says she's a woman health helper, and just passionate about these teaching and sharing circles. All of these women, this is their second teaching and sharing circle. Because we're limiting the numbers to 35 to 40 people. We've got a waiting list. We've had a waiting list after each one of these. So I can't say enough about these three women, other than. Wait a minute, I got something else here. In my experience and working with them. Not only do they walk the talk, but in these sharing and teaching circles. They talk the walk. They can speak from their own experience because they have walked the journey through colonialism and I can can you continue to do that. They are not grinding an ax, although they have every reason to they've done their homework, their personal growth. They're not speaking out of anger, they're speaking out of truth, the truth that got us into this. It's going to get us out of this mess. All I can say is for these three women. I got their permission I said I want to I want to brag about you may I have your permission and they said, so I told them what I was going to say. One of them started to cry I said well you're a big help. But I just want you to know that. I can't tell you what these teaching and sharing circles have done, not only for these three women, but for the people that are involved in these circles. It's an engaging thing. The sharing circle is led by the indigenous person, and she invites the person to share. And the question that's asked is, how do you feel about what you just heard, and their presentation is about maybe 30 to 40 minutes and then the sharing. It begins with a land acknowledgement of virtual smudge. And then the knowledge keeper of the indigenous facilitator takes over. And so what I say of them is you stoke the fires of creativity with humility, gratitude and awareness. You need to ask for the gift to be directed and that's what we continue to say to the creator. Where do you lead us next. The writing, and I put in their storytelling is a spiritual process to be a creator, you need to connect with the creator. And I had and that's a quote from Richard Waccamese and embers, but what I what I want to stress. Are we back on normal view. Yes. Okay. So what I want to stress with with this is that these women, because they work through their own stuff. They don't turn people off at all. They engage. They truly engage people, because they speak from heart to heart. And so I'm very grateful to them for my experience in working with them and I've learned so much. Thank you so much for the opportunity to share this with you. It's, it's extremely exciting. And it's, it's just something that's really taking well. Thank you so much, Kathleen. Our next speaker is Elizabeth Snell from Guelph, Ontario. Hi. In 2017, Carlos Guelph started a three year public film series on indigenous rights issue we we called it winds of change, which is the Carlos theme to from Carlos Canada. And the idea was to contribute to relationship building between settler and indigenous members of the wealth community. We picked a film per year on a topic we felt contributed to improved understanding, publicize it through bulletin announcements and posters to all the wealth and area churches and posters and libraries and other and to press releases to local media. Digital posters to our local indigenous leaders and other contacts university wealth. We received $4 and received $1,000 from the United Church Justice and reconciliation fund, help with expenses over the three years and the events are free. We showed the films at one venue, centrally located in Concert Hall. Each evening there was territorial acknowledgement and smudging. And refreshments. After the last river, moving film about various issues and out of office Scott, then second year was reserve 107 which is an area in Saskatchewan with a farm community and local indigenous tribe and it tells a very positive story about growing understanding and respect and appreciation of the joint treaty responsibility to for the health of the land. And the third year was doctrine of discovery stolen land strong hearts, which is a challenging and informative documentary about the 500 year old doctrine and it's devastating and ongoing legacy. We tried various ways of discussion afterwards there was both a Q&A format with a indigenous local indigenous pro a professor on water and land resource issues. And then another way we found good, we wanted to get to circle discussion so say with the doctrine of discovery we asked the attendees to reflect on the film based on for questions each on a flip chart. So they would go spend a few minutes circulating and putting their comments they're on this flip chart and then choose one, and there were so they're for sharing circles, one around each question. So that worked really well and there's a lot of great input in a relatively short time. And we want to continue though the three years are up and so this year though they're a bit stymied by our minimal technological knowledge. So I haven't quite sorted out how to do it but anyways we're working on it and we've got a couple of options one is gently whispering the circle back which is a stories of residential school trauma, both the victim direct victims and the following generational ones, and their journeys of healing. And the second idea was a set of three very short videos on indigenous wisdom and worldviews that offer guidance on current issues so we have one on climate change collaboration and one on our responsibility to the earth. And one on indigenous principles of learning which all three are very positive and informative and inspiring. In both cases we'd be coping to invite a indigenous commentator as part of it. So the outcome we had about 40, 40, 80 attendees I guess in those three events both indigenous and settler. Films in the discussion really did expand understanding and and increase awareness of historic and current injustices. Offered some roots for reconciliation and gave the opportunity for the indigenous and settler community members in wealth to interact on these important issues. Thank you, Elizabeth. I see that someone in the chat box asked if you could list the films that you just described for them. Our next speaker is Ruth, Ruth McDonald from Berry, Ontario. Hi everybody. I'm really glad to be able to share about the listening post in Berry. It is my passion and I'll tell you a little bit about what we do. We share a group of volunteers who create spaces for that are safe for people to be heard one on one with respect and compassion and in confidentiality. And we create those spaces by having relationships built with community partners. So back in 2019 and January of 2019 we started and started from ground zero and had to develop relationships in the community and we started with our local shelter for people experiencing homelessness. And so that was kind of the vision to start with people who are on the margins and listening with them. So we started listening there. This is called the Busbee Centre and we have volunteers that go in and we have shifts. We had two shifts per week before COVID started and then we couldn't go in there anymore. But then we started with a relationship with the library which is a little bit more public space which was very exciting for us to receive approval to have a listening post there. And since COVID we took a break being trying to be safe and then we realized that we could probably get back and listen at a distance with face masks. And so we have and we're at two emergency shelters right now. We have a pilot project going with the Elizabeth Fry Society with the women who are staying at the emergency shelter in Berry. And we have since started back at the library as well. So since 2019 we started in May with an actual listening post. But I have trained about 21 people as listeners. Currently right now we have about 10 of them that are active. We've been experimenting since COVID with telephone listening or online listening but really the key is face to face. And that creates that safe sense of people that people need to be able to share their story. One of the other things we do is we do free pop-up listening. So if you drove downtown Berry you might see us out standing with signs that say free listening and we just stand there and honestly people do come up and I want to be heard. Or sometimes they just are interested in what we do and so we tell them. And I think it's just a wonderful way to stand up in a public space and advocate for the importance of people being heard and being a listening presence. In a sense we could say we just listen and that has two meanings. Yes we are just listening. We are not trying to fix anybody. We are not trying to solve any issues. We are not trying to do any referrals for anyone. We are simply trying to understand and fully be present to them. So I think I better stop there. I don't know how long I could go on forever. It is my passion. Thank you very much Ruth. Next speaker is Jan Ohern from Toronto. Hi folks. I get the sense that I'm the newest to the fold or one of the newest to the Kairos family. I have been kind of on the periphery of Kairos for a number of years as a participant but chose to join a local chapter at the beginning of this year. So I'm not confident in what the history of the group has been. I can only tell you where we're at at this point. A big part has been transitioning during COVID to reaching a community online rather than in person which has been the group's history. What we have done to date is partnered with an organization called Canadian Friends of Sebel. Which is a Christian ecumenical organization that is specifically focused on supporting the Palestinian community, both in Palestine and the diaspora. This is a cause that's very close to my heart and what actually brought me to Kairos. So our chapter had committed to participating in a speaking tour for a particular Palestinian Christian farmer. That ended up being an online event that took place November 7th and was well attended. We had 140 people, as I say, we as Kairos Toronto West can't take credit for that but we did support it. And I think that that's probably how we'll be moving forward in the near future is partnering with other groups and organizations to gain a little bit of traction for an online presence. Now this particular project in Palestine is called Tent of Nations. As I say, Tent of Nations is a peace center that is founded by a Christian Palestinian family who have been farming. A 100 acre farm on the outskirts of Bethlehem for the past 104 years. Now as you can imagine under the occupation, land confiscation is an ongoing thing and that is the kind of primary preoccupation of the Nasser family right now. But their mission essentially is to stand confidently and steadfastly in resistance to colonization and occupation and to do it from a place of Christian witness which is founded in justice and peace and nonviolent resistance. So that really resonates not just for myself but I think many people in our various communities and what we foresee in the future as a Kairos chapter is exploring the commonalities and the bridges that can be built with regards to indigenous land rights closer to home but also in support of Tent of Nations and the broader Palestinian community. Thanks. Thank you, Jen. I don't think you have to apologize for being new to Kairos because we're all at different stages of being with Kairos and Kairos is welcoming of all people doing social justice work. Our next speaker is Dorothy Wilson from New Hamburg, Ontario. Hello everyone. So, Elaine has asked me to just speak about a working group that we have here in this community. And it's actually got a long name. It's called the Wilmot Ecumenical Working Group on Indigenous settler issues. And it actually started back in 2017 when some local members of the ministerial decided that the churches should try and do something to respond to the results of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. And so two ministers, so an Anglican and a Lutheran kind of spearheaded this and got some other people involved. And so the first activity that this group did was a community blanket exercise and that took place in November of 2017. And I actually got involved with the group probably a month or so before that as the representative from the local United Church. We had about 80 people from the community attend this blanket exercise and we were really thrilled with the response that we had. And one of the things that we decided to do, one of our members had heard about this play called Discovery, a comic lament that focuses on the doctrine of discovery. And the people that did this play were from the states. So we needed to work with other people to be able to afford to bring these people to our community. There was a good response from other groups in the Waterloo region. So the actors, two or three people came and the play was presented in four different locations in Waterloo region, including in our own community where we had about 300 people attended the venue locally. So after that we were kind of debating what we were going to do next, but one of our members had been in some discussions with the executive director of a local service social service agency here called the Wilmot family resource center. And she had a desire to hire a part time indigenous elder for their agency to provide support. In particular, supporting women that were affected by family violence but also to work to be available to to advise and support and with other programming that they did. So, I just stood back up for a minute and say that Wilmot is actually our bigger community. It's a rural township on the west side of Waterloo region that's made up of a number of small municipalities and and New Hamburg is probably the largest of those. municipalities and our group has people from New Hamburg and from Bayton, which is another community in the townships. Anyways, we decided that our group decided that we could help out with this initiative of getting an indigenous elder being hired for the resource center. And the resource center had some funding that they could put towards this that they could pull from their family violence program, but they, they were going to need, you know, several thousand dollars in addition to that to hire this person on a part time basis. So, we decided initially to have a couple of events where we could educate the community about this initiative, and also try and solicit some funding to support this initiative. And the first thing we did was last January we showed the film Indian horse. We had over 65 people attend that we had tried to we had tried to get an indigenous person to be available for the follow up discussion but we didn't have very good life, luck, and act the night that the event took place. This woman and her daughter showed up that we're indigenous and they're from Kitchener but they were friends of people from one of the churches that's involved in our group. And they just, you know, particularly the daughter the adult daughter added so much to our discussion after and she's actually become involved with a task group at the Lutheran Church since then. Anyways, that was a good event and we had quite a quite a few people made donations. We decided to have a second event that took place about a month later, where we had a newly retired historian that lives locally and he had worked at the Waterloo region. The museum before he retired and his talk was called they never taught us this in school. And it was actually an excellent presentation that talked about the existence of, well, not just the existence but about the, the life of indigenous people in our area. So that's where the settlers arrived and, you know, the, the, the level of organization of these communities that was quite amazing and there have been a lot of artifacts that have been found in this area that have sort of corroborated sort of the, the history of what life was like prior to the Europeans arriving. So anyway, we had plans of course to do some other things but COVID kind of got in the way of that. But the next thing that we decided to do and we, we had had some, some discussions with one of the local municipal counselors. And she suggested that we make a presentation to our Township Council to inform them about the initiative and with the goal of trying to get them to, to give some funding towards it as well. So in September, we, we did a presentation for the council. And we, it was fairly well received. We had the idea that we were going to meet with them again later in the fall to actually give the hard ask for money. But one of the township staff suggested that an application be made for a grant. And so actually the executive director of the resource center did do that. She was really the one that had to do it because all the money really is going to their organization. And so that was submitted by the end of October. So anyway, we'll, we won't hear back until early in the new year about whether the townships going to be giving us the money but in the meantime we had raised enough money to, to help out with the cost of the, the indigenous elder for half a year. And, and because the resource center had some money as well then the executive director has gone through a process of trying to locate someone. And I just got word yesterday that, that actually she's found someone that will be taking on this position of indigenous elder. So we're quite pleased with that. And I guess, you know, the next thing for us will be to see what the results of the township grant is and probably be looking at some other ways to raise funds to, to help with this initiative. So anyway, thank you for listening. Thank you, Dorothy. And last but not least, we have George Addison in Vineland, Ontario. Hello everybody. My name is George Addison I coordinate Kairos Niagara and I edit the Facebook page for Kairos Niagara. And it's good to be with you. I'm in the ancestral territory of the Anishinaabe and a wonder rock and hot and a shiny peoples who have been sharing hunting and fishing on this territory for thousands of years under the terms of the one dish one spoon agreement. I want to share a few words about an important issue of indigenous solidarity in our backyard. I want to tell you about Carl Dockstader. He's a friend of Kairos here in Niagara, he and his friend Sean Vanderkles do a radio show on CKTV radio on Sunday mornings called one dish one Mike, which is also available on their website of the same name. Last April, Kyle and Sean were co recipients of the 2020 Canadian Journalism Foundation, CBC indigenous journalism fellowship award, which has enabled them to expand and deepen their indigenous outlook work and get some training in journalism. In the past, Kyle has worked with us, he spoke at a big interface event on the treaty background of our area, especially the one dish one spoon wampum. And he also acted as co leader for a blanket exercise that Kairos Niagara sponsored at the St. Catherine's Market, along with Val Kerr, another Kairos friend who's a hot and shiny Anglican priest who's been appointed Archdeacon for truth and reconciliation by the diet diet system Niagara. So, these are good friends and have really been so helpful to us in our solidarity work here. And on have been covering an important indigenous land issue nearby in Haldeman County, where there's been a long standing dispute over land development near the town of Caledonia. A few months ago, a land developer started work on a new subdivision they call McKenzie Meadow, except it wasn't a disputed land, land area. And so a number of six nations hot and shiny activists seized the land which they renamed 1492 land back lane. The developers responded with court injunctions and the OPP has been arresting dozens actually 33 people all together with people at the site and actually in their homes. Including our intrepid journalist, Charles Dockstader. Carl had a terrible time trying to explain it to his children. But he's worked on talking about what the background of this dispute is. This has been a pattern that's been going on regarding the six nations people who were given the Haldeman track back in the 18th century, which was six miles on either side of the Grand River from its mouth to its source. And that land has been whittled away over the centuries, often, often illegally. It goes back to a rather famous name, Samuel Jarvis who has a street and a school named after him in Toronto and a town in Haldeman County. When, when the natives complained that white settlers were squatting on their land, he told them that he they should turn over all the land of the government, which he took for himself, and misappropriated over a million pounds which has never been repaid. And this is a pattern that there's a dispute. This particular land back lane dispute goes back to 1995. It's supposed to be just supposed to be heard. It's never heard. And so the developers just go ahead and they start work. And then if anybody protests, they call the police get a court injunction called police. That's been the case here. It's been subject to intimidation, court orders, police violence and racist attacks by local politicians and white neighbors. One good piece of news, more recently, is that the band council, which has a different position on these lands from the Federation. They said it's willing to enter into negotiations, but of course the federal government has done nothing to bring on those negotiations and the provincial government keeps sending in the police and keeps arresting people. It seems to me, we at Kairos can help by educating ourselves on the issues. Turning to Carl and Carl's webpage, one dish, one mic might be a good start for us to look at the issues. Also, Tanya Colaga had a column in the global mail this morning, which I just read and it's also a good background on the issues. We should also be demanding that the provincial government withdraw the OPP and set aside the unjust court injunctions and criminal charges against the land defenders. The federal government should immediately begin negotiations between itself, the band council and the heart of the Shawnee Confederacy chief council to resolve the matter in nation to nation talks. This is where it has to go. And this seems to be this other pattern and that is just stalling. And we should also join the growing demand that the province drop the charges against our friend Carl Dachstetter, he can do his job. Thank you, George. I was muted. I forgot to unmute myself. Yes, I read that article in the global mail this morning. People getting arrested weeks after they were on the site. One singer who was there to sing for one afternoon gets a knock on the door weeks after which is what prompted Tanya to write that article. Thank you to all of the speakers. I don't see any questions in the chat box, but there is a comment from Peter Bissau. I'll read your comment Peter. I'm delighted to hear so much engagement and solidarity with indigenous people. The Jesuit forum for social faith and justice in Toronto will be publishing a very helpful dialogue guide called listening to indigenous voices, a dialogue guide on justice and right relations, and Kairos has been one of your collaborators you say in your article. Thank you for that. Is, does anyone have any questions they would like to ask right now. Oh, I have one here from David Miller. Could George explain the link between police surveillance and today's arrests. I'm not sure what the meaning of the question is, but the background of the story is that anybody who's who's been occupying or visiting the 1492 land back lane is been photographed film, and their names have been taken down. And they're subject to, to charges, because they're because an injunction has made any protest illegal on that territory. So the, the provincial courts have decided to intervene in this matter by skewing all things and in in defense of the landowners the so called landowners on this disputed territory. And then, sometimes weeks later, Carl was at home with his children that is a knock on the door and the police bring charges and tell you to show up in court. And so it's been a pattern that's been around for a very long time but it's, it's, it's unfair. It's improper and it needs to stop. Similar occupation on what's called the Douglas estate also in Caledonia a few years ago, where there was also a long dispute and the provincial government at that time just took over bought all the land and set it aside but again, it's never been, it's never been negotiated over it's never been resolved. And they're just waiting for another developer to take it over. Thank you. I would like to also say that Shannon has put a few links in the chat box, one for water first, which is the organization that Dave Gordon was telling us about earlier. Another link for the one dish one Mike radio station for you to radio show for you to see as well. So thanks. Thanks very much everyone for your presentations it's really inspiring. I'm going to share my screen again so that we can hear from Shannon Shannon has some national announcements to share with us. Just to go on from there. So Shannon please go ahead and share with us. Thank you very much, Elaine for taking some time and thank you all to all of the speakers today, especially all of our network speakers. It's great to hear all that is going on in your various locations across the provinces. I learned all kinds of things that I didn't know today about the different initiatives that you are involved with. So, just great appreciation for all of that effort and for your coming to share them with us all. So, I wanted to tell you about a few things that the Kairos national office is promoting and some resources that are available for you. So I will without further introduction I myself I will go on to the next slide. So this is an invitation. Kairos is excited to invite you to join us at our upcoming. That is just next week, women of courage, women, peace and security south south gathering. I'll be wondering about this name. I think many of you will know that Kairos has this women of courage program has been going on for more than a decade, but in the last couple of years we've specifically had a program called women peace and security that is partially funded by the government and partially funded with help from folks like you through Kairos. So this is a gathering of four different partners from the global stuff. And so when those partners come together we call it a south south gathering. And that is one of the unique aspects of this particular program is that it's not just about Canada and Columbia or Canada and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It's about Columbia and the DRC. It's about South Sudan together with the West Bank and how these folks are in solidarity with each other, and growing and learning together, and in their work for justice. So you are all invited to a public event. They are having three days of meetings together, and they are setting aside a couple of hours for all of us to listen. It will feature these partners, the organization and feminine. Popular in Columbia at a dealer justice in DRC, the South Sudan Council of Churches National Women's Program, and we am Palestinian conflict transformation center in the West Bank. These are partners and their beneficiaries because it's on online. We, they are able to invite some of their bare program participants to share stories of courage and change from their experiences working for an inclusive, equitable and just piece in very fragile context. So I have a link here I'm going to share with you to register and invite you all to be present next week. So we could go on to the next one while I just pop this in the chat here. Many of you know about For the Love of Creation. Now I'm going to make my slide really small on my screen and look at you folks. Let's have a show of hands of who has heard about For the Love of Creation before. Wave like this. Excellent. Excellent. So most of you probably know that For the Love of Creation is an interfaith creation care or climate justice initiative. And we've been doing a fall forum series. There were five of them all together. There are two left every Monday evening in November. So the one this coming Monday will all be about how we can develop our theology of climate justice together. Creation Care, a letter of the faithful. It's an invitation from For the Love of Creation to all of us to get into groups and we're going to try out some of it, learn some of it on Monday to talk about our own theologies of climate justice, creation care, and then as a group across the nation to put together this theology. And the following week will be about taking action. And so we will have a motivational speaker but also a opportunity again to work in groups and to actually take action together. Another resource that I want to tell you about is the Faithful Climate Conversations. Let's have the next slide. This also comes from For the Love of Creation and is a resource to help you bring conversations about the climate to your community, whoever that might be. So whether that's your neighbors, your family, or the people in your congregation. We invite you to check out the website and the events and all of the resources that are available there. Moving right along to another resource. You could have the next slide for the Epiphany resource. This is a piece that Kairos puts out each year. And so we'd invite you to pick it up yourself and use it. This is used for any sort of personal or group devotions in the season of Epiphany in particular, but you might find it useful at any time. It follows the lectionary scriptures, and we'd also encourage you to let your pastors, ministers, worship about this resource. The focus this year is in good news stories around climate justice. And so quite excited to share some of those with you alongside the scriptures that tell us the good news of the gospel. And I'll just share how you find that as well. I should have sent these off to Elaine in the advance, but I didn't. So, Kathleen gave us a great introduction to the KBE teaching and sharing circles. I won't say more about that except to let you know that a whole series of them is being planned for 2021. So while registration is full at the moment, you will get your opportunity next year. So I wanted to let you know that the virtual Kairos blanket exercise is in the works and will also be released next year. So I wanted to just remind you that we covered your support in a whole variety of ways. And I wanted to read this quote for you. It says, I chose Kairos to receive gifts in honor of my birthday because I want those gifts to have a positive lasting impact in the world, and not to contribute to unnecessary consumption of resources. So I just encourage you as we come towards the end of the year, there will be all kinds of reminders sent to you as you're on Kairos lists, but that we look for your prayers, we look for your advocacy, we look for your time, and we also look for your financial support. So whatever it is you can offer into our joint work of justice seeking, we welcome that and thank you for it. So thank you very much for listening. Thank you Shannon. We've come to the end of the forum and I want to thank everyone for participating. And I would like to end with a prayer. So let's close with this reflection. May the universal spirit bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half truths and superficial relationships so that we may live deep within our hearts. May the universal spirit bless us with anger at injustice oppression and exploitation of people, so that we may work for economic justice for all people. May the universal spirit bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, hunger, homelessness and rejection, so that we may reach out our hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. And may the universal spirit bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in the world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done. Mary and this social justice collaborative. Thank you very much everyone for having spent these last two hours with us.