NOII AND CYH LAUNCHING A MIGRANT JUSTICE YOUTH WORKSHOP!

In the last few weeks, we have seen a rush of action– and victories such as Sanctuary City– on migrant justice. We need your help to sustain this momentum. As we look around us, we are seeing the issue of migrant justice on the hearts and minds of young people in our community like never before. With your help, we can further support youth with the education and resources they need to become leaders for change.

Engaging youth is crucial right now because the fight for migrant justice is truly at a turning point. From the militarization of borders, to racist legislation like the Refugee Exclusion Act, to increasing rates of detention and deportation, immigrant and refugee rights are increasingly under attack in Canada. In most recent news, the Canadian Border Services Agency raided construction sites, arresting and incarcerating migrant workers. Worse yet, these traumatic experiences were filmed for a reality TV show that was approved by the federal government.  One of the men caught in the raid and filmed for the reality show was a young student and father Oscar Mata. On the night of his deportation, Oscar told reporters, “I hate the word illegal, I am human, we are all human.”

Oscar is right. No human being is illegal, and we need strong, dynamic, and active grassroots movements for migrant justice to make this vision a reality. Education, outreach, and community building are powerful tools for the type of social change that we want to see. This is especially true when we work to engage, activate, and empower young people.

This is why the anti-colonial migrant justice collective No One Is Illegal-Vancouver Unceded Coast Salish Territories is excited to partner with the youth organization Check Your Head to create a popular education workshop on migrant justice that will be developed and delivered by young people, for young people in high schools across the province. We are responding directly to youth calling for education on migrant justice and this workshop will be reaching thousands of youth!

No One is Illegal-Vancouver Unceded Coast Salish Territories is a grassroots anti-colonial migrant justice collective with a majority of members from migrant/racialized backgrounds. For the past decade we have been educating and mobilizing as an all-volunteer collective on migrant and refugee justice, Indigenous solidarity, trade and economic justice, racism and oppression. We have undertaken a wide range of campaigns, actions, research projects, creative resistance and events, as well as direct support within diverse impacted communities. We struggle for a world where no one is forcibly displaced from their lands or homes, and where people can move freely in order to flourish with dignity. We believe in decolonization and redistribution, where everyone has the right to sustenance and the ability to provide it, where we are all free of oppression and exploitation, and where each of us has control over decisions that affect our communities. We strive for a world where everyone is able to live abundantly and in respectful and responsible relationships to one another and the earth that sustains us.

Check Your Head is a youth-driven not-for-profit organization that educates and activates young people on various social and environmental issues. Our main activities include workshops, facilitation and leadership training, supporting youth-led social and environmental justice actions, and engaging youth volunteers. Our peer-led popular education workshops provide participants with a greater understanding of key issues facing our society and planet, empowering youth to link global issues to local realities. In over one decade of educating, engaging and empowering youth, we have facilitated over 1,900 workshops and worked with over 58,000 young people in the Lower Mainland and throughout B.C. All of Check Your Head’s work aims to create opportunities for young people to develop critical analysis, hope and tools for action on issues such as democracy, economic globalization, climate change, food sovereignty, gender equity and more.

HOW TO SUPPORT THIS AWESOME PROJECT:

NOII does not accept any government or corporate funding, which is why we need you. All the funds raised will go directly to the two-year project including honorariums for youth facilitators, creating workshop materials, and engaging youth in classrooms and community spaces across the province. Please consider donating $20, $50, $200, or whatever you can afford! Help us to support young leaders in the anti-colonial migrant justice movement!

If you are able to help, please send cheques to:

No One Is Illegal
311-153 Powell Street
Vancouver, BC, V6A 3Z1
Coast Salish Territories

Please put “Youth Workshops” in the subject line and send an email to noii-van@resist.ca to let us know you have sent in a cheque.

There will be additional updates in the future, including a callout to youth facilitators. We are really excited about this collaboration and reaching thousands of youth over the next two years in community spaces and high schools. We hope you are too and that you support us in making this happen!