{"id":4315,"date":"2021-06-11T14:47:59","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T17:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=4315"},"modified":"2021-06-11T14:47:59","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T17:47:59","slug":"online-discussion-shows-communities-how-to-wrap-their-arms-around-migrant-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2021\/06\/11\/online-discussion-shows-communities-how-to-wrap-their-arms-around-migrant-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Online discussion shows communities how to wrap their arms around migrant workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Felix

Felix Munoz with Yvonne and Al Wenninger. Photo courtesy of the Wenningers<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

An online event this weekend will provide a peek into the life of the province\u2019s migrant workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill You Be My Neighbour\u201d will feature a conversation with local pastor Samuel Jess and migrant worker Felix Munoz about overcoming the isolation some workers feel from the communities where they live and work.<\/p>\n

Munoz is one of hundreds of migrant workers from Mexico who make the South Shore their home for up to eight months of the year as farm labour.<\/p>\n

Jess is the pastor at Barss Corner Baptist and Emmanuel Church of Parkdale and Maplewood.<\/p>\n

The two became friends after Jess invited Munoz to join his family for dinner.<\/p>\n

Jess says it\u2019s that personal connection that makes migrant workers feel welcomed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve said it\u2019s so nice that you care. Thank you for caring for Mexicans here. And caring about their families, caring to know them, caring to stay in touch with them, that\u2019s probably a pretty big need,\u201d said Jess.<\/p>\n

\"Pastor

Pastor Samuel Jess. Photo contributed by Samuel Jess<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

He says a first year university course in Spanish and a trip to South America in his younger days has helped him speak with Felix and the other workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting over that language barrier, it takes time and it takes misunderstandings and it takes, it just takes a lot of patience,\u201d said Jess. \u201cFelix has a lot of patience and people in our churches have a lot of patience.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event is being presented by the group, \u201cNo One Is Illegal \u2013 Halifax\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stacey Gomez, a member of the Halifax chapter says the organization has offices across Canada and around the world to help migrant workers navigate life and regulations in a foreign country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe field questions from migrant workers about the vaccine, for example, about worker rights and other issues around access to services, for example,\u201d said Gomez.<\/p>\n

She says this is the first in a series of events they\u2019re planning where residents can engage and learn more about the migrant population that is part of their community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to organize it around the theme of being a good neighbour because I think that really resonates with people, especially in the COVID-19 context where we\u2019ve had to rely on our neighbours a lot,\u201d said Gomez.<\/p>\n

The event will be presented Saturday night beginning at 7:00pm on YouTube and FaceBook Live.<\/a><\/p>\n

Reported by Ed Halverson\u00a0<\/strong>
\nE-mail:\u00a0edhalversonnews@gmail.com<\/a><\/strong>
\nTwitter: @edwardhalverson<\/strong><\/p>\n

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.<\/em><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Migrant-Workers-Jun-10-21-Mixdown.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An online event this weekend will provide a peek into the life of the province\u2019s migrant workers. \u201cWill You Be My Neighbour\u201d will feature a conversation with local pastor Samuel Jess and migrant worker Felix Munoz about overcoming the isolation some workers feel from the communities where they live and work. Munoz is one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[305,306,303,307,302,308,309,304,310],"class_list":["post-4315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-barss-corner-baptist-church","tag-emmanuel-church","tag-felix-munoz","tag-mexico","tag-migrant-workers","tag-no-one-is-illegal","tag-noii","tag-samuel-jess","tag-stacey-gomez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4315"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4319,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4315\/revisions\/4319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}