News and Events

Foundation Supports Cooper Institute

Program will empower and increase visibility of migrant workers in PEI

Monday, July 19, 2021

Cooper Institute is among the recipients of the Campbell Webster Foundation's annual grants for poverty relief and sustainable development projects.

 

The Campbell Webster Foundation recently announced its annual grants for poverty relief and sustainable development projects. Established in 2002, the Foundation provides grants annually to registered Canadian charities in support of social justice and economic equity projects in Latin America and Atlantic Canada. Priority is given to projects emphasizing sustainable development, community empowerment and long-term economic solutions. 

Cooper Institute is among the organizations receiving funding this year. Eliza MacLauchlan, a project coordinator with Cooper Institute, says the grant will provide much needed support for the Institute's migrant worker program, which has been in operation since 2010. "This project is about empowering and increasing the visibility of the migrant workers who come here year after year, and who contribute so much to Prince Edward Island's economy and to our food system, but who are being left behind when it comes to rights and access to services," she says. Specifically, the project will help Cooper Institute to support migrant workers to advocate for their rights, engage community volunteers and provide accompaniment and advocacy for migrant workers seeking to defend their human and labour rights.

"In our work over the past decade we've learned so much from the migrant workers who come to Prince Edward Island from the Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala and China. This is work that isn't really being done anywhere else and we are grateful to the Campbell Webster Foundation for its support and recognition of the importance of not only our program, but the role that migrant workers play in our province and the challenges they face," says MacLauchlan.

Established in 2002, the Campbell Webster Foundation is a registered private charitable foundation based in Charlottetown. Further information is available at: www.campbellwebsterfoundation.com

Cooper Institute is a popular education and community development collective, established in 1984, carrying out programs including those related to livable income, food sovereignty, protection of land and water. To learn more about Cooper Institute's migrant worker program, see: cooperinstitute.ca.

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