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Advocates reveal details about 'systematic exploitation' at New Brunswick seafood processor

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Reposted by David Gordon Koch

NB Media Co-op / Coop Média NB @nbmediacoop.bsky.social · 1d

Migrant justice advocates have released details about working conditions at Bolero Shellfish, the seafood processing company on the Acadian Peninsula that Ottawa recently hit with a record million-dollar fine and a 10-year ban from hiring temporary foreign workers.
youtu.be/mrateavE2mM?...

Debunking Myths, Building Solidarity with Migrant Workers in New Brunswick

youtu.be

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Reposted by David Gordon Koch

NB Media Co-op / Coop Média NB @nbmediacoop.bsky.social · 1d

New Brunswick’s $2.1B seafood industry relies on migrant workers, yet they face unsafe conditions, layoffs, poor housing, and limited access to services.

Watch this workshop on debunking myths and building solidarity with migrant workers in New Brunswick.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEgO...

Activists organize for social change at Social Forum in Wolastokuk [video]

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Reposted by David Gordon Koch

NB Media Co-op / Coop Média NB @nbmediacoop.bsky.social · 4d

The 2025 Social Forum in Wolastokuk brought together social justice activists over the weekend in Fredericton.

The NB Media Co-op livestreamed panels, presentations, and workshops to make the events available for those who couldn’t attend in-person.
nbmediacoop.org/2025/10/04/l...

The 2025 Social Forum in Wolastokuk brought together social justice activists over the weekend in Fredericton. The NB Media Co-op

Seafood processing company fined $1M, banned from hiring temporary foreign workers for 10 years

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Reposted by David Gordon Koch

NB Media Co-op / Coop Média NB @nbmediacoop.bsky.social · 3d

Seafood processing company fined $1M, banned from hiring temporary foreign workers for 10 years

End closed permits to stop abuse, says Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre
nbmediacoop.org/2025/10/07/s...

The feds have imposed a historic $1 million fine against a New Brunswick seafood company and banned it from hiring

Livestream: Social Forum in Wolastokuk — DAY 2

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David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

New livestream link - I attempted (to no avail) to fix the oddly low-pitched audio. Anyway here's Chief Hugh Akagi leading a discussion on radioactive waste: youtube.com/live/5uZbI5C...

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

The @nbmediacoop.bsky.social Social Forum in Wolastokuk continues today. Now on the livestream: "Radioactivity Benefits and Harms and Nuclear Waste on Peskotomuhkati Homeland" w/Dr Gordon Edwards and Chief Hugh Akagi. #SocialForumInWolastokuk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy4K...

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David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

On this point, social forum organizer Susan O'Donnell (also an NB Media Co-op board member) points out that the teacher's strike followed the big CUPE strike here in New Brunswick in 2021. NB unionists travelled to Ontario to talk about how they did it.

nbmediacoop.org/2023/11/02/t...

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David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

He cites the example of international students in Brampton, Ont., most of them from India, facing work visa restrictions & deportation. They set up an encampment by a highway, stayed there thru the winter, ~140 days. They approached the socialist education initiative in part out of boredom, he says.

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

He's a delivery driver and member of Unifor. He says a major problem is the fragmentation of social movements. Notes the 2022 Ontario teachers' strike. There was a lot of energy but it didn't gain momentum, spreading to other provinces etc. He sees the problem as a lack of political education

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

"There is a limit to what speaking up alone can do," says Matt Davis, coordinator of the Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education. He says the emphasis must be on getting people together based on shared experiences as working-class people under the same system.

www.youtube.com/live/aq-6fXt...

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

He's a delivery driver and member of Unifor. He says a major problem is the fragmentation of social movements. Notes the 2022 Ontario teachers' strike. There was a lot of energy but it didn't gain momentum, spreading to other provinces etc. He sees the problem as a lack of political education

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

"There is a limit to what speaking up alone can do," says Matt Davis, coordinator of the Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education. He says the emphasis must be on getting people together based on shared experiences as working-class people under the same system.

www.youtube.com/live/aq-6fXt...

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

"There is a limit to what speaking up alone can do," says Matt Davis, coordinator of the Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education. He says the emphasis must be on getting people together based on shared experiences as working-class people under the same system.

www.youtube.com/live/aq-6fXt...

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David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

Last talk we're livingstreaming today: Capitalism, Socialism, Activism: What can we expect to achieve?
Hosts: Thom Workman • Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education
#SocialForumInWolastokuk #Livestream

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq-6...

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

Isn't it the an anti-capitalist outlook that makes your proposed alliance different? Prof Thom Workman asks. Glynn counters that she sees the Peace and Friendship Alliance as anti-capitalist. Some other people talk about how these kinds of alliances could work together...

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

Is there need for a new coalition or alliance? Tracy Glynn (also coordinating editor of the NB Media Co-op) points out that the Peace and Friendship Alliance already exists, for example.

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 7d

Matthew Webber — steam plant operator at UNB and organizer for the Communist Party of Canada’s Fredericton Club — calls for a broad coalition of anti-imperialist, anti-monopoly forces across social movements. #SocialForumInWolastokuk #Livestream

www.youtube.com/live/aq-6fXt...

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

A couple dozen people here, actually seems pretty impressive for an explicitly commie event in a small Canadian city.

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 7d

Matthew Webber — steam plant operator at UNB and organizer for the Communist Party of Canada’s Fredericton Club — calls for a broad coalition of anti-imperialist, anti-monopoly forces across social movements. #SocialForumInWolastokuk #Livestream

www.youtube.com/live/aq-6fXt...

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 6d

Is there need for a new coalition or alliance? Tracy Glynn (also coordinating editor of the NB Media Co-op) points out that the Peace and Friendship Alliance already exists, for example.

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 7d

Matthew Webber — steam plant operator at UNB and organizer for the Communist Party of Canada’s Fredericton Club — calls for a broad coalition of anti-imperialist, anti-monopoly forces across social movements. #SocialForumInWolastokuk #Livestream

www.youtube.com/live/aq-6fXt...

David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 7d

Matthew Webber — steam plant operator at UNB and organizer for the Communist Party of Canada’s Fredericton Club — calls for a broad coalition of anti-imperialist, anti-monopoly forces across social movements. #SocialForumInWolastokuk #Livestream

www.youtube.com/live/aq-6fXt...

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David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 7d

Migrant workers in New Brunswick are subject to surveillance at homes controlled by employers, Saravia explains. Abusive employers prevent workers from talking to organizers.
#SocialForumInWolastokuk #Livestream

www.youtube.com/live/aq-6fXt...

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David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 7d

Niger Saravia of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change describes how temporary foreign workers are subject to surveillance by bosses. TFWs on the Acadian peninsula often have no work and receive no pay, forcing them to rely on food banks that are often inaccessible in these rural areas.

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David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 7d

Temporary foreign workers in New Brunswick: "This is modern-day slavery," says Cristian Sanabria, Community Legal Worker at the Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre.

#SocialForumInWolastokuk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq-6...

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David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 7d

Social Forum in Wolastokuk LIVESTREAM:

Temporary fish plant workers whose work permits are "tied to their bosses" face systemic abuse in New Brunswick, says Niger Saravia of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.

www.youtube.com/live/aq-6fXt...

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David Gordon Koch @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social · 7d

The @nbmediacoop.bsky.social is livestreaming from the Social Forum in Wolastokuk! www.youtube.com/live/aq-6fXt...

Connecting Gaza: New Brunswickers are among a network supporting families amid genocide

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Reposted by David Gordon Koch

NB Media Co-op / Coop Média NB @nbmediacoop.bsky.social · 9d

Connecting Gaza: New Brunswickers are among a network supporting families amid genocide
youtu.be/tpLepNfyKcc?...

New Brunswickers among network of volunteers supporting families in the Gaza Strip [video]

youtu.be

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Reposted by David Gordon Koch

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 9d

Scenes from Gaza documented by photojournalist Rizek Abdel Jawad published in @nbmediacoop.bsky.social.

nbmediacoop.org/2025/10/01/n...

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Reposted by David Gordon Koch

Ryan Hillier @ryanhillier.bsky.social · 9d

This story from @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social @nbmediacoop.bsky.social weaves together a number of perspectives from Gaza to Canada as the genocide in Palestine continues unabated.

Independent Jewish Voices - New Brunswick @ijvnbvji.bsky.social · 10d

New Brunswickers among network of volunteers supporting families in the Gaza Strip [video]

@nbmediacoop.bsky.social @davidgordonkoch.bsky.social

nbmediacoop.org/2025/10/01/n...

Photojournalist Rizek Abdel Jawad was trying to buy a tent in his hometown of Gaza City shortly before he was