MISSION

Vivimos Juntxs, Comemos Juntxs (VJCJ) is a grassroots collective that aims to provide material and social support to undocumented communities, while simultaneously creating a migrant-led, migrant-decided space where our communities can imagine and work towards building a city where we have power over the services and resources we need to live a dignified life. We understand this as part of the broad imperative to build a “sanctuary city” from below. Our work is not to engage in endless dialogues with law-makers and tweak symbolic municipal policies, but to cultivate migrant-led spaces to empower folx with the information and collective tools we need to create sanctuary from the ground up.

OUR GOALS

  • To increase awareness of the rights of undocumented residents in Ontario by creating an open space to discuss several topics relevant to migrants (e.g. the impact of COVID-19 on access to income, housing, education, food, child care, recreation, identification and other municipal services).

  • To address the immediate material, financial, and social needs of migrant communities.

  • To build a “sanctuary” beyond the limits of the city policy that is rooted in communities defending and protecting each other from the state (i.e. CBSA).

  • To create a migrant-led, migrant-decided space where our communities can imagine and work towards building a city where we have power over the services and resources we need to live a dignified life.

Who We Are

VJCJ started in September 2019 by providing monthly community dinners and workshops for undocumented people in the Greater Toronto Area, specifically Toronto. Our community dinners and workshops, which were often hosted in collaboration with other groups (i.e TQFF, S4 Collective, No One Is Illegal-TO, etc.), provided a safe space for undocumented folx to share and strategize on how to access essential services and resources in order to survive and thrive. What started as a two-person initiative between a formerly undocumented woman and an ally, quickly blossomed into a migrant-led, migrant-decided collective with hundreds of current and former migrant members.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we transitioned to providing monthly online workshops, and created multilingual online materials and other digital spaces for our communities to connect remotely. We also started a food delivery program that delivered over 1500 food boxes to families all over the GTA, and completed a migrant-led research project documenting financial resilience within our undocumented communities.

Since 2022, we have returned to our in-person community dinners and workshops, and have many other projects in progress.

Watch or listen to these interviews to learn more about us! 

OMNI Focus Portuguese

CHHA 1610 AM – LaEsquina Radio Voces Latinas