About Us

The Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre, founded in 2022, is an organization dedicated to advancing migrant justice and supporting the struggles of migrants with precarious status in New Brunswick, including migrant workers, underserved migrants, refugee claimants, international students and people with no status (the undocumented).

The Madhu Centre supports migrant workers in addressing their immediate needs, including assistance with applications for Open Work Permits for Vulnerable Workers, labour complaints and housing. The centre also advocates for reforms and systemic changes aimed at protecting the rights, equality and dignity of migrant workers.

Our organization was founded by former refugees, a human rights lawyer, settlement and case workers, and migrant justice advocates. We aim to work with migrants with precarious status towards the advancement of migrant justice. Located on the unsurrendered territories of the Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq and Peskotomuhkati, the Madhu Centre works in alliances across the Atlantic region, Turtle Island and beyond for migrant justice, including with the Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network, the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network, the Filipino Community of New Brunswick, the Cooper Institute, No One Is Illegal Fredericton, No One Is Illegal Halifax, KAIROS, the Migrant Rights Network, Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, and others. Our work is inspired and informed by these organizations that came before us.

Our Team

Board Members

  • Madhu Verma (Honourary Chair)

    became a child refugee during the India-Pakistan partition. She moved to Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1962 with her husband, the recently deceased Ram Verma, a physics professor at the University of New Brunswick. Upon moving to Fredericton, Madhu and Ram experienced racism and discrimination. Madhu felt isolated in a place where very few South Asian immigrants and people of colour lived. Madhu would go on to establish organizations such as the Asian Heritage Society of New Brunswick and the Multicultural Association of Fredericton, organizations dedicated to welcoming newcomers. Madhu’s work has been recognized with several honours, including the New Brunswick Multicultural Council Legacy Award, the New Brunswick Human Rights Award, Canadian Governor General's 125th Anniversary Commemorative Award and the Queen's Jubilee Medal. She is responsible for an official New Brunswick multicultural and human rights education policy. She is currently working on a memoir and history of South Asians in New Brunswick and Canada. Madhu’s story is featured in the CBC Radio Series, The Secret Life of Canada.

  • Aditya Rao

    is a human rights lawyer and a senior researcher with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in Ottawa. From 2020 to 2022, he was the human rights representative for CUPE in the Maritimes region and appeared before the PEI legislature as an expert witness during deliberations about PEI’s Temporary Foreign Worker Protection Act. Prior to CUPE, Aditya worked at Amnesty International Canada where he provided litigation support for Amnesty International's intervention in the Supreme Court of Canada case Chhina which recognized the right of immigration detainees to use habeas corpus applications in provincial superior courts. He is also a founder of the New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants Rights and served on the NB Media Co-op board of directors from 2020 to 2022.

  • Tracy Glynn

    is the National Director of Operations and Projects for the Canadian Health Coalition and an Assistant Professor at St. Thomas University. Her activism and scholarship is focused on supporting communities affected by resource extraction, migration and border policies, and inadequate health care access. She is a member of the Migrant Workers in the Canadian Maritimes researrch team (tfwmaritimes.ca). She is the coordinating editor of the NB Media Co-op and an organizer with Reproductive Justice NB and the Fredericton chapter of the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network.

  • Jeremias Tecu

    is a Mayan human rights activist. In 2002, he arrived in Canada as a refugee. Since 2003, he has been a Settlement Worker with the Multicultural Association of Fredericton. He is an active member of the Canadian Council of Refugees and the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network. Jeremias’s story of surviving the Guatemalan civil war is told in Eve Mills Allen’s book, In the Arms of Inup.

  • Daniel Tubb

    is an Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, Canada. He is author of the book Shifting Livelihoods Gold Mining and Subsistence in the Chocó, Colombia. Daniel’s research is focused on oil palm plantations and agrarian change in Colombia. Daniel has worked with migrant workers in Ontario and the U.S.

Staff

  • Amy Floyd

    is the Housing Justice Coordinator. Amy also works as an elected Councillor with the Nashwaak Rural Community. Volunteer work is shared between being the President of the New Brunswick Community Land Trust and coordinating activities and training around permaculture in Atlantic Canada. Amy has a background in food sovereignty, rural issues, and human service work which she shares about as a regular writer for the NB Media Co-op.

  • Teresa Devor Hall, Ph.D

    is the Program Manager (Digital Resources Hub). Her dissertation focused on the adaptations of settler families and communities to historic climate and climatic change in the Wolastoq/St. John River Valley. Most recently she has conducted research into mindfulness in society, traditional uses of black ash by Wolastoqey, and environmental history in Atlantic Canada. With the Multicultural Association of Carleton County, she coordinated a forum on rural issues and immigration.

  • Cristian Jesús Sanabria Vera

    is a caseworker for the Madhu Centre. He is a Peruvian lawyer trained at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and holds a Masters in Political Science from the University of New Brunswick. He immigrated to Canada in 2022. His research is focused on human rights and discrimination suffered by Latin American migrant workers. He is also member of the Latino Community of Fredericton, New Brunswick since 2023.

  • Avery Judson

    Avery Judson

    is the Staff Lawyer. She holds a Juris Doctor from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University. During her time at law school, she completed a placement at the Dalhousie Legal Aid Service. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in English from Dalhousie University. Avery is a member of the Law Society of Prince Edward Island and the Canadian Bar Association. She has been selected to participate in the Canadian Bar Association - Immigration Sponsored Mentorship Program.

  • Nuria Mirabent

    is a caseworker for the Madhu Centre. She is also the foreign worker coordinator for the Miramicihi Multicultural Regional Association. She holds a diploma in the Commuintnity Services Worker program from Trios College in Kitchener, Ontario. She has worked and volunteered at the YMCA Immigrant Services in the Kitchener-Waterloo region. She is originally from Queretaro, Mexico, and came to Canada in 2009 and is now a Canadian citizen.

  • Annie Marie Ferrer

    is a student Intern working as the Undergraduate Migrant Justice Legal Assistant. This role is part of her Advanced Arts Internship program at the University of New Brunswick, where she is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts with an Honours in Law in Society and a double major in Psychology. Her research will be centered around the experiences of migrant care workers, with a specific emphasis on their pathways to permanent residency and its impacts on their overall well-being.

  • Ana Sofia Cañarte

    is a student Intern through St. Thomas University’s Human Rights Department. She is pursuing a double major in Human Rights and Communications & Public Policy with a minor in Journalism at St. Thomas University. She is contributing to the New Brunswick Sanctuary Network and building a digital hub of resources and tools for migrant workers.