Meet Gabriel Allahdua, the University of Guelph's first activist-in-residence

The University of Guelph has named Gabriel Allahdua its first activist-in-residence, a role based at the Grounded and Engagement Theory Lab (GET Lab) in the College of Arts.

In 2012, Allahdua came to Canada under the federal Temporary Foreign Workers Program and went on to work four seasons on a Leamington, Ont., farm before devoting his time to activism.

“I worked it, I breathed it, and now I’m willing to do anything to change it,” said Allahdua. “Both of our living and working conditions are really really below standard. Basically it’s a very exploitive situation.”

Allahdua has been a longtime advocate with Justice for Migrant Workers and plans to bring his knowledge and experience of farm worker issues to the role, designed to connect activists with academic researchers.

“It means I have the opportunity to influence the next generation,” he said. “That is what we’re fighting for, a Canada that is just.”

The activist-in-residence position is new to the university and one of only a handful in Canada.

Dr. Monique Deveaux, a professor in the College of Arts, co-founded and co-directs the GET Lab. The lab was founded in 2022 and encourages the use of research and socially engaged studies to better illuminate and learn communities’ struggle for social justice.

“We hope to foster community, knowledge sharing and research collaboration by engaging in research methods that centre the voices of members of justice-seeking communities,” said Deveaux in a media release.

Allahdua will visit classes, give public talks and help organize conferences on justice for migrant workers as well as connect the GET Lab to his own network of migrant worker justice organizations.

Allahdua, a former beekeeper from St. Lucia, said to be in the presence of people studying agriculture “is a powerful opportunity” to make people aware of the human toll involved with growing the food that ends up on our plates.

“We’re all connected by food,” Allahdua said. “Around the world, Guelph is known for agriculture, and the vulnerabilities that migrant farm workers face are tied to agriculture.”

He said Guelph is the perfect place to start this role, since it’s the centre of agriculture.

“I’m an activist and I’m fighting for change, but how can I get change if I’m not in the heart of it, the root of it? Being here in Guelph is the perfect place to lobby.”

In the future, Deveaux says the activist-in-residence program could focus on a different issue.

“The idea is to put out research to work and move the dial on issues of injustice.”