Jesson Reyes

Jesson Reyes currently serves as the Managing Director of the Migrants Resource Center Canada. Born and raised in Saudi Arabia, Jesson started organizing in 2011 alongside fellow migrant youths serving as one of the founding members of Anakbayan Toronto, a youth and student organization fighting for genuine freedom and democracy in the Philippines.

Prior to assuming his role at MRCC, Jesson also served as a regional coordinator for Migrante Canada, assisting in organising and coordinating various campaigns for Filipino migrants and their families across Canada. He worked briefly in the settlement field before helping found MRCC.

Today, Jesson manages the day-to-day operations of MRCC from developing and overseeing the institution’s strategic plan to supervision of research and campaigns component of the institution.

Through Anakbayan, Migrante and now MRCC, Jesson has had the chance to collaborate on various campaigns related to migrants and indigenous people’s struggle with KAIROS Canada.

Over the past years, Jesson together with fellow national democratic organizers helped in hosting several human rights leader activists from the Philippines to the Parliament highlighting various issues of Canadian mining in the Philippines. He has also sat in various panels alongside KAIROS migrant justice coordinators on amplifying the voices of migrant workers in Canada and creating public awareness on their plight. Presently, together with the MRCC Care project team, they serve as one of the partners in the Empowering Temporary Foreign Workers During Covid-19 Project.