Executive committee

Eugénie Depatie-Pelletier, Executive Director
As executive director, Eugénie oversees the activities of the organization and takes an active role especially in the orientation and implementation of the constitutional challenge project. She works with the board members to ensure that RHFW’s long-term strategic planning is always up to date to advance the organisation’s mission.
Eugénie holds a Master’s Degree in Demography (2006) and a Ph.D. in law (2019) from the University of Montreal. She is adjunct professor at the Department of Geography of Laval University and co-researcher on Access to rights within the PARTEMP partnership coordinated by the Chaire de recherche du Canada sur les dynamiques migratoires mondiales. Eugénie coordinates and contributes to various academic research projects on the impact of migration policies on household and farm workers’ fundamental rights, and produced articles, book chapters, and research reports on the subject. She has worked as an expert for non-government organizations, worker unions, Canadian federal and provincial departments and public agencies, the government of the Shanxi province, China, and different branches of the UN.
Eugénie is a mother of two wonderful boys and of an adorable even if proudly independent Shiba Inu. In her free time, she loves to read on the history of law, but also fantasy and sci-fi novels.

Carlos Rojas-Salazar, Director Operations & International Affairs
Carlos is in charge of optimizing organizational processes, managing resources and facilitating the work of our various committees. He participates in the development and implementation of strategic plans and organizational objectives, oversees the RHFW’s operating budget and helps implement our financing strategy. Carlos also supervise DTMF’s participation within transnational coalitions, as well as its education activities targeting foreign governments and/or international agencies.
A “full-time migrant,” Carlos has been an advocate for the rights of migrants for over two decades. Originally from Mexico, Carlos is multi-cultural and trilingual, former diplomat, academic and activist who has lived and worked around the world. He is also the president of Conseil Migrant, a non-profit organization dedicated to the health and empowerment of migrants in Canada.
Carlos has extensive experience that makes him an expert in migration issues. Among many things, he has facilitated access to health services for individuals with precarious status in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, directed intervention units for the migrant caravans in Mexico, and has participated in academic studies on the Haitian diaspora in Tijuana and, more generally, on refugees and migrants communities in Mexico, Canada, the United States and Colombia.
An avid outdoor enthusiast, Carlos loves sailing, camping and, since moving to Montreal, winter cycling.

Hannah Deegan, Director of advocacy
Hannah is responsible for developing the RHFW’s advocacy-education program. This role notably involves conducting research, preparing submissions to legislative bodies and government departments, supervising law students during internships with us, and coordinating the RHFW’s involvement in coalitions and committees with other migrant justice and workers’ rights organizations. Most importantly, she provides internal legal opinions, in particular to ensure the success of RHFW’s strategic litigation project.
Hannah was called to the Quebec Bar in 2017 and holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from McGill University, with a double minor in Economics and Women’s Studies. She became convinced that Canada’s temporary foreign worker programs were incompatible with the fundamental rights of migrant workers when she completed in 2013 a legal clinic internship with PINAY-Filipino women’s organisation in Quebec. Since then, Hannah has continued to volunteer with PINAY’s legal clinic, in particular through the production of legal rights education materials and the hosting of workshops for its members.
Hannah believes the key to a good life is everything in moderation, including moderation. Her hobbies include spending too much money at second-hand bookstores and trying to master the art of the 20-minute nap (so far unsuccessful).

Board of Directors

Me Thibault Froehlich, President
A litigation attorney with a boutique law firm that specializes in civil litigation, Me Thibault Froehlich started volunteering with the RHFW while he was a law student. He was elected as president of the board in 2022. He also serves as president of the Montreal chapter of Français du Monde, a recognized public interest organization. Politically engaged, Thibault fights for equal rights and against all forms of discrimination.

Lauriane Palardy, Secretary-treasurer
Lauriane holds a bachelor’s degree in civil law/juris doctor from McGill University and a bachelor’s degree in International law and relations from UQAM. She is currently completing her stage in the litigation division of Quebec’s Human Rights Commission. She has also worked with Equitas – International Center for Human Rights Training, the Mile End Legal Clinic, Québec Sans Frontières, Ensemble pour le respect de la diversité, as well as UQAM’s International Clinic for the Defense of human rights and the Revue québécoise de droit international.

Annie Lapalme, Adviser
Annie has been interested in the rights of migrants for close to twenty years, particularly the rights of migrants with precarious status (asylum seekers, undocumented people, and migrant agricultural workers). She holds a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology, a multidisciplinary certificate in Immigration and interethnic relations, as well as a master’s degree in Geography. She has worked for almost 10 years in a tenant’s rights organization in Cote-des-Neiges, Montreal. Annie has also been involved in various community organizations and NGOs, including immigrant solidarity groups and human rights groups in Latin America. She has extensive research experience on migration issues (migrant agricultural workers and access to health and social services).

Me Geneviève Richard, Vice president
Me Geneviève Richard is a doctoral candidate in law at the Université du Québec à Montréal. She has been a member of the Quebec bar since 2010. Her master’s thesis focused on the evolution of the legal situation of migrant workers in Qatar between 2012 and 2018. Currently, she is working on various employment law research projects. She is also a student researcher at the Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT) and is a grant holder from the Quebec Research Fund (FRQSC). Since January 2021, she is coordinator of the Chaire de recherche sur l’effectivité du droit du travail. She has been a member of the RHFW’s legal committee since 2018 and joined the board in 2019.

Jerlie Pascual, Representative of the Advisory Committee
Jerlie came to Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program. She worked as a caregiver during her first years in Quebec and, after obtaining her permanent resident status in 1999, she volunteered for the Association. She was quickly hired as part of the permanent team and, during her 14 years as an intervenor, Jerlie developed in-depth knowledge of immigration, employment and human rights issues. faced in particular by immigrant women employed in Quebec in private homes. Passionate about DTMF’s mission, which aims for structural changes to improve working conditions, Jerlie now contributes to the work of DTMF on its advisory committee.

Virgilio Ayala, Representative of the Advisory Committee
Virgilio has been a member of the Association since 2015. Originally from Guatemala, he initially worked for the Guatemalan Consulate as a representative for farm visits. He then joined the field team of the United Food and Commercial Workers for several years in order to support migrant agricultural workers, particularly those from Guatemala and Mexico. Virgilio is an engineer by training and a retired university professor. He also published a doctoral thesis in philosophy on the existential conceptions of Guatemalans (largely non-Spanish speakers and from indigenous minorities in Guatemala) employed on farms in Quebec.
Association for the Rights of Household and Farm Workers (RHFW)
1340 St Joseph Blvd E,
Montréal, Québec
H2J 1M3
info@dtmf-rhfw.org
514-379-1262