Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Free Movie Saturday: Migrant Dreams


In Edmonton this Saturday, Migrante Alberta will be hosting a free screening of Migrant Dreams, a powerful feature documentary by multiple award-winning director Min Sook Lee (El Contrato, Hogtown, Tiger Spirit) and Emmy award-winning producer Lisa Valencia-Svensson (Herman’s House).

The film tells the undertold story of migrant agricultural workers struggling against Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) that treats foreign workers as modern-day slaves.

The Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers program (CSAWP) began in 1966 as a government agreement between Jamaica and Canada. For the past 50 years, the migrant farm workers have arrived in Canada under conditions that are akin to indentured labour.

Migrant Dreams exposes the underbelly of the Canadian government labour program that has built a system designed to empower brokers and growers to exploit, dehumanize and deceive migrant workers who have virtually no access to support or information in their own language. Workers willing to pay exorbitant fees to work at minimum wage jobs packing the fruits and vegetables we eat in our homes. Migrant workers who deserve basic labour and human rights. Canada it seems, has failed them.

The screening will be at the U of A ECHA Building (11405 87 Ave.) on Saturday, October 1st at 2:00pm. You can learn more on Facebook. There will be a short discussion after the film.

-- Bob Barnetson

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