About the Exhibition
Curated By
Tak Pham
Organized By
MacKenzie Art Gallery
Galleries
Shumiatcher Theatre
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) tells the undertold story of migrant agricultural workers struggling against Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) which treats foreign workers as modern-day indentured labourers. Under the rules of Canada’s migrant labour program, low-wage migrants are tied to one employer.
Migrant Dreams exposes the underbelly of a labour program that has built a system designed to empower brokers and growers to exploit, dehumanize, and deceive migrant workers. These workers pay exorbitant fees to work at minimum wage jobs packing the fruits and vegetables we eat in our homes, while they have virtually no access to support or information in their own language. These migrant workers deserve basic labour and human rights; Canada, it seems, has failed them.
Presented in conjunction with Human Capital, on display in the RHW, Hill & Rawlinson Galleries.
The Film
Min Sook Lee, Migrant Dreams, 2016, 1 hr 30 min.
Events
Special Programming
Valentine’s Date Night at the MacKenzie
14 February 2025
Special Programming
Thick as Thieves Film Screening
14 February 2025
Special Programming
Artist Residency Open Studio: Patrick Fernandez
15 February 2025