Project Description
Many sectors of Canada’s economy, such as agriculture, hospitality, construction, and care-giving, rely heavily on the labour of migrants. For many years, Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) have brought migrants to come to Canada to fulfill our labour shortages in these sectors. Although the work and the demand for this work is permanent, the workers are given only temporary migration status within strict limits, making them targets for exploitation and abuse.
Mixed Company Theatre, and the Collaborative Network to End Exploitation are working on a collaboration that will share the stories of these workers, through an interactive theatrical production. Our hope is to empower action for policy change that will make so-called Canada a more fair and equitable place for all.
The production will use the pedagogy of Forum Theatre – an interactive, participatory, UNESCO recognized tool for communal dialogue, learning, and catalyzing social change – to tell stories and highlight the root causes of injustices migrant workers face, equipping audiences with the tools they need to join the migrant worker movement for a more just, equitable, and sustainable Canada.
After initial performances in Guelph, we will perform the play in Toronto in the Fall of 2025. In the spring of 2026, we plan to tour the production in south western Ontario to communities where many migrant workers reside.
We will be hosting a public reading of the script on Saturday June 7 where we are inviting feedback, reactions, questions and comments from migrants, frontline service providers, advocates, artists, and anyone who is interested in participating in our collaborative process for this project.
Click the button below to register to attend this event:
The Process
In participatory Forum Theatre workshops in March, migrant workers shared their experiences and challenges with MCT’s facilitators through games, exercises, and conversations designed to foster a safe, supportive, and open environment. What we learned in these workshops has been woven into a script depicting a universal story of the oppressions the workers face. This play will be presented in Guelph to a wide audience that will include migrant workers, Canadian citizens, and others who live on this land, regardless of their immigration status.
Audiences will experience MCT’s interactive approach that catalyzes the audience to develop real-time strategies for empowering social change around the challenges faced by migrant workers. In an MCT production, a story with no resolution to the challenges presented is performed. The story is then presented again—only this second time, audience members can intervene in the story, as “spect-actors,” to develop new attitudes, knowledge and to create a positive alternative ending. A trained FT facilitator (called the Joker) prepares and encourages audience members to replace the actors on stage and to change the story in a constructive way, inspiring and empowering all audience members to go forth and take action for positive social change. We call this process “Rehearsing for Reality”.
Click the link to read an article from the Catholic Register about the project: https://www.catholicregister.org/item/1838-harvesting-justice-for-migrant-labour
Webinar
On May 23rd, 2024 we hosted informational webinars to introduce this project to educators and community leaders. Check out the webinar recording below for more details and a sample of our interactive theatre techniques!
You can also sign up for the CNEE’s mailing list here to receive updates on the project: http://www.cnee.ca/mailinglist
Resources
Book the CNEE’s Migrant Worker Exercise for your group: https://www.cnee.ca/migrant-workers-exercise/
Justice for Migrant Workers Informational Video: https://www.cnee.ca/video/
Essential but Disposable Labour: Migrant Workers Exploited in Canada Podcast: https://www.cnee.ca/podcast/
Partner
