As migrant workers begin to trickle into Norfolk County for the start of another growing season, a Simcoe filmmaker’s poignant documentary about some of their lives will be broadcast next week.
Advertisement 2
Article content
Feeding Canada, directed and produced by Tanya van Rooy, is a four-episode series that aired on Bell Fibe TV1. It was filmed over three months at local farms on a bare-bones budget during the COVID-19 pandemic. van Rooy has since sewn it into a one-hour documentary to be shown each evening at 8 pm from Monday, March 18 to Thursday, March 21.
Article content
She says the aim of the film is to build depth to the lives of farm migrant workers and foster a better understanding and more empathy for them across the country.
“There was so much negative press about the workers,” said van Rooy. “There are always references of them being victims. But they are such strong people who sacrifice to better their families’ lives.
“I know the story is so much more nuanced and positive. I just wanted to bring some air to that.”
Advertisement 3
Article content
Several thousand seasonal agricultural workers from Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America spend up to eight months of the year in Norfolk County, whose farms lead the country in the production of apples, asparagus and other fruit and vegetable crops.
Without migrant labour, those crops would wither in the field, as most Canadians are unwilling or physically unable to take low-paying, labour-intensive farm jobs. Still, to many Canadians, migrant farm workers are invisible.
In the film, workers tell their own stories, both heart-warming and heartbreaking.
“We talked about how they’re treated in the community, their hopes and goals, and what they do when they’re back home,” said van Rooy.
“They are certainly responsible for us having a selection at the grocery store. They are a huge part of the Canadian economy. I wanted to show them more as heroes than victims.”
Advertisement 4
Article content
van Rooy who grew up on a tobacco farm, which didn’t employ migrant workers, fondly recalls how, when she was a teenager, a group of Trinidadians working on a nearby farm taught her to break dance on a piece of cardboard.
After working and traveling outside of Norfolk for many years, van Rooy returned to Simcoe and started her film company, Howl At The Moon Films. She also began to take notice of migrant workers who would come into town once a week to grocery shop.
Around 2015, she founded Carnival, a food and entertainment street festival in downtown Simcoe to bring locals and migrant workers together.
van Rooy’s Feeding Canada Facebook page encourages conversations between migrant workers and others in Canada. It’s also where people can watch a trailer and buy tickets for next week’s viewings of Feeding Canada.
On the Facebook page, van Rooy has also organized a crowdfunding effort to create information videos for workers traveling to Canada. They would explain the differences between workers’ home countries and Canada in terms of health care, etiquette and pensions, and talk about the dangers they could face on farms and how to protect themselves from harm.
Article content