[van-announce] (July 26) El Contrato- Film and Discussion

[Harsha]

* please forward. sorry for cross posting *

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: [j4mw-bc-organizing] J4MW Presents: EL CONTRATO - Film Screening
and Panel Discussion
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Justicia for Migrant Workers Presents:

EL CONTRATO: Film Screening and Panel Discussion

Please join Justicia for Migrant Workers BC (J4MW) for a screening of "EL
CONTRATO" a powerful documentary film that traces the lives of Mexican
migrant farm workers in Ontario and their quest for dignity and respect
amidst poor working conditions. Followed by a panel discussion about the
ongoing struggles of migrant farm  workers in BC.

WHEN: Wednesday July 26,  2006
TIME: 7 - 9 pm
WHERE: Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver BC

ENTRANCE BY DONATION:  this event is a fundraiser for Justicia's legal
defense fund and the organization.

CONTACT: Becky, 604-879-9763;  justiciaformigrantworkersbc at yahoo.ca


ABOUT THE FILM:

"EL CONTRATO" (2003) follows Teodoro Bello Martinez, a poverty-stricken
father of four living in Central Mexico, and several of his countrymen as
they make an annual migration to southern Ontario. For eight months of the
year the  town's population absorbs 4000 migrant labourers who pick
tomatoes for conditions and wages no local will accept. Under a government
program that allows growers to monitor themselves, the opportunity to
exploit workers is as ripe as the fruit they pick. Grievances are
deflected by a long line of others "back home" who are willing to take
their place.

Despite fear of repercussions, the workers voice their desire for dignity
and respect, as much as for better working conditions. El Contrato ends as
winter closes in and the Mexicans pledge, not for the first time and
possibly not the last, that it's their final season in the north.
(courtesy of the NFB)


SPEAKERS

Hari Sharma
Ph.D, Professor Emeritus at Simon Fraser University, President of the
South Asian Network for Secularism Democracy (SANSAD). Hari was an active
organizer with South Asian farm workers in the 1970's  and their struggle
for improved living and working conditions and the establishment of the
United Farm workers of Canada. He will speak about this struggle and how
it relates to the current struggle of Mexican migrant farm workers as well
as the broader socio-economic context that they emerge from.

Marcos Baac
A Mexican man who migrated to Canada in 2006 under a contract through the
Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). Subjected to terrible living
and working conditions, he and his co-workers decided to go public with a
letter demanding livable conditions, dignity and justice. A month later
Marcos was fired by his employer with no just cause, and faced
repatriation to Mexico within 24 hours. He will tell the story of the
Mexico he came from, the workers struggle for their rights here, how he
took his demands public and the challenges he now faces.


Justicia for Migrant  Workers (J4MW) is a grassroots organization based in
Vancouver and Toronto that, together with the workers, fights to defend
and to expand the rights of migrant farm workers who come to Canada every
year under the federal government's Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program
(SAWP). The J4MW collective is motivated by experiences shared and lessons
learned from migrant farm workers in BC. As allies, activists and friends
we believe migrant workers deserve work with dignity and respect!

For more information: www.justicia4migrantworkers.org/bc