Over the course of a decade Brooks, Alberta, transformed from a socially conservative, primarily white town to one of the most diverse places in Canada as immigrants and refugees flocked to find jobs at the Lakeside Packers slaughterhouse. This film is a portrait of those people working together and adapting to change through the first-ever strike at Lakeside.
Ages 17 to 17
Diversity - Diversity in Communities
History and Citizenship Education - Issues in Society Today
Social Studies - Communities in Canada/World
Social Studies - Labour Studies
Screen the film in class and follow it with a debate on diversity, pluralism, social solidarity, immigration and/or human rights. In your opinion, does the population of Brooks reflect changing trends in the overall Canadian population? Have multiculturalism and the integration of new arrivals been a success in Brooks? Socially, is it more beneficial to focus on similarities than on differences? Why? What lessons can be learned from the Lakeside workers’ strike?