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Cultural Groups (21)

  • 24 Days in Brooks
    24 Days in Brooks
    Dana Inkster 2007 42 min
    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.
  • As I Am
    As I Am
    Nadia Myre 2010 4 min
    This short experimental documentary challenges stereotypes about Indigenous people in the workplace. Featuring portraits set to a powerful poem by Mohawk writer Janet Marie Rogers, the film urges viewers to go beyond their preconceived notions. As I Am is a celebration of Indigenous people's pride in their work and culture.
  • Black Sugar
    Black Sugar
    Michel Régnier 1988 57 min
    This feature documentary offers a shocking look at the living and working conditions of Haitian agricultural laborers in the Dominican Republic. Each year, some 20 000 workers cross the border to cut sugar cane, lured by promises of good money. Instead, they toil up to 14 hours per day and live in unhealthy, cramped camps without running water, electricity, medical or educational facilities.
  • Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief
    Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief
    Carol Geddes 1986 28 min
    A tribute to Indigenous women everywhere, this short documentary focuses on 5 women from across Canada. Of varied ages and backgrounds, they have achieved success in a variety of careers: as the Yukon legislature's first Indigenous woman minister (Margaret Joe), as a deck hand on a fishing boat (Corinne Hunt), as a teacher (Sophie MacLeod), as a lawyer (Roberta Jamieson), and as a band council chief (Sophie May Pierre - St. Mary’s Indian Band of the Ktunaxa Nation off the Ktunaxa Nation).

    Each of these women talks about how she got to where she is today while emphasizing the importance of Indigenous culture - its values, art, and spiritual beliefs - in helping her to develop a sense of self and seeing through rough times, including residential school experiences.
  • A Day in the Night of Jonathan Mole
    A Day in the Night of Jonathan Mole
    Donald Brittain 1959 33 min
    This short film from director Donald Brittain tackles the subject of racial prejudice in employment, in a particularly witty fashion. It takes the form of a fantasy in the mythical country of Adanac, featuring arch bigot Jonathan Mole, Mrs. Platitude, Professor Short Sight and other characters.
  • Earth to Mouth
    Earth to Mouth
    Yung Chang 2002 41 min
    Filmed at the Wing Fong Farm in Ontario, this documentary follows the tilling, planting and harvesting of Asian vegetables destined for Chinese markets and restaurants. On 80 acres of land, Lau King-Fai, her son and a half-dozen migrant Mexican workers care for the plants. For Yeung Kwan, her son, the farm represents personal and financial independence. For his mother, it is an oasis of peace. For the Mexican workers, it provides jobs that help support their children back home.
  • El Contrato
    El Contrato
    Min Sook Lee 2003 51 min
    This documentary from Min Sook Lee follows a poverty-stricken father from Central Mexico, along with several of his countrymen, as they make their annual migration to southern Ontario to pick tomatoes. For 8 months a year, the town's population absorbs 4,000 migrant workers who toil under conditions, and for wages, that no local would accept. Yet despite a fear of repercussions, the workers voice their desire for dignity and respect.
  • The Friends of Kwan Ming
    The Friends of Kwan Ming
    Christine Amber Tang 2002 7 min
    This animated short tells the story of Kwan Ming, a man who left China to live and work in the New World. Once at destination, Kwan Ming and three traveling companions look for work but find nothing. When opportunities finally arise, Kwan Ming lets his friends have the best jobs and takes a lowly position as helper to a mean storeowner. But his generosity pays off when his friends help him with a very difficult task.

    Part of the Talespinners collection, which uses vibrant animation to bring popular children’s stories from a wide range of cultural communities to the screen.
  • Hanging On
    Hanging On
    Chedly Belkhodja 2006 14 min
    This short documentary shows the struggle that young immigrants have in a small community unaccustomed to cultural diversity, and their frustration at not having their skills recognized by the job market and their peers. Hanging On is part of the Work For All project 2006, an NFB and HRSDC-Labour initiative to combat racism in the workplace.
  • Laila
    Laila
    Diane Beaudry 1980 10 min
    Laila Paattinen is a working woman. Tired of low-paying jobs, she completed a five-month course in dry-wall installation. Because she had chosen a non-traditional job for women, she ran into resistance in the marketplace. She finally solved her problems by opening her own dry-wall application business. A useful film for women seeking non-traditional jobs.
  • Luckily I Need Little Sleep
    Luckily I Need Little Sleep
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    Kathleen Shannon 1974 7 min
    Kathy worked as a nurse in Greece and then came to Canada. She and her family live in northern Alberta, where they are developing a farm. Kathy works outside the home as a nurse, sews for the children, maintains the house, and helps with the farm work.
  • Making It
    Making It
    Sobaz Benjamin 2006 10 min
    This short documentary is an inspiring portrait of Black youth who have made their ambitious dreams come true through willpower. Made as part of the Work For All project 2006, an NFB and HRSDC-Labour initiative to combat racism in the workplace.
  • No Time to Stop
    No Time to Stop
    Helene Klodawsky 1990 29 min
    Kwai Fong Lai is from Hong Kong, Alberta Onyejekwe from Ghana, and Angela Williams from Jamaica. They are immigrants to Canada, visible minorities, and women, a combination designed to make their lives difficult. While Canadian society has yet to accustom itself to its immigrant reality, these strong and resilient women manage to adapt and survive. At home and at work, they speak candidly about the conditions that shape their lives.
  • Paul Tomkowicz: Street-railway Switchman
    Paul Tomkowicz: Street-railway Switchman
    Roman Kroitor 1953 9 min
    In this film, Paul Tomkowicz, Polish-born Canadian, talks about his job and his life in Canada. He compares his new life in the city of Winnipeg to the life he knew in Poland, marvelling at the freedom Canadians enjoy. In winter the rail-switches on streetcar tracks in Winnipeg froze and jammed with freezing mud and snow. Keeping them clean, whatever the weather, was the job of the switchman.
  • Passport to Canada
    Passport to Canada
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    Roger Blais 1949 11 min
    In the 1940s thousands of immigrants are coming from Europe to Canada offering strength and skills in exchange for hope and a new life. 'The long night is ended, the morning draws nigh,' sums up the feelings of those who are sped through immigration formalities on their way to a fresh existence. Though the language may be different, these new Canadians soon find things in Canada that remind them of Holland, Poland or Belgium. Some immigrants carry on with their old trades--sewing, farming, diamond cutting. Others, on huge projects such as Des Joachims, use their muscles to help build their adopted homeland, while their love of culture and their skilled professions will make valuable contributions to Canada in the future.
  • The Road Taken
    The Road Taken
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    Selwyn Jacob 1996 52 min
    This 1996 documentary takes a nostalgic ride through history to present the experiences of Black sleeping-car porters who worked on Canada's railways from the early 1900s through the 1960s. There was a strong sense of pride among these men and they were well-respected by their community. Yet, harsh working conditions prevented them from being promoted to other railway jobs until finally, in 1955, porter Lee Williams took his fight to the union.

    Claiming discrimination under the Canada Fair Employment Act, the Black workers won their right to work in other areas. Interviews, archival footage and the music of noted jazz musician Joe Sealy (whose father was a porter) combine to portray a fascinating history that might otherwise have been forgotten.
  • A Time to Rise
    A Time to Rise
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    Anand Patwardhan  &  Jim Monro 1982 39 min
    On April 6, 1980, the Canadian Farmworkers Union came into existence. This film documents the conditions among Chinese and East Indian immigrant workers in British Columbia that provoked the formation of the union, and the response of growers and labour contractors to the threat of unionization. Made over a period of two years, the film is eloquent testimony to the progress of the workers' movement from the first stirrings of militancy to the energetic canvassing of union members.
  • Through Conflict to Negotiation
    Through Conflict to Negotiation
    Bonnie Sherr Klein  &  Peter Pearson 1968 45 min
    This documentary follows a community action group led by American community organizer and writer Saul Alinsky in Rochester, New York. Together, they confront the community's largest employer on the issue of corporate responsibility and the employment of minority groups.
  • Une femme de tête
    Une femme de tête
    Mohammed Belhaj 2006 14 min
    This film tells the moving story of one woman fighting for her rights and preserving her dignity. Made as part of the Work for All project in 2006, an NFB and HRSDC-Labour initiative to combat racism in the workplace. In French with English subtitles.
  • Uranium
    Uranium
    Magnus Isacsson 1990 47 min
    This documentary looks at the hazards of uranium mining in Canada. Toxic and radioactive waste pose environmental threats while the traditional economic and spiritual lives of the Indigenous people who occupy this land have been violated. Given our limited knowledge of the associated risks, this film questions the validity of continuing the mining operations.
  • Voice Job
    Voice Job
    Mila Aung-Thwin 2006 9 min
    This short documentary profiles a different tool for getting work. In an immigration-rich society, the agency Voice Job offers an alternative to the traditional job search. This film was made as part of the Work For All project 2006, an NFB and HRSDC-Labour initiative to combat racism in the workplace.