El Contrato : Korean-Canadian Writer Min Sook Lee unearths plight of immigrant laborers in Leamington

The documentary El Contrato by Korean-Canadian writer Min Sook Lee traces plight of Mexican laborers in Leamington in Ontario, Canada. Teodoro and “M” together with few other Mexican colleagues make annual immigration to Southern Ontario to pick tomatoes. “M” puts on a mask to conceal his real identity.

Once identified with Heinz tomatoes, one quarter of a billion pounds of tomatoes is harvested from the Leamington stretch. According to 2011 survey, total population of Leamington is 28,833 with 7,485 immigrants. Most of these immigrants are from Mexico and Jamaica and work as seasonal laborers.

To make sure that no one remains in Canada after contract, only married men are allowed to sign in for El Contrato (meaning “under contract” in Portuguese). Those eligible for El Contrato should have less than a grade school learning. The contract stipulates that at $7.25 per hour, they would work ten hours a day, seven days a week. A quarter of their pay would be deducted as taxes and costs related with conveyance and lodging. 

For eight months a year, the town adds nearly 4000 migrants who work under wages which perhaps no local residents would be ready to work with. The job is tiring. One observer is quoted as saying, "If that's all you can do, how smart can you be?" 

These farm workers in tomato gardens add economic utility to the beautiful town of Leamington which is also known for tourism. They are frequently insulted by their employers and local residents. Despite fears of repression, Mexican laborers are seen in the movie raising voice for dignity and respect. As the contract ends in the winter, Mexicans pledge neither for the first time nor perhaps the last that they would never return again. Few in the batch like Teodoro are even lucky to board to plain as they face frustrating delay in recovering their due sum: while the contract ends on Saturday, it is only after repeated phone calls that they manage to recover their amount on Monday, few hours before scheduled time of flight.

The movie El Contrato has unearthed once and for all what has been happening in the farms of Canada for a long time. It is disheartening to see workers packed into close quarters with little or no resort. It is surprising for the outside world to know contracted workers working almost like slaves in a developed country like Canada!