According to the film, over the past few decades, Canada has worked toward cultivating an ‘immigrant-friendly’ reputation, an endeavour which is seriously hindered by the increased use of temporary foreign workers to fulfill labour needs in the country.

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The temporary foreign worker program was initially created to relieve temporary labour shortages by attracting skilled employees and caregivers when Canadians could not be found to fill the vacant positions. However, in 2002, the emphasis shifted to low-skilled positions when employers realized that the program could become a source of inexpensive labour. This shift has been criticized in the past year after several cases attracted public attention – notably, the Royal Bank of Canada’s use of the temporary foreign workers, as well as one case where temporary foreign workers replaced contractors in Fort McMurray.

According to figures released by Statistics Canada from the National Household Survey, 1.4 million people in Canada are unemployed out of the 18 million that are eligible to work, yet labour shortages still run rampant throughout the country. Businesses have begun employing temporary foreign workers, a solution which, ironically, seems to be quite permanent. Despite the promise of reforms by the government, the program is only growing.

This trend has had far-reaching implications beyond just the displacement of Canadian workers from opportunities in the employment sector. With over 330,000 employees in Canada falling under the federal temporary foreign workers program, the population of temporary workers greatly outnumbers the immigrant population.

One temporary foreign worker, Enrique Llanes, was present at the panel. Llanes came to Canada from Spain with a background in anthropology, but due to an inability to find work in his field, now works for a video game company.

“In Spain, we have this idea of Canada like a social paradise. Maybe it’s because we compare it to the U.S.. Canada and the US are very close – the U.S. is something like the devil, and Canada is like the little angel,” Llanes said.

However, this perception is misleading, he continued.

“The employer has full rights over your life, to call you at any moment, at any second, one hour in advance and tell you you have to be here and work in two hours or three hours. What do you do? You can’t get another job so you tend to comply.”

According to activists, Canada now mimics Europe, Saudi Arabia, and Hong Kong, areas with economies heavily reliant on temporary workers, making the use of these “rent-a-workers” more commonplace. Although temporary foreign workers make a large contribution to the Canadian economy, their collective political voice is still negligible.

Yessy Byl, an Alberta Federation of Labour advocate for temporary foreign workers, was one of many to criticize the flawed program.

“We have a system that is inherently engendering exploitation – it’s just inevitable. We set up a group of people who are brought to Canada to work […] so we’ve got basically slave labour, because [the temporary workers] can’t work legally somewhere else,” Byl said in the film, in reference to the stipulation that temporary workers must remain with a specific employer and within a specific location in order to maintain their employment.

“The system, the entire program itself, just lends itself to exploitation.”

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Lakoff’s zine is the second zine to be published by the two-year-old Montreal-based Howl! Arts Collective, which describes itself on its website as a collective of artists and activists working for social justice issues through artistic expression.

Over 50 people from the anarchist community attended the event. The engaged and supportive group was quick to dispel the myth of anarchism as a force of violence.

“Anarchism has often been perceived as violent [and] inherently chaotic,” said Lakoff in an interview with The Daily. “My response to that is nothing can be actually more chaotic than the current state of the world. There is nothing sane about living under capitalism, about people having to sell their labour for shitty wages, for people to have to breathe in all the toxins that are in our environment, for oil pipelines to be built across the country. That, to me, is insanity, and I think what anarchists are actually proposing is a world based on sentiments of mutual aid and on love and passion.”

This sentiment was the basis of Lakoff’s zine, which he first conceived of three years ago. “Amongst anarchists, there is this really unfortunate sense of cynicism,” said Lakoff. “I started writing the zine after the G20 protests in Toronto a few years ago where some of my really good friends were in jail […] and people just kind of lost hope.”

Migrant justice activist Mostafa Henaway explained the concept of hope in an anarchist community at the event. “When we talk about hope, it’s that people [are] able to regain a sense of agency over their lives.”

“You see anarchism every day,” remarked Henaway. “You see people making decisions collectively through consensus, you see people reject unjust authority […] it’s not a very radical idea. What may seem radical is the way in which people perceive anarchism is trying to get there.”

While to some, anarchism and hope may not seem connected, to Henaway, “They’re intertwined. […] Especially working with people who are precarious workers […] it’s either they have hope, or capitalism breaks them down.”

“Bureaucracies are this way to keep us oppressed,” Lakoff stated. “They’re cold, they’re faceless, they’re hard to navigate, and they’re essentially made to disorient people. The beautiful thing about anarchists and what anarchism is trying to do is break through those bureaucracies by trying to put forth a more human way of interacting with each other.”

Howl! Arts Collective member Stefan Christoff highlighted the need to spread ideas and create discussion on the subject of social activism. “We wanted to publish Aaron’s text on anarchism […] because we felt it was important to create a publication that could be shared with others [and] that’s rooted in reflection,” he told The Daily.

“Hope is like bread,” Lakoff said at the event. “It’s something that we need to nourish us.”

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Evidence for Democracy, a non-profit and non-partisan coalition of scientists and experts, organized “Stand Up for Science” rallies in cities across Canada. The rallies aim to increase public demand for science spending and the free dissemination of scientific knowledge, especially after the recent flurry of budget cuts to scientific institutions.

At the rally, signs bearing phrases such as “Use evidence to decide our future,” and “Children need fantasy, adults need evidence: bring it back!” were wielded by scientists, social justice group The Montreal Raging Grannies, and celebrity guests such as Marc Garneau, former Canadian astronaut and current Liberal Member of Parliament (MP), and Laurin Liu, former McGill student and current NDP MP.

The current federal government’s tactics hit especially close to home for Joelle Pelletier, a chemistry professor and biochemistry instructor at the Université de Montréal, who told The Daily that her laboratory work has been affected by budget cuts and gag orders.

“Budget cuts are atrocious because they prevent us from doing science,” said Pelletier. “But doing science and having it repressed – that is fundamentally worse and that is what I absolutely cannot condone.”

Science advocates have felt that Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has been at odds with the scientific community since his original election in 2006. As early as 2008, Environment Canada – the federal government agency responsible for researching and protecting the environment – implemented policies that limited federal scientists’ abilities to talk openly to the public about their work.

One notable example of budget cuts to scientific endeavours came in May 2012, when it was announced that federal funding was being withdrawn from the Experimental Lakes Area, even though it only cost $2 million. The move provoked outrage among both the scientific community and the general public.

Critics have also attacked Harper’s track record on tar sands and oil in Canada. In recent years, the federal government has pushed to create more pipelines, such as the Keystone XL pipeline. The Conservative government has also been accused of “green-washing” the oil sands – or, making them look more environmentally friendly than they are.

The 2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) rankings showed that Canada has dropped 25 positions on the EPI over the last 5 years, and is now on par with Mexico and Brazil – far below any European nation on the Index. Over the next 5 years, Canada’s position is expected to fall below another 25 to 30 nations.

The dramatic drop in international environmental standing has been the subject of attention of scientists and the general public – most of whom expressed frustration over Canada’s mediocre performance.

In an interview with The Daily, “Stand Up for Science!” volunteer Stephanne Taylor, who is currently pursuing a PhD in McGill’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, allocated most of the blame to governmental oversight.

“When your information does get out, in one way, shape, or form, the government is not listening to that information; they’re not basing their policy on the evidence,” says Taylor.

For many at the rally and critics of the Harper government’s policies on science, the restructuring of the National Research Council (NRC) is also cause for concern.

Pelletier pointed to the Harper government’s focus on applied instead of basic research, and expressed concern that this focus was an indication that the Harper government values the private investment sector over making headway with new research. She speculated that in 20 years, “There will be no advancements, no new technologies that will be able to feed into these applications,” which could severely diminish the scope of future Canadian research.

Taylor acknowledged that industrial projects were “economically viable and important,” but that the privatization of the NRC has gone too far in “consolidating the economic potential of this enormously robust, very successful national research center.”

Nancy Brown, a McGill graduate and a member of the advocacy group the Raging Grannies, shared a similar sentiment on Harper’s focus on commercial science.

“[Now] it’s about […] what can we develop that we can manufacture, that we can sell, that we can make money. That’s all they’re looking at,” said Brown. “The fundamental science that was once the domain of the National Research Council has been set aside.”

“I used to be proud to be Canadian,” said Pelletier, “but now it’s […] so embarrassing to admit.”

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The café itself is quite tucked-away for such a grandiose event. Located on the Mile End stretch of Parc, Résonance Café is easily missed by the average passerby who might casually dismiss the steep steps that lead down to the entrance of the eclectic brasserie. For those who do take notice, descending the staircase gives the impression of entering an exclusive gathering place, in many ways not too far from the truth.

The readers participating in the 8th session were a motley crew, their pieces ranging from excerpts of upcoming novels to works of poetry that will soon be featured in opera collaborations. To participate, readers submit a part of their piece to Klara Du Plessis, a part-time employee of Résonance who has been curating the monthly Reading Series since its debut in January 2013. The series itself is specifically designed to expose listeners to a variety of artistic mediums, and the curatorial process behind the event attempts to ensure a balance between prose and poetry.

The effort seems to be attracting a fair bit of attention – Du Plessis explained that while she initially had to invite writers to read, people are now volunteering to participate in this increasingly popular event. Most of the readers last Saturday were all part of the same writing club, which welcomes anyone who wishes to join. Du Plessis aims for writers with a variety of backgrounds and encourages first-time readers to apply. Although some of the readers have been published, most haven’t.

Du Plessis even read some of her own poetry at the event, including an evocative feminist piece about a woman with two mouths. As a writer of poetry and prose, she stated that she initially began the reading series in order to “insert [her] real identity into the workplace” and “maximize the potential of the cultural space already available.” She went on to describe the series as a “forum for original creative writing and other text-based projects,” allowing both readers and listeners alike to engage in inspired conversations while completely eradicating the stereotypical notion of the reclusive writer in the process.

“Apart from readings of poetry, prose, and even theatre, there have also been a number of musical collaborations and verbo-visual interactions. Participants range from first-time readers to published authors. I like to think that it’s an approachable event, informal, fun, but always with the adrenaline rush of performance,” said Du Plessis.

One such participant, Leigh Gillam, explained that she “learn[s] a lot from interacting with other people.” The visual artist was a first-time reader at the Résonance Series but has shared her work – consisting of both poetry and prose – in a variety of other forums. Gillam introduced her piece by mentioning the preconceived notion that visual artists generally have a more difficult time writing – a surprising idea given the quality of her written work. The session once again veered away from the stifling stereotype of a pretentious reading, as the highly receptive audience listened to Gillam’s excerpt from her upcoming novel about the journey of a monster and scientist. “Sometimes it feels good just to get out and about and just to sort of put your stuff out there and then risk something […] it’s not about who knows or who’s specialized in a particular craft but it’s more to do with interacting. I really think that’s more important than whether or not something has been well crafted,” Gillam said.

The Résonance Reading Series has certainly been a hit so far, what with the stylistic variety of writing the sessions promote. With only one month between each session, there are always new poems, prose, or visual pieces to look forward to. And who knows? Perhaps the congregation of creative minds in the café will inspire you to write something of your own someday.

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