I was expecting that, being together, we're going to be happy all the time. But my expectation is not fulfilled.

Esterina Pusag
mother of Maricel

Productions Multi-Monde

ontreal filmmaker Marie Boti joined forces with Toronto community activist Florchita Bautista to make When Strangers Re-Unite, an exploration of how Filipino families, separated by the international labour market, struggle to rebuild their lives together.

Over eight million Filipinos, mostly women, have left their country to find work. Professionals in the Philippines, they make up the majority of Canada's domestic workers. Canada is a much desired destination, being the only country where these migrant workers can apply for immigrant status. Yet the process is long and rife with bureaucratic obstacles. Many dream of the day when their families can join them here.

But these long aniticipated reunions are often painful and difficult. Charting the progress of three families as they seek help from the Filipino community, the film offers a portrait of the effect of labour migration on people's lives.

anada receives thousands of new immigrants every year, but there is little understanding of people's reasons for settling here and of their conditions.

Canada is one of the few countries where contract domestic workers can dream of bringing their families one day. Most of these workers from the Philippines are eager to come to Canada because of a lack of opportunities back home, a culture that paints a rosy picture of the West and Philippine government policies that encourage its population to go abroad to work. Their remittances are the goverment's main source of revenues and foreign currency. Billboard ads and TV commercials praise these domestic workers abroad as "new economic heroines."

Villages and towns throughout the Philippines show signs of support from overseas family members: TV sets, VCRs, microwave ovens, paved basketball courts. But these superficial signs of wealth clash with the deep-rooted poverty, lack of real local economic development and employment opportunities that make up the reality of country.

Families make great sacrifices to send a mother, sister, wife or cousin overseas, sometimes managing to live relatively well from the money they receive from abroad. But the price they pay can be high: the children feel abandoned, family ties break down and entire communities are affected.

Meanwhile, the overseas worker puts in up to 80-hour weeks to keep the money flowing home while she hides the realities she lives with so her family won't worry.

A growing number of groups in the Philippines and Canada are focusing on the impact of migration. When Strangers Re-Unite reflects their concerns, how they're dealing with the issue and the alternatives they propose.

A previous Productions Multi-Monde documentary, Brown Women Blond Babies, also directed by Marie Boti and Florchita Bautista, spotlighted the conditions of domestic workers in Canada. The second film collaboration of Boti and Bautista, When Strangers Re-Unite, looks at the impact of migration on Filipino families, here and in their homeland. It looks at the problems of children, men and women, and how the community is addressing these. The stories are set against the background of changing policies on foreign domestic workers and immigration to show the conflicts and contradictions — as well as the joys — of integrating into Canadian society.

To view a clip from the video, click on the image below.