"Hanging On" Film Review

The short documentary film “Hanging On” exposes the struggles that immigrants face in the small town of Moncton, New Brunswick. The film is part of the “Work For All” project 2006, an NFB and HRSDC-Labour initiative to combat racism in the workplace. The project includes a collection of 11 short films, I had the chance to watch two of them: ‘Screen Test’ and ‘Jaded,’ both are very engaging and eye-opening.

This film was produced in 2006 and I am very shocked that this kind of behavior is still happening in Canada. It’s definitely something that you would not see as much in larger cities like Ottawa, Montreal or Toronto. In my opinion, it appears that racism and prejudices in the workplace are more prevalent in smaller cities and towns like Moncton, because they are not as culturally diverse as the bigger cities are.

Immigrants to Canada are looking for opportunities in education and the workplace but they are not finding this. They are not finding the diversity that they thought Canada was made of. They’re attending the same Canadian universities and receiving the same degrees, but are not offered the same jobs as others. The people interviewed resorted to working in call centers to make a living because they weren’t being hired for positions in their field of work. One woman interviewed obtained three degrees and a Ph.D. but was not able to find a job; instead she worked in a call centre.

This is just appalling to me, I cannot wrap my head around how a person who has three degrees from a Canadian university and cannot find a job in that field: it’s mind-boggling! Watching this film has really made me more aware of racism and discrimination in the workplace. Our country still has a lot of work to do to ensure inclusiveness and that there is diversity in the workplace. It’s really sad to know that in present-day Canada we have people who have a great deal of education, valuable knowledge and opinions. They have the same ambitions and aspirations, but are simply not given equal opportunity.