Parts & Labor - A Review!

Just attended a lovely theatrical project, titled “Parts & Labour” .. A Live Documentary Play by Col Cseke .. a lovely person who surprised me that we sat previously on the same jury committee!

I can’t hide my interest in plays where the author participates as the narrator of events. Col also added a participatory component to the play inviting the audience to take the Canadian citizenship test .. guess what .. only one out of the 50-60 people attending passed the exam .. 34 participated if you’re wondering!

Why I felt obliged to write my reactions and feelings?! Basically the play is about the dream and “hope” to come to Canada and take the long route to live and become a citizen in this lovely place starting at the “Temporary Foreign Worker” program. Towards the end, the author talked about an interesting idea that played with his mind as he watched the fireworks on Canada Day last week. The “happy” visual aesthetics and the lights & colours are the product of “explosions”, which are “unhappy” and war-like. That is the overall theme of the play emphasizing the discrepancy between the dream, the hope .. and the reality on which we turn a blind eye.

I started developing my artistic persona through developing my interest in theatre. I wrote a play that just received funding to be realized,and am writing my second one now, and have worked with two amazing people to launch the Arab Canadian Theatre .. they taught me a lot and even invested in and encouraged me to act. Beside my teaching career, I am an immigration consultant who also teaches Canadian immigration and refugee law! Add to that, I am an Egyptian who moved to Canada and has been experiencing the discrepancy and distance between the two cultures.. and effect of that on human interaction .. and also policy!

So, the play was right on and touched on many points, generated many ideas, and induced much more feelings! “Parts & Labour” uses the big meat factories in Alberta, in Brooks and High River .. highlighting the fact that more than 80% of its labour come from the global south as Temporary Foreign Workers, TFW. In a set of interviews on stage, we learn the struggles of some of these workers and the challenges they face dealing with the inhabitants of these little towns, who are still learning to live with the demographic imbalance since the 1980s; with the management of the these factories representing the capitalist machine that can’t stop; and the government’s immigration laws that have a lot of progress to experience!

For instance, the “Canadian Pension Plan” and “Employment Insurance” deducted from a temporary foreign worker .. non-refundable upon return to own country .. made a worker who was interviewed in the play miss the days he worked in Saudi Arabia!

True .. why would a TFW accept deductions that he/she will never benefit from upon the termination of their contract?! Since it is a closed work permit, termination does not help them stay in Canada and start another job .. unless another company offers them a job and apply for a Labour Market Impact Assessment, LMIA. Hence, they can’t enjoy EI until they find a new job that receives a positive LMIA. This only means they are ripped off in their previous deductions AND have to leave Canada!

As an Egyptian who is very critical of the masked “slavery” exercised in the KSA, I still can’t accept this rip-off of TFWs. Putting the two models next to each other, I still don’t accept this and blame capitalism! Teaching my students that Employment & Social Development Canada takes legal steps to guarantee that the rights of workers are protected through measures that are in line with our Charter of Rights & Freedoms .. which make this country a great one .. was a bit shaken tonight. Seeing the structures that lead to injustices upheld, really impressed me and opened new horizons for critique. The mayor interviewed who said that a refugee camp in southern Sudan provided tons of war victims to cut our meat, tried to legitimize any structural injustice by emphasizing the notion of demand & supply leading to the idea of “they are lucky to be here”, “it’s their choice” and “they should be thankful”. The dehumanization and alienation are so vivid .. so close .. it hurts!

Beside entertaining, this was an awesome disruptive thought-provoking show, which is what art should do. Thinking about the development our legal arsenal need; the non-conformist message art should have; the need to test & re-test one’s convictions; and spitting more (as an interviewed Karen defined a true Canadian as a person who pays their bills and doesn’t spit on the ground) are what I happily enjoyed most in the show.

Thanks Mark & Sleman! Thanks Col, the cast, the technical crew and West Village Theatre .. I really enjoyed and learned from the show .. congratulations!

Written October 2022