VOICES FROM THE SHADOWS 77 min.

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Is social assistance a right or a privilege? Is Canada's welfare system hopelessly inadequate? What has happened to one of the nation's most sacred social programs? These are some of the vital questions at the heart of Voices from the Shadows.

This is the critical examination of the welfare policies in four Canadian provinces. It is the compelling drama of a group of very different individuals and families on welfare struggling to survive - how they are treated, what benefits they receive, and the patchwork of complicated laws and policies which determine their eligibility for assistance.

Hauntingly real, Voices from the Shadows echoes the voices of poor Canadians who ask nothing more than to be treated with fairness and respect.

"Voices from the Shadows is a gritty film, at times as bleak as the lives it portrays... the documentary has undeniable power. Some of the tragedy it reveals is not directly related to income: a postscript to the film notes that the Dueck's two-year old, Darcy, died while waiting for a kidney transplant. But for the most part, the sheer desperation of poverty and the courage required of those who face it daily create a lasting discomfort."

Nancy Wood, Maclean's Magazine

FINALIST, THE NEW YORK FESTIVALS, 1992
NOMINATED, BEST INVESTIGATIVE DOCUMENTARY, Canadian Association of Journalists, 1993