Babe, I Hate to Go

Goodbyes are a ritual for Delroy. A migrant worker from Jamaica, he spends six months of every year working in the tobacco fields of southwestern Ontario. He is the only breadwinner for his wife and six children. His family’s survival hinges on his annual departure for Canada each spring; a journey he has made for 30 years. But this year Delroy hides a secret – he has cancer. A doctor diagnoses Delroy with late-stage melanoma shortly after he arrives in Canada. Unable to accept the news, he continues to work and hides the truth from his family back home. It doesn’t take long for his illness to catch up with him. His job is already physically demanding and it becomes clear that Delroy will not be able to work much longer. A story of perseverance and acceptance, Babe, I Hate to Go is an intimate observational documentary about a man coming to terms with his mortality and a testament to the thousands of migrant workers who separate themselves from their families in order to survive.