Synopsis

SAY I DO chronicles the stories of three “mail-order brides” from the Philippines now living in Canada. In order to escape lives of poverty and support their families, these women married men they didn’t know. Upon arriving in Canada, they found themselves isolated in remote regions of the country. One woman arrived in a small town in the dead of winter to find herself living in a camper with no running water. She soon discovered that her husband was a violent man.

With no one to turn to, these women were at the mercy of their husbands - men who searched for women with traditional family values, and were unsuccessful with Canadian women whom they felt had too many freedoms and were “spoiled.”

“Whether you like it or not, whether your marriage is good or not, you have to take it. So it's just like a gamble. You're gambling yourself.”

The mail-order bride industry has exploded with the advent of the Internet. Websites, newspaper advertisements, and pen pal agencies sell contact information to link men from the West with women from developing countries. A Website operator is interviewed: “One of the easiest things to sell to men are women... It's mostly all foreign women… European, Philippines. Philippines is huge.” As he searches his Website “Island Girls” he points and clicks on 17 year-old Hazel. “Here's a little girl from the Philippines… It's easy for guys to look at pretty girls and say, ‘Oh I want to meet her. How do I meet her?’ Send Johnny money!” He laughs.

In the Philippines, we meet two young women who are registered on the Internet. Young Emma is soon to marry Stan, a logging weigh master living in Greenwood, British Columbia (Canada’s smallest city - population: 666). Another young woman reads a letter she received after her photo was posted on the “Intimate Submissives” website:

“…I need to find myself a nice submissive young lady who wants and needs to have me control and direct her life. I am age 52, divorced after a long marriage. There is nothing so pleasurable to me as teaching a young woman to submit fully to my wishes… If my wife does not obey me, then I am perfectly willing to punish her in whatever way I think is right...”

What lies ahead for these women is uncertain. The lucky ones may find stability. The less fortunate may suffer terrible consequences. All of them are willing to take the risk.