CANADIAN FEDERATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN STRATFORD CHAPTER

A FINDING GUIDE TO LOCAL MEDIA RESOURCES AVAILABLE THROUGH THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD AND OTHER SOURCES

Prepared by Cynthia Hastings CFUW Stratford Chapter April 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Recommendations of the TRC Committee of CFUW Stratford

2. National Board Film as a resource for works about and by Indigenous people

3. Beyond the collection of the National Film Board- how to access holdings of other free Public Broadcasters

Page 1 RECOMMENDED NATIONAL FILM BOARD DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

The members of the Stratford CFUW TRC Committee have been watching documentary films sponsored by the National Film Board. A search of the NFB site lists over 165 films listed under the heading Indigenous people. Members of our committee have watched over 130 of the films listed.

Please note that the NFB list for Indigenous films does not include films about Inuit people. Those films can be accessed under the heading “Inuit”.

There is a great deal of material available on the NFB site. We suggest that the more films you view, the deeper will be your understanding of the complex history and issues facing Indigenous peoples. These films are not always easy to watch but they put a very human face to the racism and poverty that is the reality for so many Indigenous peoples in this country.

We are offering a short list of films that our members have seen and recommend as a starting point. Almost all entries were directed by Indigenous peoples and, it was only after careful thought that some entries by non-Indigenous people were included - sadly, they often demonstrate the racist attitudes that prevailed even by organizations that would have seen themselves as unbiased.

For each film we have included a synopsis as provided by the NFB, the year the film was made and the length of the film.

Films are listed in a suggested order for watching, but of course, you can watch in whatever order you prefer. Films

Nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand up...... 4 Protect Our Future Daughters ...... 5 The Road Forward ...... 6 Trick or Treaty? ...... 7 As I Am...... 8 ...... 9 Second Stories - it Had to Be Done ...... 10 Two Worlds Colliding ...... 12 Rocks at Whiskey Trench ...... 13 Urban Elder...... 14 Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance ...... 15 No Turning Back...... 16 Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief ...... 17 You Are on Indian Land ...... 18 These Are My People ...... 19 Powwow at Duck Lake ...... 20 Indian Dialogue...... 21 Indian Relocation: Elliott Lake...... 22 Because They Are Different ...... 23 No Longer Vanishing ...... 24

Page 3 NÎPAWISTAMÂSOWIN: We Will Stand Up

Tasha Hubbard 2019 | 1 h 38 min

Synopsis

On August 9, 2016, a young man named Colten Boushie died from a gunshot to the back of his head after entering Gerald Stanley’s rural property with his friends. The jury’s subsequent acquittal of Stanley captured international attention, raising questions about racism embedded within ’s legal system and propelling Colten’s family to national and international stages in their pursuit of justice. Sensitively directed by Tasha Hubbard, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up weaves a profound narrative encompassing the filmmaker’s own adoption, the stark history of colonialism on the Prairies, and a vision of a future where Indigenous children can live safely on their homelands. See the 52-minute version here.

Page 4 PROTECT OUR FUTURE DAUGHTERS

Maryanne Junta & Helena Lewis 2017 | 5 min

Synopsis

Short docu-drama that educates viewers about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) of Canada and the Red Dress Project, narrated by Maryanne Junta, a young activist woman.

Page 5 THE ROAD FORWARD

Marie Clements 2017 | 1 h 41 min

Synopsis

The Road Forward, a musical documentary by Marie Clements, connects a pivotal moment in Canada’s civil rights history—the beginnings of Indian Nationalism in the 1930s—with the powerful momentum of First Nations activism today. The Road Forward’s stunningly shot musical sequences, performed by an ensemble of some of Canada’s finest vocalists and musicians, seamlessly connect past and present with soaring vocals, blues, rock, and traditional beats. A rousing tribute to the fighters for First Nations rights, a soul-resounding historical experience, and a visceral call to action.

Page 6 TRICK OR TREATY?

Alanis Obomsawin 2014 | 1 h 24 min

Synopsis

Covering a vast swath of northern Ontario, Treaty No. 9 reflects the often contradictory interpretations of treaties between First Nations and the Crown. To the Canadian government, this treaty represents a surrendering of Indigenous sovereignty, while the descendants of the Cree signatories contend its original purpose to share the land and its resources has been misunderstood and not upheld. Enlightening as it is entertaining, Trick or Treaty? succinctly and powerfully portrays one community’s attempts to enforce their treaty rights and protect their lands, while also revealing the complexities of contemporary treaty agreements. Trick or Treaty? made history as the first film by an Indigenous filmmaker to be part of the Masters section at TIFF when it screened there in 2014.

Page 7 AS I AM

Nadia Myre 2010 4 min.

Synopsis

This short experimental documentary challenges stereotypes about Indigenous people in the workplace. Featuring portraits set to a powerful poem by Mohawk writer Janet Marie Rogers, the film urges viewers to go beyond their preconceived notions. As I Am is a celebration of Indigenous people's pride in their work and culture.

Page 8 CLUB NATIVE

Tracey Deer 2008 | 1 h 18 min

Synopsis

Tracey Deer grew up on the Mohawk reserve of with two very firm but unspoken rules drummed into her by the collective force of the community. These rules were very simple and they carried severe repercussions: 1) Do not marry a white person, 2) Do not have a child with a white person.

Page 9 SECOND STORIES - IT HAD TO BE DONE

T e s s a Desnomie 2008 | 22 min

Synopsis

This short documentary explores the legacy of residential schools through the eyes of two extraordinary women who not only lived it, but who, as adults, made the surprising decision to return to the school that had affected their lives so profoundly. This intimate and moving film affirms their strength and dignity in standing up and making a difference on their own terms.

Page 10 FINDING DAWN

Christine Welsh 2006 | 1 h 13 min

Synopsis

Acclaimed Métis filmmaker Christine Welsh brings us a compelling documentary that puts a human face on a national tragedy – the epidemic of missing or murdered Indigenous women in Canada. The film takes a journey into the heart of Indigenous women's experience, from Vancouver's skid row, down the Highway of Tears in northern BC, and on to Saskatoon, where the murders and disappearances of these women remain unsolved.

Page 11 TWO WORLDS COLLIDING

Tasha Hubbard 2004 | 49 min

Synopsis

This documentary is an inquiry into what came to be known as Saskatoon's infamous "freezing deaths," and the schism between a fearful, mistrustful Indigenous community and a police force harbouring a harrowing secret.

One frigid night in January 2000 Darrell Night, an Indigenous man was dumped by two police officers in -20° C temperatures in a barren field on the city outskirts. He survives the ordeal but is stunned to hear that the frozen body of another Indigenous man was discovered in the same area. Days later, another victim, also Native, is found. When Night comes forward with his story, he sets into motion a chain of events: a major RCMP investigation into several suspicious deaths, the conviction of the two constables who abandoned him and the reopening of an old case, leading to a judicial inquiry.

Page 12 ROCKS AT WHISKEY TRENCH

Alanis Obomsawin 2000 | 1 h 45 min

Synopsis

Stories of resistance, strength and perseverance are laid bare in this examination of a dark day in Canadian history. At the height of tensions at Oka, , in 1990, Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) women, children and Elders fled their community of Kahnawake out of fear for their safety. Once past the Canadian Army that surrounded their home, they were assaulted by angry non-Indigenous protesters who pelted their convoy with rocks. This visceral display of hatred and violence – rarely seen so publicly in Canada – shocked the nation and revealed the severity of the dangers that faced the Kanien’kehá:ka in their struggle to defend a sacred site.

Page 13 URBAN ELDER

Robert S. Adams 1997 | 28 min

Synopsis

In the last forty years, Canada has seen a major population shift of Indigenous peoples to the urban centres like Toronto which has become home to the largest urban Indigenous population in the country (an estimated 65,000).

Today's urban Indigenous peoples (both those with a direct connection to land-based reservation life, and those who have always lived in cities) are developing an urban Indigenous culture. They are discovering ways to integrate important expressions of traditional culture into city life, including the tradition of the Elder: a person of great wisdom who dispenses advice, settles disputes, and acts as a model and arbitrator of acceptable behaviour.

Meet Vern Harper, Urban Elder, who walks the "Red Road" in a fast-paced, urban landscape. The camera follows Vern as he leads a sweat lodge purification ceremony, watches his 11-year-old daughter Cody at a classical ballet rehearsal, conducts a private healing ceremony, participates in a political march of 150,000 people, and counsels Indigenous prisoners at Warkworth Federal Prison.

In his own voice, Vern Harper tells the Urban Elder story of how he reaches into the past for his people's traditions, blending those old ways into the present so that the future can be a time of personal growth and spiritual strength.

Page 14 KANEHSATAKE: 270 YEARS OF RESISTANCE

Alanis Obomsawin

1993 1hr. 59 min.

Synopsis

In July 1990, a dispute over a proposed golf course to be built on Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) lands in Oka, Quebec, set the stage for a historic confrontation that would grab international headlines and sear itself into the Canadian consciousness. Director Alanis Obomsawin—at times with a small crew, at times alone—spent 78 days behind Kanien’kéhaka lines filming the armed standoff between protestors, the Quebec police and the Canadian army. Released in 1993, this landmark documentary has been seen around the world, winning over a dozen international awards and making history at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it became the first documentary ever to win the Best Canadian Feature award. Jesse Wente, Director of Canada’s Indigenous Screen Office, has called it a “watershed film in the history of First Peoples cinema.”

THIS FILM CONTAINS SCENES OF VIOLENCE. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Page 15 NO TURNING BACK

Greg Coyes 1991 47 min.

Synopsis

This film follows the aftermath of the Oka crisis, which brought Indigenous rights into sharp focus. After the barricades came down, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was created, and travelled to more than 100 communities and heard from more than 1,000 representatives. For two-and-a-half years, teams of Indigenous filmmakers followed the Commission on its journey.

Page 16 DOCTOR, LAWYER, INDIAN CHIEF

Carol Geddes 1986 28 min.

Synopsis

A tribute to Indigenous women everywhere, this short documentary focuses on 5 women from across Canada. Of varied ages and backgrounds, they have achieved success in a variety of careers: as the Yukon legislature's first Indigenous woman minister (Margaret Joe), as a deck hand on a fishing boat (Corinne Hunt), as a teacher (Sophie MacLeod), as a lawyer (Roberta Jamieson), and as a band council chief (Sophie May Pierre - St. Mary’s Indian Band of the Ktunaxa Nation off the Ktunaxa Nation).

Each of these women talks about how she got to where she is today while emphasizing the importance of Indigenous culture - its values, art, and spiritual beliefs - in helping her to develop a sense of self and seeing through rough times, including residential school experiences.

Page 17 YOU ARE ON INDIAN LAND

Michael Kanentakeron Mitchell 1969 | 36 min

Synopsis

Released in 1969, this short documentary was one of the most influential and widely distributed productions made by the Indian Film Crew (IFC), the first all-Indigenous unit at the NFB. It documents a 1969 protest by the Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) of , a territory that straddles the Canada–U.S. border. When Canadian authorities prohibited the duty-free cross-border passage of personal purchases—a right established by the Jay Treaty of 1794—Kanien’kéhaka protesters blocked the international bridge between Ontario and New York State. Director Michael Kanentakeron Mitchell later became Grand Chief of Akwesasne. The film was formally credited to him in 2017. You Are on Indian Land screened extensively across the continent, helping to mobilize a new wave of Indigenous activism. It notably was shown at the 1970 occupation of Alcatraz.

Page 18 THESE ARE MY PEOPLE

Roy Daniels, Willie Dunn, Michael Kanentakeron, Mitchell and Barbara Wilson 1969 -13 min.

Synopsis

Released in 1969, These Are My People… was the first NFB film made entirely by an Indigenous crew. It was co-directed by Roy Daniels, Willie Dunn, Michael Kanentakeron Mitchell and Barbara Wilson—members of the Indian Film Crew (IFC), an all-Indigenous unit established in 1968 as part of Challenge for Change, a broader organizational initiative to use media to effect social change. One of the first Canadian documentaries to foreground an Indigenous perspective on the history of Indigenous–settler relations, it features Standing Arrow and Tom Porter, from the Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) community of Akwesasne, who discuss longhouse religion, culture, government and the impacts of settler arrival on their way of life.

Page 19 POWWOW AT DUCK LAKE

1967 | 14 min

Synopsis

This powerful short documentary showing Indigenous youth resistance and emerging voices that will continue to define the landscape of Indigenous cultural and political activism for the next generation. Members of the National Youth Council, including Duke Redbird and Harold Cardinal, have a powerful exchange with a hostile white priest about the failures of the education system in relation to Indigenous people. The group tackles issues including segregated residential schools, the denial of citizenship rights, loss of language, and mass incarceration, many of which persist or continue to be stumbling blocks in the relationship between Indigenous people and the Government of Canada today.

Page 20 INDIAN DIALOGUE

David Hughes 1967 27 min.

Synopsis

Leading Indigenous activists, thinkers and community organizers – including Harold Cardinal, Walter Dieter, Mary Ann Lavallee and Duke Redbird – have a frank conversation about the broken relationship between the Government of Canada and Indigenous people. Taking place in 1967, the discussion remains deeply resonant today, where the same issues persist. The group expertly parse the “unconscionable” treaty agreements, the intricacies of the Indian Act, and the political system as tools designed to prevent Indigenous self-determination and economic independence. They explore what it means to be “Indian”, and offer radical new ideas for Indigenous self-governing policies, some of which were developed by individuals in this group, and others that are still being fought for today. This film was produced as part of Challenge for Change/Société Nouvelle (CFC/SN), a ground-breaking community engaged documentary program run by the NFB from 1967 to 1980. The program pioneered participatory and experimental storytelling in film and video, with a focus on the perspectives of Indigenous and marginalized communities whose voices were rarely represented in the media landscape. In 1968, the Challenge for Change program established the “Indian Film Crew”, marking the beginning of a movement of Indigenous filmmaking at the NFB, and in Canada.

Page 21 INDIAN RELOCATION: ELLIOTT LAKE

D’Arcy Marsh and David Hughes

1967 29 Min.

Synopsis

Vocational and academic education programs are introduced as a way to prepare Indigenous people for city life in this short documentary film. As families move out to northern Ontario's Elliot Lake from neighbouring reserves, programs such as these are used to integrate them into society. Through this film, we hear from some of the families who stayed, and some who returned.

Page 22 BECAUSE THEY ARE DIFFERENT

1967 29 min.

Synopsis

This short documentary explores issues surrounding the integration of Canadian Indigenous people into social institutions such as the non-Indigenous school systems and workforce. Questions arise about the viability and desirability of integration, and old prejudices are revealed in interviews and commentary from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians.

Page 23 NO LONGER VANISHING

Grant McLean 1957 27 Min.

Synopsis

This short documentary from 1957 presents a discussion of the status of Indigenous peoples in Canada at that time. The focus of the film is on integrating into a non-Indigenous Canadian society.

It should be noted that this film is a product of the time it was produced.

Page 24 Beyond the National Film Board- how to access holdings of other free Public Broadcasters

1. TVO:

TVOntario is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario. If you search using the word “Indigenous”, there are many titles - some are NFB films included on this site but there are also many other films.

You can find the site on the internet using “ tvo.org ”.

2. KNOWLEDGE:

International dramas, award-winning documentaries, and exclusive Knowledge Originals.

All available to stream free and commercial free anywhere in Canada, courtesy of British Columbia’s public broadcaster. If you search the site using the word “Indigenous”, there are many titles - some NFB films are included on this site as a separate category under “NFB Indigenous Cinema” but there are also many other films.

You can find the site on the internet using “ knowledge.ca ”.

Page 25 OTHER RESOURCES:

ABORIGINAL PEOPLES TELEVISION NETWORK

The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) is a Canadian specialty channel dealing with aboriginal issues. Established in 1992 with governmental support to broadcast in Canada's northern territories, since 1999 APTN has had a national broadcast licence. This network content can also be accessed on Youtube as well as through some cable providers.

CBC RADIO 1

Unreserved:

Unreserved is the radio space for Indigenous community, culture, and conversation. Host Falen Johnson takes you straight into Indigenous Canada, from Halifax to Haida Gwaii, from Shamattawa to Ottawa, introducing listeners to the storytellers, culture makers and community shakers from across the country. The Unreserved team offers real talk from the people behind the headlines, with a soundtrack from the best in Indigenous music.

Find at CBC Radio One Sunday at 7 p.m. and Tuesday at 1 p.m. (ET)

Reclaimed:

Reclaimed is a weekly series on CBC Radio that explores the many worlds of contemporary Indigenous music from traditional songs and acoustic sounds to Native hip-hop, R&B, and the dancefloor-filling beats of electric powwow.

Find at CBC Radio One Sunday at 7:30 p.m. (ET)

UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

Indigenous Canada is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the Faculty of Native Studies that explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada.

From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores key issues facing Indigenous peoples today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations.

Indigenous Canada is for individuals with an interest in acquiring a basic familiarity with Indigenous/non-Indigenous relationships. This is a free program. Access through https://www.ualberta.ca/admissions-programs/online-courses/indigenous-canada/index.html

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