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Gallery 1: Early Canada ⟶ Origins ⟶ The First Peoples

First Peoples remember their origins through oral histories passed down by elders in each generation.

These narratives describe the creation of the world and how First Peoples came to live in it. More than legends, they embody a view of how the world fits together, and how human beings should behave in it.

Some oral histories refer to a time before human occupation. Others mark significant geographical, spiritual and life events that have occurred over the millennia.

Listen to traditional stories and creation stories told by six Indigenous storytellers from communities across Canada. Each recording is available in the respective Indigenous language and in English, and French transcripts are available.

Haida - The Creation of Haida Gwaii
GwaaGanad (Diane Brown), Haida HlGaagilda Llnagaay (Skidegate Village), Haida Gwaii, British Columbia

Gwi'chin - When Fish Were Men
Joanne Snowshoe, Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories

Piikani - The Story of Napi
Wilfred Yellow Wings, Fort Macleod, Alberta

Anishinabe (Algonquin) - The Otter
Joan Tenasco, Kitigan Zibi, Quebec

Inuit - The Story of Nuliajuk
Peter Irniq, Naujaat, Nunavut

Mi'kmaq - Mi'kmaq Creation Story
Stephen Augustine, Elsipogtog (Big Cove), New Brunswick

A Vital Presence

First Peoples are not the "first immigrants." They are the original peoples, and the fastest-growing population in this land. Over 1 million Indigenous people live in more than 600 villages, towns and cities across the country. They speak more than 50 different Indigenous languages, some as different from one another as English is from Mandarin.

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Traditional Stories and Creation Stories

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Gallery 1: Early Canada ⟶ Origins ⟶ The First Peoples First Peoples remember their origins through oral histories passed down by elders in each generation. These narratives describe the creation of the world and how First Peoples came to live in it.

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In the first episode of season four, The Secret Life of Canada investigates the history behind one of the most referenced images connected to the Canadian Residential School system.

Often published with the title "Before and After", the photographs come with scant detail about the child in the photos. Who was this boy? What was his name? Where was he from and what happened to him after he was taken from home?

Co-hosts Leah Simone-Bowen and Falen Johnson go deep into the archives. With the help of filmmaker Louise BigEagle and journalist and writer Paul Seesequasis, creator of the Indigenous Archival Photo Project, they try to piece together the details and find that the images themselves may not be exactly as they appear.

What you'll hear this episode

A detailed description of the two images.

Why these photographs were taken and what they were used for.

The history behind the creation of the Regina Indian Industrial School.

An interview with filmmaker Louise BigEagle

Details about the life of Thomas Moore Keesick.

An interview with journalist and writer Paul Seesequasis, the creator of the Indigenous Archival Photo Project.

A closer look at the two photographs and what they can tell us.

How early photographic ethnographers constructed images of Indigenous people.

How the Indigenous Archival Photo Project is working to re-claim historical images.

More on one of Paul's favourite images (see below) from the archival project.

Key References

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The truth behind the boy in the picture | CBC Radio

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In the first episode of season four, The Secret Life of Canada investigates the history behind one of the most referenced images connected to the Canadian Residential School system. Often published with the title "Before and After", the photographs come with scant detail about the child in the photos.

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The Boy in the Picture: Who was Thomas Moore?

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The Boy in the Picture: Who was Thomas Moore?

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You don't have permission to access "http://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/203-the-secret-life-of-canada/episode/15892925-s4-the-boy-in-the-picture" on this server.
Reference #18.149e2a17.1655355381.19c07da5

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S4: The Boy in the Picture | The Secret Life of Canada | CBC Podcasts | CBC Listen

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They are some of the most shared images connected to the Canadian residential school system. A pair of photos from the late 1800s, taken a few years apart, feature a young Indigenous boy. Often published without his name and with the title “Before and After″ because he is wearing what looks like tr…

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Residential Schools: Google Earth Interactive Map

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Residential Schools: Google Earth Interactive Map

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Aw snap! Google Earth isn't supported on your browser. You may need to update your browser or use a different browser. Please see our system requirements for more information. Chrome is a great choice and you can download it here.

Or if you're feeling adventurous, you can try Earth anyway by choosing an option below.

Learn more about Google Earth.

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Aw snap! Google Earth isn't supported on your browser. You may need to update your browser or use a different browser. Please see our system requirements for more information. Chrome is a great choice and you can download it here. Or if you're feeling adventurous, you can try Earth anyway by choosing an option below.

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Joe Buffalo: Surviving the Horror of Residential Schools by Skateboarding- The New Yorker

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Joe Buffalo: Surviving the Horror of Residential Schools by Skateboarding- The New Yorker

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"Joe Buffalo" | Surviving the Horror of Residential Schools by Skateboarding | The New Yorker

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Names erased: How Indigenous people are reclaiming what was lost

Canada has a long history of erasing Indigenous names-but Unreserved is taking a look at the growing movement to reclaim those names before they're lost.

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Names erased: How Indigenous people are reclaiming what was lost | Unreserved with Rosanna Deerchild | Live Radio | CBC Listen

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Names erased: How Indigenous people are reclaiming what was lost Canada has a long history of erasing Indigenous names-but Unreserved is taking a look at the growing movement to reclaim those names before they're lost.

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Unreserved with Rosanna Deerchild

Reconciliation reality check with Murray Sinclair

Join Rosanna Deerchild for a revealing, poignant and emotional conversation with Murray Sinclair, former Senator and Lead Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In this intimate, hour-long interview ⁠- recorded in his backyard gazebo ⁠- they discuss reconciliation: how far we've come, how far we have left to go and who is responsible for taking the journey. Find out what kept him going during the TRC and what reconciliation looks like to him.

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Reconciliation reality check with Murray Sinclair | Unreserved with Rosanna Deerchild | Live Radio | CBC Listen

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Join Rosanna Deerchild for a revealing, poignant and emotional conversation with Murray Sinclair, former Senator and Lead Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In this intimate, hour-long interview ⁠- recorded in his backyard gazebo ⁠- they discuss reconciliation: how far we've come, how far we have left to go and who is responsible for taking the journey.

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On Demand

Unreserved is the radio space for Indigenous voices - our cousins, our aunties, our elders, our heroes. Rosanna Deerchild guides us on the path to better understand our shared story. Together, we learn and unlearn, laugh and become gentler in all our relations.

Re-building the child welfare system through 'heart work' and home fires

This week on Unreserved, meet some of the people changing Canada's notoriously harmful child welfare system. Darlene Keeper spent 18 years in Manitoba's foster care system. Her experience mirrors that of tens of thousands of Indigenous kids in care. But now, at age 28, she's earning a social work degree to one day help other young Indigenous people in the system. Mary Burton is a Sixties Scoop survivor and the guardian of her grandchildren, who were also in foster care. She's the executive director of Fearless R2W, an organization that helps parents in Winnipeg's North End neighbourhood reunite with their children. She's been advocating for families since she was in her 20s and calls this her "heart work." Julie LaPorte's experience in the child welfare system, which includes losing her mother at 15, gives us insight into the impact of a child's apprehension on their whole family. Now 22, Julie is back in school with plans to open a healing centre one day and continue helping others who have gone through trauma and abuse. Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan is the first community to make use of federal legislation that gives jurisdiction of child and family services back to First Nations. Eva Coles and Nicole Cook are the CEO and associate CEO of the Chief Red Bear Children's Lodge, the child and family services agency on Cowesses. They're building a new system from scratch and tending to a "home fire" of community and connection to do so.

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Re-building the child welfare system through 'heart work' and home fires | Unreserved with Rosanna Deerchild | Live Radio | CBC Listen

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This week on Unreserved, meet some of the people changing Canada's notoriously harmful child welfare system. Darlene Keeper spent 18 years in Manitoba's foster care system. Her experience mirrors that of tens of thousands of Indigenous kids in care. But now, at age 28, she's earning a social work degree to one day help other young Indigenous people in the system.

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We Are All One- Truth and Reconciliation (Animated/Survivor Story)

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We Are All One- Truth and Reconciliation (Animated/Survivor Story)

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Namwayut: we are all one. Truth and reconciliation in Canada | Canada is ...

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Stolen Children | Residential School survivors speak out

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A song written by July Talk and Indigenous youth. The song deals with depression and intergenerational trauma.

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A song written by July Talk and Indigenous youth. The song deals with depression and intergenerational trauma.

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The Students Of Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School - Topic

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Mourning Keeps Coming Back (feat. July Talk, Broken Social Scene, Cris Derksen, Nicholas...

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Virtual library of resources curated by the Indigenous Knowledge & Wisdom Centre.

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IKWC Virtual Library – IKWC Virtual Library

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EPL from Home Indigenous 101: Flint Knapping

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EPL's collection of Indigenous Films and Documentaries.

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Streaming Video - 2018

A 14-year-old girl and her family undertake a kayak trip along the shores of the Great Bear rainforest to protest oil tanker traffic. A 14-year-old girl and her family undertake a kayak trip along the shores of the Great Bear rainforest to protest oil tanker traffic. Show less

A 14-year-old girl and her family undertake a kayak trip along the shores of the Great Bear rainforest to protest oil tanker traffic. A 14-year-old girl and her family undertake a kayak trip along the shores of the Great Bear rainforest to protest oil tanker traffic. Show less

Streaming Video - 2016

Members of an all-Native American girls lacrosse team try to prove the game is their rightful inheritance, putting more than just a championship on the line. Official Selection at the **Tribeca Film Festival** Members of an all-Native American girls lacrosse team try to prove the game is their rightful inheritance, putting more than just a championship on the line. Official Selection at the **Tribeca Film Festival** Show less

Members of an all-Native American girls lacrosse team try to prove the game is their rightful inheritance, putting more than just a championship on the line. Official Selection at the **Tribeca Film Festival** Members of an all-Native American girls lacrosse team try to prove the game is their rightful inheritance, putting more than just a championship on the line. Official Selection at the **Tribeca Film Festival** Show less

Streaming Video - 1998

Based on stories from the book, "The lone ranger and Tonto fistfight in heaven" by Sherman Alexie. Based on stories from the book, "The lone ranger and Tonto fistfight in heaven" by Sherman Alexie. Show less

Based on stories from the book, "The lone ranger and Tonto fistfight in heaven" by Sherman Alexie. Based on stories from the book, "The lone ranger and Tonto fistfight in heaven" by Sherman Alexie. Show less

Streaming Video - 1994

A husband's battle with alcholism causes him to have frequently terrifyingly erratic outbursts in front of his children and violent beatings to his wife. A husband's battle with alcholism causes him to have frequently terrifyingly erratic outbursts in front of his children and violent beatings to his wife. Show less

A husband's battle with alcholism causes him to have frequently terrifyingly erratic outbursts in front of his children and violent beatings to his wife. A husband's battle with alcholism causes him to have frequently terrifyingly erratic outbursts in front of his children and violent beatings to his wife. Show less

Streaming Video - 2014

"Guided by the spirits of her departed mother and brother, an Aboriginal teenager plots revenge against a sadistic Indian Agent"--www.imdb.com. "Guided by the spirits of her departed mother and brother, an Aboriginal teenager plots revenge against a sadistic Indian Agent"--www.imdb.com. Show less

"Guided by the spirits of her departed mother and brother, an Aboriginal teenager plots revenge against a sadistic Indian Agent"--www.imdb.com. "Guided by the spirits of her departed mother and brother, an Aboriginal teenager plots revenge against a sadistic Indian Agent"--www.imdb.com. Show less

Streaming Video - 2012

An eye-opening account of what it is like to be a vulnerable teenager in the modern world. Through the eyes of Larry Sole, a First Nation teenager filled ...Show more An eye-opening account of what it is like to be a vulnerable teenager in the modern world. Through the eyes of Larry Sole, a First Nation teenager filled with bravado and angst, comes the story of three unlikely friends isolated in a small rural town discovering what they can of life and love amid racial tensions and the recklessness of youth, in a world clouded by a dark mystery from his past. Show less

An eye-opening account of what it is like to be a vulnerable teenager in the modern world. Through the eyes of Larry Sole, a First Nation teenager filled ...Show more An eye-opening account of what it is like to be a vulnerable teenager in the modern world. Through the eyes of Larry Sole, a First Nation teenager filled with bravado and angst, comes the story of three unlikely friends isolated in a small rural town discovering what they can of life and love amid racial tensions and the recklessness of youth, in a world clouded by a dark mystery from his past. Show less

Streaming Video - 2013

An eye-opening account of what it is like to be a vulnerable teenager in the modern world. Through the eyes of Larry Sole, a First Nation teenager filled ...Show more An eye-opening account of what it is like to be a vulnerable teenager in the modern world. Through the eyes of Larry Sole, a First Nation teenager filled with bravado and angst, comes the story of three unlikely friends isolated in a small rural town discovering what they can of life and love amid racial tensions and the recklessness of youth, in a world clouded by a dark mystery from his past. Show less

An eye-opening account of what it is like to be a vulnerable teenager in the modern world. Through the eyes of Larry Sole, a First Nation teenager filled ...Show more An eye-opening account of what it is like to be a vulnerable teenager in the modern world. Through the eyes of Larry Sole, a First Nation teenager filled with bravado and angst, comes the story of three unlikely friends isolated in a small rural town discovering what they can of life and love amid racial tensions and the recklessness of youth, in a world clouded by a dark mystery from his past. Show less

Streaming Video - 2010

Samson and Delilah are two teens living in an isolated Aboriginal community in the Central Australian desert. When tragedy strikes, they turn their backs ...Show more Samson and Delilah are two teens living in an isolated Aboriginal community in the Central Australian desert. When tragedy strikes, they turn their backs on home and embark on a journey of survival. Lost, unwanted and alone, they discover that life isn't always fair, but love never judges. Show less

Samson and Delilah are two teens living in an isolated Aboriginal community in the Central Australian desert. When tragedy strikes, they turn their backs ...Show more Samson and Delilah are two teens living in an isolated Aboriginal community in the Central Australian desert. When tragedy strikes, they turn their backs on home and embark on a journey of survival. Lost, unwanted and alone, they discover that life isn't always fair, but love never judges. Show less

Words From A Bear

DVD - 2019

"The mysterious life and mind of Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet N. Scott Momaday, a formative voice of the Native American Renaissance in art and literature."--www.imddb.com "The mysterious life and mind of Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet N. Scott Momaday, a formative voice of the Native American Renaissance in art and literature."--www.imddb.com Show less

"The mysterious life and mind of Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet N. Scott Momaday, a formative voice of the Native American Renaissance in art and literature."--www.imddb.com "The mysterious life and mind of Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet N. Scott Momaday, a formative voice of the Native American Renaissance in art and literature."--www.imddb.com Show less

Atanarjuat, la légende de l'homme rapide

DVD - 2002

"The telling of an Inuit legend of an evil spirit causing strife in the community and one warrior's endurance and battle of its menace."--www.imdb.com "The telling of an Inuit legend of an evil spirit causing strife in the community and one warrior's endurance and battle of its menace."--www.imdb.com Show less

"The telling of an Inuit legend of an evil spirit causing strife in the community and one warrior's endurance and battle of its menace."--www.imdb.com "The telling of an Inuit legend of an evil spirit causing strife in the community and one warrior's endurance and battle of its menace."--www.imdb.com Show less

DVD - 2016

An Inuk filmmaker takes a close look at the central role of seal hunting in the lives of the Inuit, the importance of the revenue they earn from sales of ...Show more An Inuk filmmaker takes a close look at the central role of seal hunting in the lives of the Inuit, the importance of the revenue they earn from sales of seal skins, and the negative impact that international campaigns against the seal hunt have had on their lives. Show less

An Inuk filmmaker takes a close look at the central role of seal hunting in the lives of the Inuit, the importance of the revenue they earn from sales of ...Show more An Inuk filmmaker takes a close look at the central role of seal hunting in the lives of the Inuit, the importance of the revenue they earn from sales of seal skins, and the negative impact that international campaigns against the seal hunt have had on their lives. Show less

The Indians Who Rocked the World

DVD - 2017

This revelatory documentary brings to light the profound and overlooked influence of Indigenous people on popular music in North America. This revelatory documentary brings to light the profound and overlooked influence of Indigenous people on popular music in North America. Show less

This revelatory documentary brings to light the profound and overlooked influence of Indigenous people on popular music in North America. This revelatory documentary brings to light the profound and overlooked influence of Indigenous people on popular music in North America. Show less

Cheval Indien

DVD - 2018

An adaptation of Richard Wagamese's award winning novel, this moving and important drama sheds light on the dark history of Canada's Residential Schools and the indomitable spirit of Indigenous people. An adaptation of Richard Wagamese's award winning novel, this moving and important drama sheds light on the dark history of Canada's Residential Schools and the indomitable spirit of Indigenous people. Show less

An adaptation of Richard Wagamese's award winning novel, this moving and important drama sheds light on the dark history of Canada's Residential Schools and the indomitable spirit of Indigenous people. An adaptation of Richard Wagamese's award winning novel, this moving and important drama sheds light on the dark history of Canada's Residential Schools and the indomitable spirit of Indigenous people. Show less

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Indigenous Films & Documentaries - Edmonton Public Library

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Indigenous Films & Documentaries by EPLGreatStuff_Mary - a staff-created list : In June, Canadians celebrate National Indigenous History Month to honour the history, heritage and diversity of Indigenous peoples in Canada. It is also an opportunity to recognize the strength of present-day Indigenous communities.

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Voices of the Land is a space that supports the
community to create, share, discover and celebrate local
Indigenous content online. Share your history, your
knowledge, your vision, your voice.

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History and Resistance, Skills and Teachings, Art and Artists

Michif Cultural Connections presents: Moccasin Making with Krista Leddy

Moccasin making class taught by instructor Krista Leddy. Also words from Sharon Morin in regards to the Métis culture, history and what we offer at Michif Cultural Connections.

Learn more

Language, Culture and Worldviews, People and Personal Stories, Place, Land and Territory

Voices on the Rise Episode 1: Homecoming

A documentary series about the power of Indigenous languages to revitalize culture and identity.

Learn more

People and Personal Stories

Indigenous 101: Two-Spirit Society

Curious about what it means to be Two-Spirit? Learn first hand from Gabe Calderón as they explain traditional roles and responsibilities in Indigenous communities and detail their personal story as a Two-Spirit person.

Learn more

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History and Resistance, Skills and Teachings, Art and Artists

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When Bonnie was a little girl, her parents packed up their essentials, bundled her and her younger brother onto a long, fur-lined sled and left the government-manufactured community of Igloolik to live off the land, as had generations of Inuit before them.

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Synopsis

Education & Study Guides

This short documentary serves as a quiet elegy for a way of life, which exists now only in the memories of those who experienced it. Bonnie Ammaaq and her family remember it vividly. When Bonnie was a little girl, her parents packed up their essentials, bundled her and her younger brother onto a long, fur-lined sled and left the government-manufactured community of Igloolik to live off the land, as had generations of Inuit before them.

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Bonus

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This short documentary serves as a quiet elegy for a way of life, which exists now only in the memories of those who experienced it. Bonnie Ammaaq and …

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This documentary pokes fun at the ways in which Inuit people have been treated as “exotic” documentary subjects by turning the lens onto the strange behaviours of Qallunaat (the Inuit word for white people).

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This documentary pokes fun at the ways in which Inuit people have been treated as "exotic" documentary subjects by turning the lens onto the strange behaviours of Qallunaat ...

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This documentary pokes fun at the ways in which Inuit people have been treated as “exotic” documentary subjects by turning the lens onto the strange behaviours of Qallunaat (the Inuit word for white people).

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This documentary pokes fun at the ways in which Inuit people have been treated as "exotic" documentary subjects by turning the lens onto the strange behaviours of Qallunaat ...

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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.

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Synopsis

Education & Study Guides

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.

Second Stories follows on the heels of the enormously successful First Stories project, which produced 3 separate collections of short films from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Second Stories builds on that success by continuing the training with 3 of the 12 Indigenous filmmakers who delivered such compelling short documentaries. Produced in association with CBC, APTN, SCN, SaskFilm and MANITOBA FILM & SOUND.

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Watch your films later, offline,
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Related Films

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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 ...

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Alanis Obomsawin tells the story of Shannen’s Dream, a national campaign to provide equitable access to education in safe and suitable schools for First Nations children.

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Synopsis

Education & Study Guides

In this feature-length documentary, Alanis Obomsawin tells the story of Shannen’s Dream, a national campaign to provide equitable access to education in safe and suitable schools for First Nations children. Strong participation in this initiative eventually brings Shannen's Dream all the way to the United Nations in Geneva.

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Already subscribed? Sign in

Watch your films later, offline,
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# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this feature-length documentary, Alanis Obomsawin tells the story of Shannen's Dream, a national campaign to provide equitable access to education in safe and suitable schools for First ...

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Following a historic court case filed by the Assembly of First Nations and the Child and Family Caring Society of Canada against the federal government, Alanis Obomsawin exposes generations of injustices endured by First Nations children living on reserves and their families.

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In this documentary, distinguished filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin focuses her lens on the landmark discrimination case filed by the Assembly of First Nations and the Child and Family Caring ...

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Our People Will Be Healed, Alanis Obomsawin’s 50th film, reveals how a Cree community in Manitoba has been enriched through the power of education.

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Our People Will Be Healed, Alanis Obomsawin's 50th film, reveals how a Cree community in Manitoba has been enriched through the power of education. The Helen Betty Osborne ...

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Kamala Todd's short film is a lyrical portrait of Cease Wyss, of the Squamish Nation. Wyss is a woman who understands the remarkable healing powers of the plants growing all over downtown Vancouver.

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Kamala Todd’s short film is a lyrical portrait of Cease Wyss, of the Squamish Nation. Wyss is a woman who understands the remarkable healing powers of the plants …

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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.

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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 ...

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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.

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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 ...

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This short documentary tells the story of Tony Chachai, a young Indigenous man in search of his identity.

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This short documentary tells the story of Tony Chachai, a young Indigenous man in search of his identity. Moved by the desire to reconnect with his Atikamekw roots, …

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“When you don’t know your language or your culture, you don’t know who you are,” says 69-year-old Armand McArthur, one of the last fluent Nakota speakers in Pheasant Rump First Nation, Treaty 4 territory, in southern Saskatchewan. Through the wisdom of his words, Armand is committed to revitalizing his language and culture for his community and future generations.

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Synopsis

Education & Study Guides

“When you don’t know your language or your culture, you don’t know who you are,” says 69-year-old Armand McArthur, one of the last fluent Nakota speakers in Pheasant Rump First Nation, Treaty 4 territory, in southern Saskatchewan. Through the wisdom of his words, Armand is committed to revitalizing his language and culture for his community and future generations.

Pedagogical evaluations and study guides are only available to CAMPUS subscribers.

CAMPUS

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Watch your films later, offline,
on your phone or tablet.

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Related Films

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"When you don't know your language or your culture, you don't know who you are," says 69-year-old Armand McArthur, one of the last fluent Nakota speakers in Pheasant ...

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In this short film, Inuk artist Asinnajaq plunges us into a sublime imaginary universe—14 minutes of luminescent, archive-inspired cinema that recast the present, past and future of her people in a radiant new light.

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In this short film, Inuk artist Asinnajaq plunges us into a sublime imaginary universe-14 minutes of luminescent, archive-inspired cinema that recast the present, past and future of her ...

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Betty Ann, Esther, Rosalie, and Ben were only four of the 20,000 Indigenous Canadian children taken from their families between 1955 and 1985, to be either adopted into white families or live in foster care. As the four siblings piece together their shared history, their connection deepens, and their family begins to take shape.

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In this deeply moving feature-length documentary, three sisters and a brother meet for the first time. Removed from their young Dene mother during the infamous Sixties Scoop, they ...

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Betty Ann, Esther, Rosalie, and Ben were only four of the 20,000 Indigenous Canadian children taken from their families between 1955 and 1985, to be either adopted into white families or live in foster care. As the four siblings piece together their shared history, their connection deepens, and their family begins to take shape.

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In this deeply moving feature-length documentary, three sisters and a brother meet for the first time. Removed from their young Dene mother during the infamous Sixties Scoop, they ...

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In The Mountain of SGaana, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter spins a magical tale of a young man who is stolen away to the spirit world, and the young woman who rescues him.

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In The Mountain of SGaana, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter spins a magical tale of a young man who is stolen away to the spirit world, and the young ...

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In The Mountain of SGaana, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter spins a magical tale of a young man who is stolen away to the spirit world, and the young woman who rescues him.

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In The Mountain of SGaana, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter spins a magical tale of a young man who is stolen away to the spirit world, and the young ...

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This feature-length doc follows a group of incarcerated men with troubled pasts as they undergo treatment based on Indigenous philosophy at the Waseskun Healing Center.

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Filmed in cinéma vérité style, this feature-length doc follows a group of incarcerated men with troubled pasts as they undergo treatment based on Indigenous philosophy at the Waseskun ...

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This animated short tells the story of a ferocious polar bear turned to stone by an Inuk shaman.

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This animated short tells the story of a ferocious polar bear turned to stone by an Inuk shaman. The tale is based on emerging filmmaker Echo Henoche's favourite ...

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The people of the Attawapiskat First Nation, a Cree community in northern Ontario, were thrust into the national spotlight in 2012 when the impoverished living conditions on their reserve became an issue of national debate. With The People of the Kattawapiskak River, Abenaki director Alanis Obomsawin quietly attends as community members tell their own story, shedding light on a history of dispossession and official indifference. “Obomsawin’s main objective is to make us see the people of Attawapiskat differently,” said Robert Everett-Green in The Globe & Mail. “The emphasis, ultimately, is not so much on looking as on listening—the first stage in changing the conversation, or in making one possible.” Winner of the 2013 Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary, the film is part of a cycle of films that Obomsawin has made on children’s welfare and rights.

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The people of the Attawapiskat First Nation, a Cree community in northern Ontario, were thrust into the national spotlight in 2012 when the impoverished living conditions on their reserve became an issue of national debate. With The People of the Kattawapiskak River, Abenaki director Alanis Obomsawin quietly attends as community members tell their own story, shedding light on a history of dispossession and official indifference. “Obomsawin’s main objective is to make us see the people of Attawapiskat differently,” said Robert Everett-Green in The Globe & Mail. “The emphasis, ultimately, is not so much on looking as on listening—the first stage in changing the conversation, or in making one possible.” Winner of the 2013 Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary, the film is part of a cycle of films that Obomsawin has made on children’s welfare and rights.

Learn about the ongoing housing crisis faced by 1,700 Cree in Northern Ontario, a what led Attawapiskat’s band chief, Theresa Spence, to ask the Canadian Red Cross for help.
Alanis Obomsawin

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M ark bell stops his truck at the edge of town, where the bush road begins. Leaving the engine running, he grabs a cigarette from a pack of Putter's on the dashboard and walks into the trees. After sprinkling out a bit of tobacco from the cigarette, an offering of thanks to the Creator, he lights the smoke. "That's as traditional as I get," says Bell.

Determined to fill his freezer with food, he gets back in the truck and keeps driving into the predawn darkness. A band councillor at Aroland First Nation, part of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Bell lives in Nakina, Ontario, 341 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. Since last March, when the North West Company closed the Northern store in Nakina, the only groceries available in town are the selection of chocolate bars, chips, and shrink-wrapped sandwiches at the gas station. The closest supermarket is the No Frills in Geraldton, about forty-five minutes south-131 kilometres round trip.

Bell hunts, fishes, and traps for much of his food. Moose is his primary source of meat, but it has been over a year since he killed one-a butcher processed it into 486 pounds of steaks, roasts, sausages, pepperettes, and ground meat, and it has lasted until now. If he sees a moose today and gets a clear shot, it will feed him, his wife, Siru Kantola, and daughter, Taiga, as well as his father, brother, and sister-in-law, for another year.

It's just past 6 a.m. on a Saturday near the end of October-already the middle of the moose-hunting season. Bell has heard from friends that moose have been spotted around here recently. Right away, he sees big hoofprints; some, he estimates, are only twenty minutes old. There are bare trees with broken branches from where moose rubbed their antlers to remove the "velvet"-the soft fuzz that nourishes the fast-growing bones while they regenerate every year. As the truck jostles along the bumpy road, Bell begins to see more tracks, then wolf markings mingled with the moose prints.

Reaching a point in the trail impassable even in his heavy-duty pickup, Bell pulls a quad, an all-terrain vehicle, off the trailer. Slinging a bolt-action rifle over his shoulder, he pushes farther into the bush. The quad bounces up and down as it traverses hills and valleys, charging over ice and through slush and mashing down vegetation. All the while, Bell swivels his head left and right, scanning the horizon for any sign of movement. But nothing moves. The birds have all flown south for the winter. There is little breeze, and the remaining trees have no leaves to sway. The landscape is silent, motionless, and to Bell, a vast, empty fridge.

B ell is one of many Indigenous people who are privately and publicly engaged with the restoration of their food cultures, returning to a more traditional diet through activities like sustenance hunting-practices long under threat of eradication but not gone forever.

Indigenous food sovereignty was decimated by design: the separation of people from their historic food systems and land is not a side effect of colonialism but a function of it. Canada's formation is a history of legislating First Nations, Inuit, and Métis out of existence, including by erasing Indigenous food cultures: the Gradual Civilization Act, the banning of potlatch ceremonies, the signing of treaties that exchanged life-sustaining hunting grounds for farmland, livestock, and pitiful amounts of cash. All of it was designed with the purpose of elimination through assimilation.

From the beginning, the benefits of the exchange between the diets of early settlers and Indigenous peoples were largely one-sided. Take pemmican, for instance: a traditional, Indigenous, protein-rich mixture of powdered meat, grease, and occasionally dried berries-and a good representation of the inequitable food bargain Indigenous people were forced to strike when settlers arrived on this continent. Early nineteenth-century fur traders, unable to fill their boats with enough corn and wild rice to survive their long travels, depended on exchanging with Cree, Assiniboine, and Métis for the shelf-stable provision. When the Hudson's Bay Company established a monopoly over the fur trade in 1821, its market control enabled the company to drive the price of pemmican down-which, in turn, forced an increase in production to make up for the lost revenue. "This was a contributing factor in [the] elimination of the plains bison," writes Lenore Newman in her book Speaking in Cod Tongues: A Canadian Culinary Journey. "Collapse of the bison herds placed the surviving people of the plains in a situation of dependence on the government for famine relief . . . . The grim aftermath of the pemmican trade on the plains saw the Indigenous peoples of the region nearly eliminated."

Catharine Parr Traill, who documented her experiences as an early nineteenth-century settler in Ontario in a series of books, describes Europeans thriving by adapting Indigenous food-preparation techniques, harvesting wild rice in the fall and maple syrup in the spring. Traill writes of a consistent exchange with the Hiawatha First Nation (then called the Mississauga Anishinaabe people); its baskets, mats, ducks, and venison were traded for settlers' pork, flour, potatoes, or clothing-an exchange that would be ruinous over time.

While Indigenous food systems were being dismantled, elsewhere in the world food itself began to change. From the early eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century, industrial production, preservation science, manufacturing, marketing, and the hospitality industries transformed the way people ate. This is the period that gave us the refrigerator and the gas stove, food-safety regulations, canning, and frozen dinners. At this same transformative moment in history, Canada's government engaged in a concentrated effort to eradicate Indigenous peoples and their cultures, including by squelching language, self-government, land use, and hunting rights. Indigenous food practices were excluded as most of the world's food practices modernized and commercialized (not always for the better), and most Indigenous people were forced to rely on processed and expensive provisions.

Indigenous food sovereignty was decimated by design. It was not a side effect of colonialism but a function of it.

Over a century later, food insecurity-inadequate access to affordable, safe, nutritious food, resulting in negative physical-, mental-, and social-health outcomes-is far more common among Indigenous people throughout Canada than in the population of the country overall. Forced to transition over generations to a Western diet, which many Indigenous communities cannot necessarily access or afford, First Nations people, Inuit, and Métis people suffer higher rates of diabetes and cardiovascular-health issues as a result. The social and spiritual losses are far more difficult to measure.

In northern Canada, supermarket staples, which generally need to be flown in, often cost double what they do in southern urban areas. The federal government began subsidizing the price of shipping food to northern communities in the late 1960s through Canada Post's Northern Air Stage Program, ostensibly to increase residents' access to healthy food. In 2011, the program was replaced by one called Nutrition North, in which select vendors receive subsidies for shipping food to the area; the intentions were to increase consumer choice, lower prices, and make healthy produce more accessible. Instead, northern communities have received grapes for $28 a kilo and $9 boxes of Corn Flakes.

The non-profit alliance Food Secure Canada says that while food insecurity in the North is well documented, there is no comprehensive analysis of exactly how prevalent it is. A study conducted by the University of Waterloo found that 70 percent of the population of Fort Albany First Nation in northern Ontario was food insecure; in a separate report, Food Secure Canada estimated that residents of that community would need to spend 56 percent of their income to purchase a basic nutritious diet.

"Nutrition North was doomed to fail from the beginning because it's a non-Indigenous solution to a very complex issue," says Joseph LeBlanc, who is Odawa from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron and the former executive director of the Social Planning Council of Sudbury. "Nutrition North was explicitly a market-based approach. What they did, however, was further entrench an exploitative market relationship that corporations have in Northern communities. It reinforced the existing food system as if it were the only food system."

LeBlanc says non-Indigenous Canadians are looking at the problem of food insecurity through the wrong lens. "How do we make food cheaper at the store? Where do you get food in an urban context?" he asks, rhetorically. "That's very much a Western economic approach." Even the presumption that there is a standard diet for all Canadians is fundamentally colonialist, says Teri Morrow, a dietitian at Six Nations of the Grand River in southwestern Ontario. "Canadians ate the way we ate when they got here," says Morrow. "Hunters up north don't need lettuce. There's roots and tubers, there's lichen-a ton of things."

For example, the Oneida Nation of the Thames grows flint corn. The corn is dried and cooked with lye and hardwood ash, which breaks down the outer shell and increases the calcium and iron content in the cornmeal. The cornbread made from this often also contains beans, nuts, seeds, and berries. "So the nutritional content, compared to a bread from the grocery store made with wheat, it's higher," Morrow says. "Because now you've got protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, fibre-all these aspects that are within the corn itself. And that means that our people don't have to necessarily consume milk or dairy products."

In addition to helping to provide access to a Western diet, LeBlanc says, the Canadian government should consider getting out of the way of Indigenous people's ability to sustain their food practices. The issue isn't figuring out how to lower the cost of a box of Corn Flakes-it's thinking that Corn Flakes ever represented a good solution in the first place.

B ell had a father, grandfather, and uncles who taught him to hunt, and he's one of very few in his community who are able to source food in this way. Some of his friends did not have a chance to learn hunting as teenagers, as he did. Others don't have the means. Bell's truck, which he needs to make it over the unpaved roads, cost more than his house, and it can be $150 in gas just to get up to the hunting area. He spent at least $2,700 on the moose hunt last season.

Not being able to hunt is just one of the ways that being colonized separated Indigenous people from their food cultures. In the fall of 2016, at the Natoaganeg Community Food Centre in Eel Ground First Nation-a Mi'kmaq First Nation community of about 1,000, a few kilometres down the road from Miramichi, New Brunswick-the organizers of a drop-in meal and food-basket program tried to incorporate moose after community hunters offered to contribute the meat. Administrators were surprised at how few were fans, even elders. "People would say, "It's too gamy," says program coordinator Erica Ward. "We're located near town, and growing up, you went to the grocery store. You didn't go to the forest and take down a moose."

The kitchen experimented with an apple-juice braise, to sweeten the meat. People liked it. The centre started using more moose and gradually removed low-quality protein, like hot dogs, from its food-distribution system. Soon, it began using additional varieties of game and wild seafood-partridge, eel, shad, bass-until the ingredients became entrenched. "We've become this test kitchen for traditional food," says Ward. "Now I have friends the same age [as I am] who are hunting more and more."

Even where Indigenous communities have managed to retain some of their food practices, legal obstructions and environmental threats make them difficult to sustain. In theory, the Canadian government is constitutionally required to consult with Indigenous communities when contemplating decisions that may adversely impact treaty rights. In actuality, this is a contentious and frequently litigated issue.

In many parts of Canada, Indigenous people's ability to hunt, fish, forage, and farm is compromised by the degradation of land and water through industrial-scale resource extraction. In other places-often described as "protected"-such as national parks, these activities are frequently prohibited by law. The formation of Canada's parks, seen by many non-Indigenous people as wildlife refuges where nature is safe from human threat, has long disrupted Indigenous food sovereignty. Canada's first national park, Banff, "was predicated on the displacement of diverse Indigenous communities," says Courtney Mason, author of Spirits of the Rockies: Reasserting an Indigenous Presence in Banff National Park. "This was facilitated by park management and supported by the police, missionaries, and tourism entrepreneurs. In part, they were attempting to curb Indigenous subsistence practices of hunting, fishing and gathering, in order to protect emerging sport hunting and fishing tourism economies operating inside the park." Further development of Canadian parks was largely modelled after Banff, incurring similar displacement and cultural damage. It remains illegal for Indigenous people to hunt in about half of the country's national parks.

Even where it is possible to hunt, with a few exceptions, wild meat cannot be sold in restaurants, butcher shops, or grocery stores in Canada. This means hunters cannot earn a living from their efforts, and many Indigenous foods cannot be shared in retail or commercial settings beyond reserves or special, limited-licence events. Many coastal communities face a similar challenge as, even while living off of seal meat, the European Union's ban on seal imports has made it impossible for families to earn revenue from the sale of skins.

There are also small signs of hope. About twenty-five years ago in northwestern Ontario, Rainy River First Nations (an amalgamation of seven historical Saulteaux bands), began a successful project to rehabilitate their sturgeon stocks: the population of the fish, which can grow up to 400 pounds, had dwindled due to overharvesting and pollution. In the last two years, Rainy River First Nations donated nearly thirty juvenile sturgeon to Ochiichagwe'Babigo'Ining Ojibway Nation, which has partnered with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry and Ontario Power Generation to reintroduce the fish into the Winnipeg River. There are other examples, but they are scattered; larger-scale change will require a more basic reexamination of how land is managed across Canada.

One of the problems, says LeBlanc, is that Canada knows many people depend on the land for their food, yet governments manage our natural resources as if they didn't exist: "The [Ministry of Natural Resources] doesn't have the capacity to manage the forest properly, and I don't believe the Crown has the will to make that happen. Because the interest is in getting money from stumpage." Genuine transformation, LeBlanc believes, will only come from challenging the seemingly unassailable prioritization of resource extraction. "There's an opportunity to manage food sources. This would mean a shift in the paradigm from extraction of timber and minerals to the inclusion of food sources."

I t has been twelve hours out in the bush, and the sun is setting; Mark Bell has eaten a ham-and-cheese sandwich and used a tank of gas, and nothing has crossed his field of vision except a rabbit and a fox. A hunter is never guaranteed anything. Last year, Bell spent seven days out here without even seeing a moose.

If he takes one now, that will be it for the year-he doesn't need any more. (Bell will shoot any additional moose he sees on the road, though, and give the meat to elders.) Likewise for beaver, which he does not like eating (though he'll use it as bait for trapping pine martens), and lynx, which his wife doesn't want him cooking in the house. Kantola is mostly vegetarian; she likes wild meat but isn't thrilled at how much time her husband spends up here while she is alone with their two-year-old.

The sweet spot for hunting moose is the mating season, which begins at first frost, September 10 last fall. (Hunters don't go after moose in summer because the meat spoils in the heat, and by winter the females are pregnant.) With the moose bulls geared for procreation, Bell mimics the female's call (he can do this with a horn or with his own mouth), listening for a response. Nothing but silence greets him. "I always start to feel pressure about this time," he says. "I'm going into my trapping season now. I should already be setting traps." Still, it's been a beautiful, tranquil day. "When I come out here, I'm pretty thankful for what I'm able to do and where I'm able to be. It's beautiful land."

Back in Nakina that night, he eats a bowl of moose chili with macaroni, watches a little hockey, and goes to bed on the sofa so he won't wake Kantola and Taiga when he gets up early again the next morning. The chest freezer downstairs still has a few meals' worth of moose left, in addition to other country foods-wild blueberries, walleye, speckled trout. But they are nearing the end of their supply.

I n the interior of BC, nestled in the Fraser Canyon region, sits Xaxli'p territory-green hills covered in fir and pine trees, sitting in the shadow of snow-capped mountains and one of eleven communities that make up the St'át'imc First Nation. Over the course of decades, the clear-cutting taking place in the surrounding areas has destabilized the ecosystem, substantially disrupting traditional food supplies. In the 1970s, hunters started spotting moose less and less frequently. Soon, the people found other forest foods essential to their lives-deer, wild sunflowers, cow parsnip-disappearing as well.

In Canada, most parks, lakes, and forests are Crown land, governed by federal and provincial ministries (like the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry in Ontario), which are supposed to oversee management for both private and public use. In LeBlanc's view, private companies in the business of resource extraction have more say over the use of forests than do people who have had a relationship with the land for centuries and continue to live on, near, upstream of, downwind of, or otherwise adjacent to them. "From contact until now," he says, "land management in Ontario has been about the extraction of resources."

LeBlanc says there is a legal basis for implementing more food-oriented policies. This means, for instance, reforming training for forest-management authorities to include Indigenous world views and rights. In forested areas like the Fraser River canyon there is an alternative, which he and many others advocate for: community-based forestry, in which land is managed by and for the people who live on it. "Community forestry is a movement that started in Nepal in the seventies," says Susan Mulkey, communications manager for the BC Community Forest Association, "where the government recognized that degraded land, the best stewards of that, the best people to bring it back to productivity, are the communities themselves." The idea, LeBlanc says, isn't to reject industry outright but to take an approach that incorporates economic and employment interests without excluding the use of land as a food source.

In the late 1990s, BC began a pilot project for community-based forest management; it now includes over sixty community forests that produce just under 3 percent of the provincial timber harvest. In 2011, following decades of protracted conflict with the government and logging companies, the Xaxli'p reached an interim compromise: the Xaxli'p Community Forest Corporation they had established a few years earlier was given a twenty-five-year tenure over the trees in most, but not all, of their territory. (Prior to that agreement, the province had given a number of companies the right to harvest timber on Xaxli'p land.) Restoring the land and creating a sustainable economy are goals that are built into XCFC's corporate mission. The plan is to eventually harvest timber in sustainable quantities and using sustainable methods.

"Our long-term goal is that our community forest will be self-sufficient," says Nora Billy, a member of the XCFC board of directors. The XCFC plans to balance the conservation mandate with value-added timber harvesting, manufacturing products for sale in addition to selling raw logs. The first step has been ecocultural restoration. This includes promoting moose habitat by removing planted pine trees (to encourage the growth of willow and other wetland shrubs), leaving old fallen trees intact for animal habitat, purifying water, and thinning forest areas that have grown too dense due to post-logging replanting and government fire-suppression techniques. Moose and deer have begun returning to the area.

M ore than 4,000 kilometres east of Xaxli'p territory, Charlotte Wolfrey spends her weekends fishing and hunting outside of Rigolet, on the coast of Labrador. Over a spring weekend, the retired environmental researcher and current AngajukKâk (mayor) of Rigolet caught eight Arctic char, each one weighing about five pounds, and spent a few hours smoking the fish in a homemade apparatus constructed with wood and chicken wire. She also picks fruit-bakeapples, crowberries, partridgeberries-eating it fresh for a couple weeks before freezing the remainder for the winter. In the fall, she hunts geese and duck, then beaver, lynx, and fox as it gets colder. She estimates that as much as 70 percent of her diet comes from fishing, hunting, and foraging wild foods; the most important source of all is seal.

"Inuit would not have survived without seal," Wolfrey says. During the 1960s, when Wolfrey was a child, seal was essential for food and clothing: boots, mitts, and pants were all made from its hide and fur. The blubber was rendered to make candles, the skin used to make durable lines for dog teams and boats or cleaned and sold for income. Sled dogs-still a major source of transportation-lived on seal meat too. "When I grew up, we went around on dog teams. We didn't have anything like a Ski-Doo. It kept our dogs alive."

At the beginning of the Second World War, the Royal Canadian Air Force identified nearby Goose Bay as a strategic location for a base. Beginning with a massive construction phase and continuing after the war, the base meant that Goose Bay absorbed people from the surrounding areas, including Rigolet, further disrupting traditional ways of life. "A lot of people moved there for work, to get into the white economy," Wolfrey says, "instead of fishing and hunting and trapping."

People in Rigolet don't depend on seal as much as they used to, but it is still widely used. Some people still operate dog sleds, though mostly for recreation or tourism rather than basic transportation. And they still use seal to feed their animals. Last fall, Wolfrey and her husband caught a ranger (or harbour) seal and shared the meat with other families in the community. "We even eat the flippers. They're a delicacy. You boil them up and take the skin off and eat the inside parts, and it's a real rich kind of fat. Maybe some potatoes with it sometimes, but mostly on its own."

In a large city, food choices are horizontal, like a buffet, each option available independently of the others. In many Indigenous food systems, the menu is much more vertical, like a Jenga tower, in which many pieces support the entire structure; removing one element can topple everything. Within this food system, an animal like seal is not just a source of protein but also of fuel, clothing, tools, and commerce-all of it devastated in 2009, when the European Union, prompted by environmental activists, banned the import of seal products.

One of the major organizations that protested sealing was Greenpeace; since the ban was instituted, it has acknowledged and apologized for its role in campaigning against sealing and in particular its failure to distinguish between the commercial industry and Indigenous traditional practices. In the wake of that acknowledgement, the EU granted exemptions from the ban to Inuit communities in Nunavut and to Inuvialuit in the Northwest Territories. But, for many, this was too late to make a difference: after the EU ban, the price of seal pelts dropped from $105 to $15. And because it was often Inuit and First Nations who were engaged in the commercial seal hunt-there isn't a neat divide between "traditional" and "commercial" use-when the market evaporated, so did the ability of Rigolet and other Inuit and First Nations communities to earn revenue through this core part of their culture.

In addition to the economic devastation caused by the EU ban, Rigolet's seals are under environmental threat from the nearby dam construction at Muskrat Falls. Opponents of the dam worry that it will destabilize geologic formations and allow unsafe levels of methylmercury (which is created when inorganic mercury is released and dissolves into freshwater or seawater), to leach into the local food supply. Two hundred researchers and scholars have signed a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to protest the dam, writing that Muskrat Falls "poses tremendous risks to Indigenous peoples and sovereignty, to Canada's commitment to reconciliation, to fish, wildlife and the broader integrity of the Churchill River ecology."

"If the seals are contaminated by methylmercury, then people will be afraid to eat them," says Wolfrey. "Once people stop eating seal, they won't be teaching their children to eat seal. Their grandchildren won't grow up eating seal. That's what I'm most afraid of. Seal is part of what makes us who we are."

W olfrey told me that seal is an acquired taste, but most Canadians never have a chance to develop an appreciation for it. In Toronto, where Indigenous and Indigenous-themed restaurants have garnered recent interest and can serve as urban emissaries for Indigenous cooking, chef Joseph Shawana is determined to do something about that. "I tried veg oil, canola, good olive oil, cheap olive oil," says Shawana as he pinches coarse salt in his fingers, his wrist softening as he lets the salt rain down over a dark, nearly black, hunk of meat. "Then I started using ghee. And I was like, 'This actually helps the seal flavour a lot more.'"

In front of the stove at his restaurant-Kū-Kŭm Kitchen, in an affluent midtown Toronto neighbourhood-Shawana has a tray of seal loin divided into four-ounce portions. Cranking the gas flame, Shawana ladles a generous glug of ghee into a small pan and gently lays the meat down. After he has seared a crust on each side, he sets the meat on a cutting board to rest, then slices it into strips, plating it with wedges of roasted beet, caribou moss, and a drizzle of sweetgrass-infused oil. The meat has the character of a slightly chewy cut of beef crossed with the iron-rich minerality of liver.

Shawana is Odawa and (like LeBlanc) grew up in Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island. There are no seals around Lake Huron. "I never ate seal until a year and a half ago," he says. When he was ten, Shawana started to learn hunting, butchery, and fishing from his uncles. He foraged in the wilderness with friends, pulling the bark back on cedar and eating the membrane and chewing on a liquorice-tasting purple root they called "Indian candy" (one of several foods given that name, which also often refers to candied salmon).

At sixteen, Shawana started cooking at an off-reserve restaurant on Manitoulin-burgers and fries for up to 200 diners a day during the tourist season-then moved to Toronto and worked at a number of restaurants. In 2016, as the executive chef of board-game parlour Snakes & Lattes, he composed a one-night Indigenous menu of elk, fry bread, and Algonquin corn (meaty and sweeter than the kind you see in grocery stores), which Shawana dehydrated and ground into meal for grits, serving it with Parmesan cheese and seared scallops. It sold out in advance. "That's when I knew I was really on to something-that I can connect my culture with my training."

The enthusiastic reception led him to partner with his employer, Ben Castanie, to open Kū-Kŭm. From the beginning, Shawana didn't want to cook exclusively his own dishes-he wanted to introduce diners to a spectrum of Indigenous foods: he mixes and matches elements from his culture (Odawa), his wife's (Cree), and other Indigenous communities' and combines it all with French cooking techniques. He's less concerned with reproducing any one traditional dish or preparation so much as presenting ingredients to the restaurant's patrons, serving as an ambassador, and learning more himself as he goes. "I'm using the restaurant as a platform to showcase Indigenous cuisine in Canada as a whole," Shawana says. "I wanted seal on the menu as a way to pay respects to the people up north. I wanted to get muskox but . . . I couldn't."

A few months after the restaurant opened, Shawana learned that a petition was circulating to demand he take seal off the menu. This was followed by a counterpetition and ignited a series of media stories about Kū-Kŭm, shifting the focus from alleged animal cruelty to a discussion about the importance of seal in many communities and the history of misunderstanding by environmental and animal-rights activists. Shawana's reservation book filled up, and soon the thirty-seat restaurant was packed-people were coming to eat not just seal but pemmican, venison, and pine-needle sorbet.

Shawana now has his sights set on a legal obstacle to the preservation of Indigenous cuisines: the limits on selling hunted game meat. The elk, bison, and boar that have appeared on his restaurant's menu have been farmed.

"I've been trying to get enough balls to serve wild game in here," says Shawana, "and to see what the repercussions would be. If they close us down, they close us down." (He is now in talks with the provincial government to secure permission to sell wild game.) Serving actual game would allow Shawana to present a more authentic version of the cultures he is representing and create a vital revenue stream for Indigenous hunters-a way for urban centres to not just be ambassadors but contribute financially to the restoration of food systems.

O n the second morning of Mark Bell's moose hunt, he gets up at six, eats a bowl of instant oatmeal, and loads his gear. He waits until he arrives at the entrance to the bush road to offer tobacco (itself another example of a First Nations agricultural product that is now bound up with many regulations) this time emptying out a whole cigarette instead of just a pinch. Despite an outward ambivalence, he is starting to fidget, compulsively scanning radio stations and fiddling with a rifle magazine with one hand while steering with the other, his thumb caressing one of the copper-tipped cartridges.

After another twelve hours of searching, Bell turns south toward home, empty handed. Tomorrow is Monday, and he has to go to his job; he can't hunt next weekend because he needs to take his wife and daughter to Thunder Bay. "Loser" by Beck comes on the radio. He turns the stereo up louder than it's been all day, then cranks it even more as Meek Mill's "Lord Knows" starts playing, the smash of bass rattling the seat belts. Bell is frustrated. But he has faith. "Next week, I'm going start looking for beavers. My moose gun will be with me all the time-eventually, I'm gonna see one."

Joseph LeBlanc has long believed that there are many more Indigenous people wanting to participate in traditional food activities like hunting than actually do so. To find out what was preventing them, he conducted a community food assessment in Sudbury that identified cost and knowledge as barriers to entry. In 2016, the community launched the Family Hunt Camp; in the fall, families are paired with elders and experienced hunters, who share their knowledge and lead people out on their first hunts. Participants learn not just how to safely operate a gun but about spirituality, philosophy, the relationship between animals and humans, and why you don't shoot something that's running away or doesn't know you're there (the animal is not offering its body, plus chances of a clean kill diminish with a moving target). New hunters can also help supply a food bank in downtown Sudbury, where people give tobacco in exchange for elk, deer, or moose meat.

LeBlanc says that, over the years, he's been told by many non-Indigenous people that it is simply too late to save what has been lost. For him, this is both untrue and a device used to perpetuate damage to the land and Indigenous peoples. "It's a tidy, nice bow to put on top of 100 years of colonialism to say, 'Our job's pretty well done-all you need to do is let go of your romantic ideals and we can get on with civilizing you.'"

But LeBlanc, Wolfrey, Shawana, members of the Xaxli'p Community Forest Corporation, Morrow, Bell, and many others are not letting go. "The fundamental element of resurgence, resistance, whatever you want to call it, that's happening in Indigenous youth in particular, is challenging that directly," says LeBlanc. "I know individuals who do live a traditional lifestyle, in remote communities. They're not waving a flag around or flying down to Toronto for meetings or answering phone calls from reporters or academics. They're busy completely entrenched in a traditional lifestyle. And they're some of the happiest, most food-secure people out there."

On a policy level, says LeBlanc, decisions about the use of land still exclude Indigenous world views. "There's a transition that needs to happen in Canada at some point. Ultimately, all of our legislators and decision makers are products of our school system. And they've all been conditioned to think of us in a particular light . . . . We haven't even gotten to the point where we can have a truthful conversation about land."

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The History of Food in Canada Is the History of Colonialism | The Walrus

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M ark bell stops his truck at the edge of town, where the bush road begins. Leaving the engine running, he grabs a cigarette from a pack of Putter's on the dashboard and walks into the trees. After sprinkling out a bit of tobacco from the cigarette, an offering of thanks to the Creator, he lights the smoke.

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Métis Cookbook and Guide to Healthy Living

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Métis Cookbook and Guide to Healthy Living

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Traditional Foods& Recipes on the Wild Side

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Traditional Foods& Recipes on the Wild Side

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Inupiaq food: A Barrow family describes how whale is prepared 

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Inupiaq food: A Barrow family describes how whale is prepared 

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Inupiaq food: A Barrow family describes how whale is prepared

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Language is more than what we use to communicate. It is our identity. It is our ancestry. It is our legacy.

Explore the many diverse Indigenous languages that exist across the country.

Click on a region to learn about its languages. Zoom in and Click on a language to learn more:

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Language is more than what we use to communicate. It is our identity. It is our ancestry. It is our legacy. Explore the many diverse Indigenous languages that exist across the country. Click on a region to learn about its languages.

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How the Cree Language was Lost (animated legend)

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Coloring Pages By Hawlii Pichette

These FREE coloring pages are available to download and use as coloring pages only
They are not for resale, commercial use or to be altered in any way.

Happy Holidays!!!

Here are some Holiday themed coloring page! Free to download!

BOBA FETT'S SNOWMAN

GNOMES ~ LET IS SNOW!

Happy Halloween!!!

Here are some Halloween themed coloring pages! Feel free to download!

GOOMBA'S HALLOWEEN

*NEW FREE COLORING BOOK PDF DOWNLOAD!

This coloring book is based on my illustration the 'Garden of Relatives'.

This design is also an exclusive carpet that can be purchased at Wintergreen Learning Materials.
Product Search (wintergreen.ca)

Features 20 coloring pages of animals and the plants inspired by the tracks created as they move across the land. Bonus activity page 'create your own' plant included!

Orange Shirt Day and what is now called 'The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is coming up on September 30. Here is a free resource for educators and parents of children learning and participating in Orange Shirt Day. A coloring page can be a simple tool to engage children and gives them an additional way to show their support as they learn about why orange shirt day is so important.

Coloring has been proven to have the ability to help relieve stress, generate mindfulness, engage active listening and help with the processing of emotions. And don't forget, coloring isn't just for kids!

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Coloring Pages By Hawlii Pichette These FREE coloring pages are available to download and use as coloring pages only They are not for resale, commercial use or to be altered in any way. Happy Holidays!!! Here are some Holiday themed coloring page! Free to download! BOBA FETT'S SNOWMAN GNOMES ~ LET IS SNOW!

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Indigenous Art in Canada | National Geographic

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Indigenous Art in Canada | National Geographic

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Indigenous Art in Canada | National Geographic

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Cape Dorset, Nunavut: The Epicentre of Inuit Art

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Cape Dorset, Nunavut: The Epicentre of Inuit Art

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Cape Dorset, Nunavut: The Epicentre of Inuit Art

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The Ulukhaktok Western Drummers and Dancers

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The Ulukhaktok Western Drummers and Dancers

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The Ulukhaktok Western Drummers and Dancers - Inuvialuit HD Drum Dance Series

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Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) General Assembly 2014 VIDEOS

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Qikiqtagruq Northern Lights Dancers (Alaska)

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Dancer blends hip-hop with Métis jigging

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A slowdown in jigging gigs due to pandemic got Michael Harris working on a new dance style.

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The Foundation: Indigenous Hip Hop in Canada

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Living a circular life | Dallas Arcand | TEDxYYC

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Traditional Aboriginal Hand Drumming | Four Directions | TEDxQueensU

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Ever since Europeans of various backgrounds began to arrive in North America, the First Peoples have been exposed to European musical traditions. As a consequence, many became and continue to contribute as musicians in various genres.

For example, the Ursuline nuns in Quebec City praised in 1640 the competence of certain girls such as twelve-year-old Agnes Chabdikowechich for her playing on the stringed instrument known as a viol. During the French colonial rule, the choirs at various locations were highly praised for their singing of the Roman Catholic rituals, often using two- and three-part harmony.

Under British rule and particularly after the formation of Canada in 1867, Indigenous persons were more than ever forced into residential schools, operated by various churches, where the children were cut off from using their original language or participating in their own practices including traditional musical expressions. In many cases, though, the schools had various musical instruments so that many children became skilled musicians. Often brass bands would be formed and these became so popular that as adults these musicians would form a similar band when a return to their own community occurred.

In British Columbia, the first brass band formed at the Roman Catholic mission of St. Mary's in 1864. Soon after, another began at Metlakatla, a so-called model settlement set up by Anglican missionary William Duncan. In British Columbia between 1864 and 1914, at least 35 Indigenous mainly brass bands existed, usually consisting of 15 to 20 male players. Many of these musicians went on to play professionally in ensembles such as jazz groups and orchestras.

Some even became well-known directors such as Job Nelson who probably got his musical foundation in New Metlakatla. By the early 1900s that settlement had a reed band, a string band, an orchestra, a ladies' orchestra, and a girls' zobo brass band. Nelson became director of the Nisga'a brass band in Aiyansh, western British Columbia. This group performed his Imperial Native March at the competition held during the Dominion Exhibition in 1905.

Meanwhile, Indigenous musicians were becoming known in other venues. For example, Louie Deer (ca. 1888-ca. 1955), a Mohawk leader known as Os-Ke-Non-Ton from Kahnawá:ke recorded traditional songs. His rich, baritone voice was heard in many productions both in Europe and North America. He was most famous for his performances in Coleridge-Taylor's Hiawatha at Royal Albert Hall, London, England.

As the folk music revival swept over North America in the 1950s, Indigenous musicians began to see the possibility of becoming songwriters/performers using their own experiences and eventually even their own languages. Dan George (1899-1981), chief of the Tseil-Waututh Nation in British Columbia from 1951 to 1963, realized that song could be used to bring issues of his people to a wider audience. In his oratory he often resorted to traditional song as a means to underline the strong cultural heritage of the First Peoples.

Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree originally from Saskatchewan) began her career singing traditional English folksongs. In 1964 she wrote the antiwar song, "Universal Soldier" that became the anthem of the Peace Movement.

Another song of the same year, "Now that the Buffalo's Gone", became widely known internationally and spoke directly to the situation of her people.

Her successes encouraged many others in the 1960s and 1970s including Willie Dunn, Willy Mitchell (Algonquin/Mohawk) and his rock band, Northern Lights, Ernest Monias (Cree), Curtis Jonnie (aka Shingoose, Ojibwa), Eric Landry (Innu/Mi'kmaq), Morley Loon (Cree), Peter Frank (Mi'kmaq), and from Moose Factory, Brian Davey, and Lloyd Cheechoo.

Innu Philippe McKenzie in the early 1970s showed how folk, country, pop and rock music could be integrated with Indigenous languages and musical traditions.

Through the establishment of festivals, musicians got to know one another and received encouragement to concentrate on their own experiences and language in their songs. In the years surrounding 1970, Alanis Obosawin (Abenaki) organized an Aboriginal Stage at the Mariposa Festival. Alexis Utatnaq began creating country-like songs in Inuktitut in the early 1970s. Sugluk and Sikumiut were two Inuit rock bands formed in the early 1970s while Inuvialuit musician, Willie Thrasher formed The Cordells. By 1972 the Toonik Tyme Festival held in Iqaluit, Nunavut, had begun. Founded by Florent Vollant, a half of the internationally famous folk music duo, Kashtin, the Innu Nikamu Music Festival began in 1984.

That Festival continues to bring together numerous Indigenous musicians in all musical genres. Only a small sampling of names can be given here. Buffy Sainte-Marie succeeded in having Canada's Juno Awards create a specific category for Aboriginal music in 1993. The first winner was Lawrence Martin (Mushkegowuk Cree) and his successors include Susan Aglukark (Inuit), Misha Donovan (Chippewa/Cree), Robbie Robertson (Mohawk), Chester Knight (Cree) and the Wind, Eagle & Hawk with founder Vince Fontaine (Ojibwa), Derek Miller (Mohawk), Taima Project with Élisapie Isaac (Inuit), Digging Roots, a Blues band with ShoShona Kish (Anishinnabek) and Raven Kanatakta (Algonquin/Mohawk), Murray Porter (Mohawk), Crystal Shawanda (Wiikwemkoong First Nation), George Leach (Lillooet), Tanya Tagaq (Inuit), and Quantum Tangle (Inuit). The innovative group, A Tribe Called Red (originally with Mohawk, Cayuga, and Algonquin members) combines in what has been called "powwow-step" a blending of instrumental hiphop, reggae, and dubstep dance music. They have won two Junos up to 2018 but in categories other than "Aboriginal" to which they avoid submission. The rapper, Christie Lee Charles (Musqueam), rose to prominence with her song "Experience" in which she rapped in her traditional dialect. In 2018 she was appointed Poet Laureate of Vancouver. Other performers presently obtaining increasing attention include the hip-hop duo, Snotty Nose Rez Kids (Darren Metz and Quinton Nyce [Haisla], Aasiva [Colleen Nakashuk, Inuit] as a ukulele performer and song-writer, the Yukon band formed by Diyet (Southern Tutchone) and called Diyet and the Love Soldiers, the Mohawk song-writer, Shawnee., as well as the Anishinnabe guitarist/singer, William Bruce.

Other award organizations in Canada have a specific Indigenous category including the East Coast Music Awards and the Western Canadian Music Awards. In 1993, Indspire (formerly the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation of Canada) commenced its annual honouring of outstanding Indigenous achievers including musicians. It has honoured the musicians, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Rita Joe (Mi'kmaq), Tom Jackson (Cree), Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki), Susan Aglukark, Tomson Highway (Cree), and Robbie Robertson. The Félix Awards have no specific Indigenous category, but Claude McKenzie and Florent Vollant as the duo, Kashtin, have won several.

Since 2006 the Polaris Music Prize annually honours artists who produce Canadian music albums of distinction. A Tribe Called Red has been short-listed several years. In 2014, Tanya Tagaq won the prize for her album, Animism. The following year, Buffy Sainte-Marie took the top prize with her album, Power in the Blood. Over a five-year period, Jeremy Dutcher (Wolastoqiyik [Malecite]) inspired after hearing and transcribing the wax cylinder recordings made by William H. Mechling of his ancestors, created his own infused classical, jazz, and electronic music based on those melodies. Dutcher, a classically trained operatic tenor and composer released the results on his album, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, sung entirely in the Wolastoq language. That album won the 2018 Polaris Music Prize.

Dutcher is one of many exploring links between his own musical culture and so-called classical music. The Cree cellist and composer, Cris Derksen, combines traditional powwow beats with classical music to create what she calls Orchestral Powwow. Métis composer, Ian Cusson, explores the intersection of western and Indigenous cultures in his orchestral and choral compositions. As more and more Indigenous persons become recognized for their skills as performers such as the opera singer, Marion Newman (Kwagiulth/Stó:clo), such musical productions will increase. In the 50th film produced by Alanis Obomsawin, Our People Will Be Healed (1917), she focuses on the Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre at the Norway House Cree nation in northern Manitoba. At that school emphasis is placed on the Cree language, and musical expressions along with regular school subjects. In fact, one scene shows 500 fiddlers performing together at a gathering!

In 1996 Andrew Balfour (Cree), one of the adopted First Nations' children caught up in the "Sixties Scoop", founded the innovative vocal group, Camerata, in Winnipeg. Through exploring a wide range of choral works including Indigenous materials, he has developed into a fine performer and a composer of over 30 choral, instrumental, and orchestral works. His Take the Indian: A Vocal Collection on Missing Children (2015) deals with the impact of Residential Schools. The violist, Melody McKiver (Anishinaabe) recently released the highly praised CD Reckoning inspired by the Truth and Reconciliation process. Many upcoming Indigenous musicians can be followed on the website, digitaldrum.com.

The following Showcase profiles give a more in-depth exploration of a few of these amazing musicians active in Canada.

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Ever since Europeans of various backgrounds began to arrive in North America, the First Peoples have been exposed to European musical traditions. As a consequence, many became and continue to contribute as musicians in various genres.

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N'we Jinan Artists - "HOME TO ME" // Grassy Narrows First Nation

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N'we Jinan Artists - "HOME TO ME" // Grassy Narrows First Nation

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N'we Jinan Artists - "HOME TO ME" // Grassy Narrows First Nation

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SOI Arctic 2018: Bridging science and Inuit knowledge of Arctic plants

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Bear Standing Tall Cultural Awareness Trainer

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Elder Yvonne Carter (Yellow Moon Woman) Picking Sage & Sweet Grass with teachings.

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2 Crees in a Pod, unapologetically creates space for Indigenous resurgence. Our intention is to disrupt western colonial systems and honor Indigenous helping practices.

2 Crees in a Pod, unapologetically creates space for Indigenous resurgence. Our intention is to disrupt western colonial systems and honor Indigenous helping practices.

Wow

Just listened to the episode on Ceremony and...wow. It actually feels healing-like sitting at the kitchen table with trusted friends. Hearing stories of healing, hearing elders share their learning. This podcast is for everyone. Thank you for this generous offering, your openness and your faith in people, that you messages would be received. Thank you.

This podcast is for everybody

Whether you're indigenous or not, I feel that this podcast is very important and I am very appreciative of the hosts vulnerability and passion. They also interview amazing guests that I have learned so much from. Grateful for this podcast and the knowledge they share. Please give it a listen!

audience

It feels like it's for a Cree or Cree/Métis audience. I love it! I don't have to pause my thinking for background information for the benefit of a non-Cree or Cree/Métis person. I can relate to everyone's stories and even some of their characteristics! Lol - thank you for doing this podcast for us!

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2 Crees in a Pod, unapologetically creates space for Indigenous resurgence. Our intention is to disrupt western colonial systems and honor Indigenous helping practices. 2 Crees in a Pod, unapologetically creates space for Indigenous resurgence. Our intention is to disrupt western colonial systems and honor Indigenous helping practices.

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To help you navigate this site, we've invited experts and media personalities to make recommendations and offer insights on NFB films.

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To help you navigate this site, we've invited experts and media personalities to make recommendations and offer insights on NFB films.

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To help you navigate this site, we've invited experts and media personalities to make recommendations and offer insights on NFB films.

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Strong Medicine is an educational video developed by the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network and CATIE, with and for Indigenous people living with HIV.

By weaving together Indigenous knowledges of culture and wellness and Western knowledge of HIV testing and treatment, this video shares accurate information about HIV testing and treatment. It encourages people to get tested and to start, resume or stay on HIV treatment for their own health and wellness. This video is a positive and supportive educational tool for all Indigenous people living with HIV and those affected by HIV. It can be viewed in its entirety or in chapters.

Download the film

Host your own screening

We encourage individuals and organizations to host their own screenings of Strong Medicine in their communities. You can place an order for a free screening kit from the CATIE Ordering Centre, which includes a DVD, a facilitator's guide and customizable promotional posters. For more information about hosting a screening in your community, please contact Mary Choy at mchoy@catie.ca.

Resources

The following resources include important information on HIV treatment that can be used by individuals considering going on or staying on HIV treatment and their care providers in discussions about HIV treatment and health.
HIV Basics
Important, plain language information about HIV

A collection of information and resources in plain language about HIV treatment and the importance of starting and staying on treatment.
Your Guide to HIV Treatment
This practical guide is for people living with HIV and explains what we know about HIV treatment. It can be downloaded and printed.

Strong Medicine is supported in part by a Positive Action community grant from ViiV Healthcare and a contribution from the M∙A∙C AIDS Fund. The views expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of ViiV Healthcare ULC or the M∙A∙C AIDS Fund.

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Strong Medicine is an educational video developed by the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network and CATIE, with and for Indigenous people living with HIV. By weaving together Indigenous knowledges of culture and wellness and Western knowledge of HIV testing and treatment, this video shares accurate information about HIV testing and treatment.

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DIVERSION first connects youth who have committed their first non-violent, criminal occurrence to community and family supports, to help them build a foundation for a positive future away from crime. It's a police-led program, which allows the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) to offer the youth and their supports a restorative justice approach, instead of a criminal charge.

DIVERSION first is a partnership between the EPS, and the YMCA of Northern Alberta. Together, and with a variety of other community agencies, we redirect youth by connecting them to organizations focused on improving the lives of youth and their families so they can begin accessing services they need through a customized support program.

Through the program, youth can identify areas in their life that may require more support, request guidance, or seek out an opportunity to better themselves. They then work toward repairing the harm they've caused. To do this, they fulfill a customized agreement plan that is youth focused. These agreement plans can include written and/or in-person apologies to victims, volunteer service and projects, and self-reflection projects that could include resume building, creative projects, job shadowing, skill development, art projects and more. Their agreement gives them a chance to make amends, become more pro-social, and make positive contributions to the community. DIVERSION first helps youth recognize the connection between their behaviours and the harm caused to themselves, the community, family, and victim(s).

DIVERSION first exists because we understand for many youths who commit a criminal act, there are underlying reasons for this action. We understand the earlier we can support young people, open doors, and connect them to community programs, we may be able to redirect their path to something positive. The DIVERSION first Unit advocates for early prevention to help youth identify their missing supports to reduce youth involvement with the criminal justice system. Ideally, this will empower them to take charge of their lives and improve their access to community resources when needed.

How it's different - We are interjecting before a charge is laid. Most programs are tailored to youths after they have been charged. We are providing the youth an opportunity for a timely response to their actions, accountability of their behaviour, celebrating their strengths and connecting them to their community. DIVERSION first is a strength-based approach in addressing the underlying issues associated to their decision related to the criminal offense. We provide the youth with alternative solutions that gives them ownership over what they've done and what they can do in their lives to move forward.

What do the youths have to say about DIVERSIONfirst?

"I learned to focus on myself and put myself first in the face of adversity."

"I have a better and safer resource for my stresses and pain."

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DIVERSION first connects youth who have committed their first non-violent, criminal occurrence to community and family supports, to help them build a foundation for a positive future away from crime. It's a police-led program, which allows the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) to offer the youth and their supports a restorative justice approach, instead of a criminal charge.

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The University of Alberta Annual Round Dance brings together children, friends, families, youth and Elders of our community to share stories, catch up on news, break bannock, and share some tea. It is a time to honour traditions and memories of our ancestors.