Indigenous People: Their stories in print and film

marbri

marbri

Hey, Kool-Aid!
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I have always been interested in stories told by Indigenous peoples. It was about 20 years ago when I was visiting NL and entered a gift shop at the bottom of a lighthouse and wanting a souvenir of my trip bought the book "The Beothuk Saga" (Bernard Assiniwi). I had lived in NL in my preteen days for a few years and remembered learning about the Beothuk people in history class so thought it was time for a deeper dive. It also begins during the time the Vikings landed in NL so it just seemed to touch on a lot of different aspects of my life at the time. It tells the story of the Beothuk people up until their extinction when the last Beothuk person died in 1829 of tuberculosis.

But anyway I am sitting here watching "Angry Inuk" on Amazon Prime. It's about how animal activism in the 80's killed the seal trade and the massive negative impact it had on the Inuit. Now I don't want to get political or debate animal rights and activism, it isn't the point of this thread. And it could trigger some people because you will see them hunt seal and process it. But I really think it's a good watch for people to really understand the impact of groups like Greenpeace on Indigenous people when they take a hard position and don't differentiate the good from the bad. Long story short the majority of sealing is done by Indigenous people and they were never killing the little white seal cubs and while Europe banned the trade of white seal fur back then the protests by activists didn't distinguish the difference and killed the market for Inuit overnight.

We all know what Canadians are facing these days with the discovery of unmarked graves of Indigenous children in Residential Schools and one of the things I hear from First Nations people is the desire for us to just listen to their stories. And I have been doing that lately whether it's on Netflix or a novel or from the people from my SIL's reserve on social media. And so I was watching the show above, "Angry Inuk" and thought I should share or recommend this to others and I thought maybe better this way rather than a footnote in the Netflix thread.

So I thought I would share some things I have watched or read that have made an impact. And I would love if people shared their recommendations. It doesn't have to be just about Canada because while this is our personal shame and something I am processing there are other stories around the world.

So on my list I would recommend:
1. Beothuk Saga (Bernard Assiniwi)
2. The Inconvenient Indian (Thomas King)
3. Seven Fallen Feathers (Tanya Talaga)
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1. We Were Children
2. Angry Inuk (eta... realised it was on Prime, not Netflix)


I don't mean this to be too heavy and dramatic but just felt a separate book club / film club might be good for this specific topic AND also a place to do what they are asking of us, to just listen to their stories and experiences. :)
 
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I haven't read this book, but it's been recommended as a really good resource for non-Indigenous people to understand the extent to which Indigenous people have been discriminated against in Canada, and what needs to happen to start turning that around.

21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality: Joseph, Bob: 9780995266520: Books - Amazon.ca

21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality: Joseph, Bob: 9780995266520: Books - Amazon.ca
www.amazon.ca
 
Not a true story but based on true experiences of being Indigenous in Canada, the film Indian Horse was excellent.

It is also a book but I haven’t read it yet.
 
skategal said:
Not a true story but based on true experiences of being Indigenous in Canada, the film Indian Horse was excellent.

It is also a book but I haven’t read it yet.
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I saw the first two hours of that on Air Canada once, never got to finish it, flight wasn't long enough :)
 
There is a 12 weeks open online course offered by the Faculty of Native Studies of the University of Alberta. If you want a certificate for this course, you’ll have to pay a small fee for it.
Here the link to register :Indigenous Canada

“Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the Faculty of Native Studies that explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada. From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores key issues facing Indigenous peoples today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations. Topics for the 12 lessons include the fur trade and other exchange relationships, land claims and environmental impacts, legal systems and rights, political conflicts and alliances, Indigenous political activism, and contemporary Indigenous life, art and its expressions.”​


Dan Levy, the Canadian actor took this course last year and hosted the weekly discussions with the professors Dr Bear and Dr Gareau after each module. You’ll find below the link to these weekly discussions:
Dan Levy talks about Indigenous issues with University of Alberta Prof. Tracy Bear
 
Concerning books, we can look on the Instagram site of @uanativestudies and scroll down until Week One - Further reading (post on 27.08.20) until post for Week 12 (on 14.11.20). It's further reading for the 12 modules of Indigenous Canada.
In case you are interested, here the twitter account as well NativeStudies
 
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I can recommend several books and a number on the prehistory of the new world. But, one that I'm reading now is David Silverman's This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving.
 
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clairecloutier said:
I once saw a film called Anarjuat: The Fast Runner, which was about a small Inuit extended family in ancient times (pre-Canada). It was interesting. I felt like I didn’t completely understand it, but some of the imagery and scenes have stayed vivid in my mind, even though it was 20 years ago that I saw it.

en.wikipedia.org

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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I remember that film. I wholly support Indigenous film-making and appreciated the storytelling-style narrative of the film, but TBH I found it overly long and a bit dull.
 
Buzz said:
There was this reality tv show a while back about Non indigenous Canadians spending time on reserves.

First Contact Canada

www.firstcontactcanada.ca www.firstcontactcanada.ca

There is also the APTN network.
www.aptn.ca

APTN | THE FIRST NATIONAL INDIGENOUS BROADCASTER IN THE WORLD

Both on-screen and behind the cameras, APTN helps enrich public understanding of Indigenous cultures, identities and languages.
www.aptn.ca www.aptn.ca
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Thanks for posting that. I had s
Buzz said:
There was this reality tv show a while back about Non indigenous Canadians spending time on reserves.

First Contact Canada

www.firstcontactcanada.ca www.firstcontactcanada.ca

There is also the APTN network.
www.aptn.ca

APTN | THE FIRST NATIONAL INDIGENOUS BROADCASTER IN THE WORLD

Both on-screen and behind the cameras, APTN helps enrich public understanding of Indigenous cultures, identities and languages.
www.aptn.ca www.aptn.ca
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting that! I had watched a good part of the first season and then kinda lost the link.

i remember Oka. I was young though. Fascinating to hear their side from the people that were there.
 
Netflix just included a movie called Indian Horse. It is about a boy separated from his family to be put into a residential school. He discovers a talent for hockey. But even when he becomes “truly Canadian” he is always treated as an other. It’s not a feel good movie. Important film. There is one truly disturbing sequence that I have no doubt happened in these residential schools. I am sad and ashamed.
 
The mini series Conspiracy of Silence is on YouTube and it is about the murder of Helen Betty Osborne. Also The J.J. Harper story is also on YouTube. It is about an indigenous man killed by Winnipeg police.

More about the Helen Betty Osborne case from the Ottawa Citizen.
ottawacitizen.com

15 Canadian Stories: Helen Betty Osborne, a murder that resonates nearly 50 years later

Decades before the inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, the abduction and murder of Helen Betty Osborne in The Pas, Man., in 1971 — and her family’s …
ottawacitizen.com ottawacitizen.com
 
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