Indigenous films should spark frank discussion
Controversial shooting and trial sets tone for discussion to follow screenings
A presentation of Indigenous short films on Thursday night comes at a flashpoint moment in the ongoing and often painful soul-searching over Canada’s treatment of its First Nations peoples.
“We have a lot to talk about,” said Julie Tucker, a director of public programs and advocacy for the Arts Council Windsor & Region.
Last week’s acquittal by an allwhite jury of a white farmer accused of murdering a young Indigenous man in Saskatchewan shocked Canada’s Indigenous community and has sparked nationwide demonstrations, including in Windsor.
Anger and determination has followed, with victim Colten Boushie’s mother meeting in Ottawa on Tuesday with four cabinet ministers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who reportedly told Debbie Baptiste her son, 22, did not die in vain and that “things need to change.”
Thursday’s screenings of short films is the latest in the series Aabiziingwashi ( Wide Awake): NFB Indigenous Cinema on Tour. It’s cohosted by the Arts Council and the University of Windsor’s Aboriginal Education Centre.
Souvenir is a collection of four films aimed at re-imagining Canada’s Indigenous identity by reframing Canadian history through a contemporary lens.
The River, which touches on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, portrays the impact of a missing Indigenous person on a family. The story exemplifies “the beauty, grace, resilience and activism born out of the need to do something.”
Admission to the event is free. It runs from 7-8:30 p.m. in Room 1100 at the Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering Innovation, 2285 Wyandotte St. W. A discussion follows the film presentations.
“The Boushie case was a big demonstration of systemic racism,” said Kathryn Pasquach, the University of Windsor’s Aboriginal outreach co-ordinator.
She said the acquittal of Gerald Stanley puts a spotlight on how police and the justice system treat Indigenous people differently. She said there’s a misconception among non-Indigenous Canadians that any unfairness or built-in racism in the system doesn’t affect them.
Pasquach said there was “a lot of frustration already in the community,” and that discussions like the one on Thursday night are needed. All the movies being presented in the series were created by First Nations filmmakers, and she describes Souvenir as an empowering look at history through a different cultural lens.
“It’s important that Indigenous people aren’t always seen as victims, but as empowered,” said Pasquach.
On Wednesday, to raise awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, a round dance at the CAW Student Centre was organized by the University of Windsor’s Native Student Alliance and its law school’s Indigenous Initiatives.
Younger Indigenous people have been attending the NFB film series, which began in the fall and concludes on March 22 with the screening of Birth of a Family, a 2017-released documentary on the Sixties Scoop, which saw Aboriginal children taken from their families and placed in non-native foster homes or put up for adoption.
That screening, with a discussion to follow, takes place at the University of Windsor’s new School of Creative Arts in the former downtown Armouries.