The Polygon Gallery is observing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with the help of films from the NFB. These films highlight the resilience of Indigenous peoples in Canada, who have endured systemic oppression and cultural genocide. The residential school system forcibly removed children from their families, banning their languages and traditions, and subjecting many to abuse in an effort to erase Indigenous communities.

Programme

The Amendment, 2007
dir. Kevin Papatie | 4 minutes
Four generations after the Federal Government’s assimilation policy, the Algoquin language is dying out.

Wandering Spirit Survival School, 1978
dir. Marvin Midwicki | 27 minutes
The experience of the children at Wandering Spirit is contrasted with the very different life experienced by their parents, educated in the old residential schools.

Richard Cardinal: Cry From A Diary Of A Metis Child, 1986
dir. Alanis Obomsawin | 29 minutes
Richard Cardinal died by his own hand at the age of 17, having spent most of his life in a string of foster homes and shelters across Alberta. The film exposed the systemic neglect and mistreatment of Indigenous children in Canada’s child welfare system.

Bill Reid Remembers, 2021
dir. Alanis Obomsawin | 24 minutes
Despite spending his early life away from his nation’s culture, renowned Haida artist Bill Reid always kept Haida Gwaii close to his heart.

These Are My People..., 1969
dir. Roy Daniels, Willie Dunn, Michael Kanentakeron Mitchell and Barbara Wilson | 13 minutes
One of the first Canadian documentaries to foreground an Indigenous perspective on the history of Indigenous–settler relations, it features Standing Arrow and Tom Porter, from the Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) community of Akwesasne, who discuss longhouse religion, culture, government and the impacts of settler arrival on their way of life.

Curated by Joelle Johnston, Indigenous Liaison and Community Outreach, with Daniel Pickering, Audiovisual Assistant/Canada Summer Jobs

RSVPS are helpful

All films are courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada

Generously supported by North Shore Community Foundation

Banner image: Michael Kanentakeron Mitchell, Willie Dunn, Barbara Wilson, and Roy Daniels, These Are My People, 1969