Colonialism and Racism
The film excerpts in this theme show the devastating effects of European colonialist policies on Aboriginal peoples. They also show acts of racism in which Aboriginal peoples have been victimized in their relations with whites.
Excerpts
Dancing Around the Table, Part One
1
Forgotten Warriors
1
My Name Is Kahentiiosta
1
2
Ojigkwanong - Encounter with an Algonquin Sage
1
The Other Side of the Ledger: An Indian View of the Hudson's Bay Company
1
3
Our Nationhood
4
Riel Country
2
1
Uranium
1
Riel Country
1996, Director: Duckworth, Martin
excerpt 2 4 min 4 s
1. In the play performed by the students, what does the re-enactment reveal about the status Métis people held in early Canadian society?
2. What is ironic about the views that the French and the Natives held regarding the Métis? How did these strongly held views impact on the Métis people?
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Synopsis
Riel Country features young adults from two distinct Winnipeg neighbourhoods, on either side of the Red River as they struggle to overcome geographical and cultural barriers.
High school students from the predominantly Aboriginal North End, with the support of their peers from the Francophone district of St. Boniface, work to produce a play on the origins of the Metis--a theme which links both groups to Louis Riel's dream of a society in which respect for difference is a founding principle.
How do these youths foresee their role and place within their respective communities? How do these minority communities co-exist with the predominant culture? How are prevailing intolerance and racism dealt with from both sides of the river? Victims of discrimination, these two groups share their experiences in view of better understanding themselves and others.
Director: Martin Duckworth
Photography: Martin Duckworth
Editing: Martin Duckworth
Producer: Jacques Vallée
Producer: Joe MacDonald
Sound: Norman Dugas
Sound: André Chaput
Sound: Serge Boivin
Voice and Narration: Henri Bergeron
Music: Larry Crosley
Cast or Participant: Norman Dugas