Your humble narrator saw Black Cop at the Chicago International Film Festival in October 2017. Writer/director Cory Bowles (Trailer Park Boys) was there and held a post-film Q&A. The after Q&A in the hallway was legendary in my mind. Bowles shared a lot about the history of Africville technically inside Halifax in Nova Scotia.
I thought that night that someone should do a documentary on the history of Africville based on what Bowles told us that night.
Black Ice is several documentaries under a single umbrella united by director Hubert Davis. Akim Aliu starts out the documentary, which feels appropriate. The film goes over the situation from current and recent former Black ice hockey players, including Sarah Nurse, P.K. Subban, Saroya Tinker, Mark Connors, and Wayne Simmonds.
You hear the stories of racism from their perspective. The stuff they ignore and the stuff they can't ignore. I vaguely remember the "banana" incident involving Simmonds. Having him talk about it helped give perspective. Simmonds has played more than 1,000 NHL games. Hard to imagine what he has been through.
Tinker talks about the thrill of playing for Angela James for the Toronto Six to play for a Black coach who can understand her situation.
We learn about the horrible quote by then Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe, "I'll give any man $10,000 who can turn Herb Carnegie white.” Carnegie never played in the NHL.
Bill Peters resigns as Calgary Flames head coach in light of racial slurs against player
Canadian film review: Willie
Simmonds also mentions a subtle form of racism in organised hockey. He talks about the conundrum of why you don't see Black centres. This falls into horrible stereotypes for Black athletes that they "can't" be catchers or quarterbacks or centres because they aren't "smart" enough.
As much as I have covered and followed hockey, I confess I hadn't thought about that aspect. I looked up Jarome Iginla and Dustin Byfuglien, two of the smartest NHL players I've seen, regardless of colour (neither of which is in the documentary). Both were on the wing. Hell, Byfuglien was so talented to play defence and as a forward. Simmonds had a point to really ponder that seemingly would also translate to a lack of Black coaches in organised hockey.
The documentary also focuses on the history of Black hockey players in Canada based on the Coloured Hockey League of the Maritimes. The film incorporates research from Darril Fosty and George Fosty's 2004 non-fiction book Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925.
The film covers the rise and fall of Africville, complete with the literal destruction of the community. This film is one of the few to show old footage of Africville to get a sense of what was lost. The topic deserves a full documentary but this was a good start.
The encouraging part of the documentary is Black coaches teaching young Black boys and girls how to play hockey. One team is called the Seasides after the Africville Seasides, one of the Coloured Hockey League teams.
A key theme in this part of the documentary is the idea of having Black people play together so they might have a friend on and off the ice. The saga of being the only Black player on a team, boys or girls, men or women, was common among many of the adult players.
Too often we hear about the history of Willie O'Ree breaking the NHL colour barrier in 1958 and then Mike Marson was the next Black player 16 years later in 1974. Google Larry Doby to find out the first Black player in the American League, 3 months after Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier.
Canadian film review: Across the Line
Canadian film review: Black Cop
Davis presents the information in an engaging fashion. Sometimes, information can be wonderful and presented poorly. Black Ice does a really good job of keeping the audience from being bored.
The dialogue is definitely triggering, especially the n-word mentions. This is a reality of what these players have been through in their careers.
Seeing young people of colour on the ice is inspirational and educational. Black Ice delves into the history that people of all colours should know.
TIFF selects Top 10 Canadian films of 2022
CanadianCrossing.com film reviews
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
Black Ice won the People's Choice Award for documentaries at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. The film made the TIFF Top Ten list of Canadian films for 2022.
Black Ice has aired on TSN and is available on Crave in Canada.
video credits: YouTube/Crave; TSN
photo credit: Black Ice
