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Canadian film review: Sugarcane

We have seen a few documentaries and feature films that have covered the impact of residential schools: Birth of a Family and Rhymes for Young Ghouls leap to mind. Sugarcane feels like the documentary with a laser type focus on the impact of residential schools.

Julian Brave NoiseCat, co-director of Sugarcane, talks to his father and grandmother about the impact of St. Joseph's Mission near Williams Lake, British Columbia.

We see investigators looking into the past. This comes on the heels of the remains of 215 students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Williams Lake is about 228 km (179 m) northwest of Kamloops.

NoiseCat has a vested interest in getting his father and grandmother to talk about what happened. The stigma of shame and silence means that the people who suffered do not want to discuss the experience. Some of that stems from those authority figures punishing those who talk.

Some of what you look for in this film is the significance behind the silence when asked about the atrocities.

As much as we have heard about this topic in Canada, the United States, which has its own residential schools, has barely covered this topic. U.S. President Joe Biden issued an apology for the U.S. Indian Boarding Schools program in late October. This is an important first step.

This film is an important step as well.

One disturbing element we discover is that there is evidence that priests impregnated some girls at the school. The girls gave birth and those babies were incinerated.

Lily Gladstone made history in the U.S. while Canada has Indigenous winners for film acting awards

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The film is paced well and you find yourself horrified and wanting to learn more. The archival footage that made the residential schools seem happy is really creepy. You have to understand that whitewashing of the coverage of these schools was part of the master plot to hide the truth from white people for multiple generations.

Sugarcane is a hard watch but very necessary. Watch it with your parents and children, giving them to ask questions after the film is over.

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Sugarcane made the shortlist for the Academy Awards for documentary feature film.

Sugarcane had a theatre release this summer in the U.S. and Canada. The documentary also played at the 2024 Windsor International Film Festival. The film ran earlier this month in the United States on the National Geographic Channel and is available on Disney+ and Hulu.

video credit: National Geographic
photo credit: Sugarcane

Lily Gladstone made history in the U.S. while Canada has Indigenous winners for film acting awards

Lily Gladstone was nominated for Best Actress at the 96th Academy Awards for her role in Killers of the Flower Moon. Gladstone was the first Native American actress to be nominated for an Academy Award. As we know, Emma Stone won the Oscar for Best Actress for Poor Things.

Gladstone did win a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and the Screen Actors Guild award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture. Just not an Oscar.

Given the considerable number of Indigenous films and actors in Canada, we were highly curious about Indigenous representation in Canadian film awards. We compiled a list from the Canadian Screen Awards and, before 2012, the Genie Awards.

We list the winners and then those who received nominations. We need to start with a current nominee for Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Film: Alexis Vincent-Wolfe for Slash/Back. The titles listed below are the older gender-specific nominations:

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

2020 Michael Greyeyes Blood Quantum
2008 Natar Ungalaaq The Necessities of Life | Ce qu'il faut pour vivre

nominated

2021 Phillip Lewitski Wildhood
2018 Brandon Oakes Through Black Spruce
2018 Paul Nutarariaq The Grizzlies

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

2021 Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers Night Raiders

nominated

2019 Violet Nelson The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open
2019 Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open
2013 Cara Gee Empire of Dirt
2013 Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs Rhymes for Young Ghouls
1987 Tantoo Cardinal Loyalties

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

2021 Joshua Odjick Wildhood

nominated

2019 Douglas Grégoire Kuessipan
2017 Sladen Peltier Indian Horse
2017 Natar Ungalaaq Iqaluit

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

2021 Cherish Violet Blood Scarborough

nominated

2021 Gail Maurice Night Raiders
2019 Yamie Grégoire Kuessipan
2018 Anna Lambe The Grizzlies
2013 Jennifer Podemski Empire of Dirt
2003 Annabella Piugattuk The Snow Walker

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The one mostly common factor in these films is a strong Indigenous process. Cherish Violet Blood in Scarborough is an exception. Canada has had way more films with Indigenous stories than those in the United States and very few of the latter are considered for the Academy Awards.

We also listed actors with significant Indigenous blood as opposed to a theoretical 1% rule.

Another consideration is that we aren't factoring in TV work, such as Reservation Dogs (that stars Canadians such as Devery Jacobs and D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai. The Podemski sisters — Jennifer, Tamara, and Sarah — have had more accolades on the TV side than in films from any country. In fact, Tamara Podemski won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal as Alison Trent on Coroner for her work in 2020. Coroner aired in both countries on CBC and the CW. All 3 Podemski sisters have been on Reservation Dogs, though Sarah has the most prominent role of the sisters.

Little Bird received the most Canadian TV nominations for the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards with 19. The drama based on the Sixties Scoop has nominations for best lead performer (Darla Contois and Ellyn Jade) and best supporting performer (Braeden Clarke). The program aired on APTN and Crave in Canada and PBS in the United States.

Independent Spirit Awards nominations have some Canadian flair

Jennifer Podemski interview (Toronto Life)

If you break down the Oscars in terms of North American Indigenous people, consider that both nominations for Best Supporting Actor belong to Canadians: Chief Dan George Little Big Man (1970) and Graham Greene Dances With Wolves (1990).

Michael Greyeyes got film and television nominations at the 2021 Independent Spirit Awards: (film) Best Male Lead for Wild Indian and (television) Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series for Rutherford Falls. Greyeyes didn't win either award.

This isn't saying Canadians are better on this topic. Canadians have made a lot more Indigenous themed content in Canadian film and Canadian television. While Canadians might think Indigenous people are relatively invisible in their country, they truly are invisible in U.S. society.

Beans from Tracey Deer won Best Motion Picture at the 2021 Canadian Screen Awards. The late Jeff Barnaby, creator of Blood Quantum and Rhymes for Young Ghouls will posthumously receive the Board of Directors' Tribute Award at the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards.

None of these film awards factor in the incredible documentary work such as Angry Inuk, Birth of a Family, Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy, and numerous documentaries from Alanis Obomsawin.

2024 Canadian Screen Awards nominations: Television

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My relatively limited knowledge of Indigenous issues is based in great part by Canadian films and Canadian television tackling Indigenous issues and stories. You can find them in our Indigenous, Canadian film, and Canadian television sections. They make a difference in what we know and how much we don't know.

photo credits: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open; Beans

Indigenous authenticity is crucial, even in the case of Buffy Sainte-Marie

We will not touch on the topic of whether Buffy Sainte-Marie is Indigenous or not. That is not up for us to decide. We do want to pick up on some threads on the impact following the investigation by The Fifth Estate on CBC.

The primary argument is the birth certificate. The investigation found that the birth certificate identifies the child as "white." Bezhig Little Bird/Esther Rosenblum — the primary character in Little Bird — says her birth certificate has her being born in Montréal. Bezhig knows that is a lie because she knows she was born in Saskatchewan and adopted by a couple from Montréal. Sainte-Marie was born before the Sixties Scoop; the story she tells matches what happened to Indigenous children stolen from their natural parents.

In the Front Burner episode, Geoff Leo, a senior investigative reporter with CBC Saskatchewan, told of conversations with younger relatives of Sainte-Marie. That would be labelled as hearsay in a court of law. I have a first cousin who didn't really know our grandmother. She wouldn't be a good resource to tell a first-hand story about our grandmother.

The people in the Front Burner episode infer (imply?) that Buffy Sainte-Marie benefited from saying she was Indigenous. This was back in the 1960s in the United States. The major Indigenous figure of that time was the Native American man who cried when he saw a bunch of litter.

Sainte-Marie did make an impact, teaching children about Indigenous people on Sesame Street in the 1970s. Americans and Canadians knew very little about Indigenous people, other than stereotypes. If this wasn't a big deal (it was a big deal), then why was Sainte-Marie the only one to step up back then?

The details Sainte-Marie gets right about what happened in the Sixties Scoop, talking about those matters when few white people even understood what was happening.

Little Bird shows us the adoption notices in the newspapers, advertising the positive elements of each Indigenous child. We watch as the head social worker goes through the dance where the children are taken away. The courtroom where the participants blatantly lie about the status of the children.

If you watched the documentary Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On (which just won the International Emmy award earlier this month), her backstory doesn't make a lot of sense. There is a mystique to the story but that story doesn't hold up too well.

The story of Bezhig/Esther wouldn't have made sense within her adopted community. Ask yourself if you have that kind of mental retention, especially when society tells you this never happened. The struggles that Bezhig goes through just to find her family is rather remarkable for its time.

Canadian film review: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On

None of this proves that Buffy Sainte-Marie is Indigenous or not Indigenous. All we are saying is that if she isn't Indigenous, Buffy Sainte-Marie has been the Johnny Appleseed of showing settlers what Indigenous people have gone through.

For the record, Sainte-Marie has denied the accusations leveled in The Fifth Estate report.

Thanks to Little Bird, Bones of Crows, Birth of a Family and countless other Canadian films, your humble narrator has learned the basics of the Sixties Scoop.

We have noticed that Little Bird have included Buffy Sainte-Marie songs on the soundtrack. I Remember You is the song we hear as the title credits roll. We would be curious as to what co-creator Jennifer Podemski, among others, thinks about the use of the songs in light of the CBC News report.

Canadian film review: Inconvenient Indian

Michelle Latimer responds in her own words

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers weighs in on the Michelle Latimer issue

As a settler, I have no clue as to why someone would pretend to be Indigenous. Michelle Latimer did a good job with Inconvenient Indian and Trickster yet her lack of authenticity was a significant concern.

The vetting process to receive grants going to Indigenous filmmakers would seem to be a good start. The Devery Jacobs response to the CBC investigation into Latimer seems like a good direction to go. Again, not our decision to make.

Music is a very different world than film.

My response to the CBC exposé written by @Kanhehsiio & @JorgeBarrera about Michelle Latimer’s Indigenous ancestry: pic.twitter.com/V3xAanCQuL

— Devery Jacobs (@kdeveryjacobs) December 18, 2020

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Sainte-Marie has done a lot to educate people about those who are Indigenous. Having authenticity is crucial for Indigenous people to tell their own stories. For so many years, settlers were telling those stories with little concern for accuracy.

The stereotypes that existed when I was young — amplified by various sports teams, pro and college — were highly offensive. I sadly recall the tiny "safe speech" areas around the Atlanta MLB stadium during Game 1 of the 1995 World Series featuring Cleveland and Atlanta. The people were protesting the stereotypes pushed by those teams. The Atlanta mascot, whose name we won't mention here, claimed he was afraid to walk outside in his mocking costume. That was embarrassing given that the space was very small and far away from where the mascot would have been.

Things are a lot better, though Little Bird reminds us that "today there are more Indigenous children in custody than ever before."

Determining authenticity is important even with someone as loved as Buffy Sainte-Marie. This is especially intriguing, given that the Merriam-Webster dictionary people selected "authentic" as the 2023 word of the year.

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Canadian TV notebook: Fall 2023 premiere dates on both sides of the border

Canadian TV notebook: A much longer wait for Season 3 of Transplant on NBC

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Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On and Little Bird are both available through PBS in the United States. Little Bird is available in Canada through Crave and APTN.

photo credits: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On; Little Bird
video credit: CBC News
Twitter capture: @kdeveryjacobs

Wab Kinew becomes first First Nations premier with NDP win in Manitoba

If you had asked me at a bar in the last few years, "which Canadian politician not in power do I have my eye on these days?" — my answer would have been Wab Kinew.

"If Manitobans put their trust in Wab Kinew, this will be a fascinating story to see."

Manitobans voted for a change of government with the NDP winning 33 seats in the 57-seat legislature in the provincial capital of Winnipeg. 

The NDP campaigned on health care, something the Progressive Conservatives were cutting even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Heather Stefanson had been the unelected premier since 2021, taking over from Brian Pallister. The Progressive Conservatives had been in charge since 2016. The party won 23 seats.

Manitoba was the last Canadian province to have a post COVID-19 election since Pallister called an early election in 2019.

it’s provincial election time! that wonderful time when parties compete for our votes by articulating their best ideas and vision for better future

Manitoba PCs: “we will definitely make sure two Indigenous murder victims remain in the dump” pic.twitter.com/z9EmIQ15s9

— Melissa Martin (@DoubleEmMartin) September 27, 2023

You could definitely argue that the NDP ran a great campaign and agree that the PCs ran a poor campaign. Stefanson was rarely seen after the televised debate, delivered the costs to the platform on the day before the provincial election, and ran mean-spirited billboards against searching for Indigenous remains in a landfill.

Stefanson will leave as PC party leader. She had a tough time keeping her seat in the Tuxedo riding. Stefanson did have some nice words for a transition and recognized the "historic nature" of Kinew's win as the first elected First Nations premier in a province. "Wab, I hope that your win tonight inspires a future generation of Indigenous youth to get involved in our democratic process — not just here in Manitoba but right across the country."

The Liberals went from 3 seats to 1 seat in the election last night. Dougal Lamont, who lost his St. Boniface riding, stepped down as the Liberal Party leader. Cindy Lamoureux held on to her Tyndall Park seat, sitting as the only Liberal in the Manitoba legislature.

Fun fact: before he went into politics, Wab Kinew was a reporter for the CBC. Here he is on 2011 Manitoba election night - reporting from PC HQ. pic.twitter.com/Xuapu2CqH9

— election-atlas.ca (@electionatlasCA) October 4, 2023

Wab Kinew worked for CBC Radio and Television in Winnipeg. He has been a hip-hop artist. Kinew has old allegations and stayed charges. Kinew's story is complex for a politician.

Factor in that Kinew ran in the Fort Rouge riding in 2016 and ran into past tweets and social media comments that were problematic. Kinew got elected in 2016. Ran for the party leadership and won in 2017. The NDP kept him on as party leader despite the election loss in 2019.

Canadian politics doesn't normally work this way. Kinew is a very different politician. There is a notable significance to being the first First Nations person and second Indigenous person overall to be elected a provincial premier in Canada. Manitoba has a lot of challenges ahead. The NDP has very full hands. We are very curious how this will go.

2023 Manitoba election preview

Heather Stefanson will be Manitoba's first female premier

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The 2023 Manitoba election drew a 60% turnout, 5 percentage points better than in 2019. 423,035 (unofficially) votes were cast, over 200,000 of them before Election Day.

Winnipeg is dominant because the city has 32 of the 57 ridings. The NDP traditionally does well up north while the PCs usually do well in the rural ridings in the south.

So I’m watching CBC’s coverage of the Manitoba election. This young PC supporter said: 1) parents’ rights because his gf is a teacher who supports “parents’ rights” annnd 2) women need to research the effects of birth control??? pic.twitter.com/lbjGBqaUS1

— PattywritesTO | @pattyinhd on bluesky (@PattyInHD) October 4, 2023

The CBC Winnipeg coverage was inside the capital building in Manitoba in Winnipeg. As impressive as that might seem. CBC News had a citizenship cafe with supporters of the 3 major parties. The yes and no segments were rather lame. The live interviews were great.

The couple they talked to late in the coverage (she was NDP, he was PC) were wonderful. She got truly emotional about Kinew's speech. He was glad for change and supportive of his partner.

Other PC supporters thought their leader ran a poor campaign.

The moment with the young PC supporter was very live and bizarre. "Parents rights" isn't the reason the PCs lost last night but the defeat was significant for that cause. They claim to want to support the children by hurting some of those children and the people who love them

That moment was uncomfortable to watch but necessary sometimes to try and figure out the mindset.

2023 Canadian politics preview

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Canada is down to one female premier: Danielle Smith in Alberta. Smith and Stefanson came into 2023 as unelected premiers. Rachel Notley is the only female opposition leader with Stefanson resigning as party leader. The 2021 PC leadership race was down to 2 women.

Kinew is not the first Indigenous premier in a Canadian province. Peter Lougheed was premier of Alberta from 1971-1985 and was of Metis heritage. First Nations is generally a term used to describe Indigenous people of Canada who are ethnically neither Métis nor Inuit. The Inuit refers to those in the North who used to be known by the e-word we don't use. Hope we explained that well.

photo credit: CBC News
Twitter captures: @DoubleEmMartin; @electionatlasCA; @PattyInHD

Canadian film review: Slash/Back

A strange creature is lurking in this small Inuit community. The adults are celebrating the solstice party, so these young girls find themselves having to be the ones to defend this town from the creature.

Given the hunting traditions in this area, no one bats an eyelash at the shooting skills of these girls.

Our protagonists are Maika (Tasiana Shirley), Jesse (Alexis Wolfe), Uki (Nalajoss Ellsworth), and Leena (Chelsea Prusky). They have other things on their minds, such as boys and friendships. Even if you have disagreements with your friends, the common goal of defeating the creature unites the girls, mostly.

Slash/Back has a bit of science fiction, girl power, Indigenous culture, and characters and a plot that can keep the audience of the adults who would watch this film with their children or by themselves.

The film might be too much for small children but older children should be fine with watching the film.

Nyla Innuksuk makes her feature film debut with a screenplay from Innuksuk and Ryan Cavan. Not easy making a full-length feature film. Even with the mix of science fiction, the story really is about the trials and tribulations of girls growing up in this part of the world.

The film was shot in the Inuit hamlet of Pangnirtung, Nunavut on Baffin Island.

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The filmmakers took local girls and cast them in a film. The story really does stretch well and is a good example of empowering girls.

Slash/Back has played on Crave in Canada.

video credit: YouTube/Shudder
photo credit: Slash/Back

Jully Black opens the door for O Canada lyrics change

My initial reaction to the news about Jully Black changing the O Canada lyrics was "They show O Canada during the NBA All-Star Game?" As readers of our MLB section would know, MLB and Fox Sports have been incessantly obnoxious in refusing to show O Canada to U.S. viewers.

The Tenors changed O Canada before the 2016 All-Star Game. The group kicked out Remigio Pereira for changing the lyrics on his own to a slam against Black Lives Matter. Even in that case, the American audience, should they have seen the anthem, would have been like "those aren't the words."

Jully Black changed the lyrics from "our home and native land" to "our home on native land" to reflect the original Indigenous settlers in what is now Canada.

A subtle and meaningful change. The vocal differences between "and" and "on" means you could slip it in without people noticing. Good on Jully Black to start out the conversation.

“if there was a white face singing the anthem and changed that word, white Canada… would act more quickly… policies would be changing right now.” @JullyBlack on whether the words of the Canadian national anthem should change permanently. she’s right!!! https://t.co/XScDKSkUf9

— Kathleen Newman-Bremang (@KathleenNB) February 22, 2023

Senate finally passes gender-neutral O Canada bill

The English language version changed in 2018 going from "True patriot love in all thy sons command" to "True patriot love in all of us command."

The change, approved in 2018, was brought up by Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger, who introduced a private member's bill (defined as not coming from the government in power). The House of Commons passed the bill in June 2016. Bélanger passed away from Lou Gehrig’s disease on August 15, 2016.

The extensive delay came from conservative senators who delayed the passage until 2018.

O Canada became the country's national anthem in 1980.

Unlike the English version, the French version hasn't changed in awhile: The French version starts out: "O Canada, Terre de nos aïeux." This essentially translates into "Land of our ancestors." The definition of nos | ours would be the concern. Is it "ours" in the sense of Jacques Cartier, the first European to "discover" what is now Quebec City and Montréal.

Quebecers of European descent likely think of Cartier, even if the wording changes. Nos is subjective and not objective so interpretations can vary.

Even though this line is a basic translation of the English language version, most of the French version is not a translation of the English version.

MLB, Rob Manfred, MLB on Fox need to stop disrespecting Canada

Preaching patriotism on anthems easier when you sing the words 

Empathy for Bélanger might have been more of a motivator to get the gender neutral language changed for O Canada. There are fewer conservative senators by any name in the Canadian Senate than there were back then.

The hostility against a needed change would certainly be a force in future adaptations. 

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We talk often about groups going for more and better representation in Canadian society needing allies in their battles. Black made a strong point that you don't have to be Indigenous to make this point about "native land."

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The NBA finally expanded into Canada in 1995 with the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies. The Grizzlies left Vancouver after the 2000-2001 season.

The open hostility by the NBA against the Canadian teams was exclusive and legendary. Both Canadian teams were denied access to the top five picks in the first draft. The teams were not allowed a top draft pick in the following 3 seasons, even if they won the lottery. The teams were prohibited from using their full salary cap for the first 2 seasons.

The NBA has only had a single All-Star Game on Canadian soil in 2016 at what was then Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Transplant, Sort Of win top TV honours at 2022 Canadian Screen Awards

Jully Black is more than just a top Canadian musician. Black got a 2022 Canadian Screen Award nomination for her portrayal of Nina Francis on Diggstown. Black lost out to Tamara Podemski on Coroner for Best Guest Performance, Drama Series.

video credit: YouTube/NBA
Twitter capture: @KathleenNB
photo credit: me

British Columbia decriminalizes some drugs but at a really low threshold

Decriminalize. A powerful word that we don't hear much about in North America. For example, the perception is that the Netherlands legalized marijuana for their coffee shops. In fact, marijuana is not legal but coffee shops are permitted to sell up to 5 grams of marijuana to customers for consumption on-site. No takeaway orders.

As of today, Canadians 18 years of age and older in British Columbia will be able to possess up to a cumulative 2.5 grams of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine, and MDMA within the province.

Note that the total is half of what is the law in the Netherlands. British Columbia wanted a threshold of 4.5 grams but the federal government lowered the threshold to 2.5 grams.

We have noted that the marijuana threshold in Canada, where pot is legal coast to coast to coast, is 30 grams. So the threshold seems higher for the other drugs but that isn't a fair comparison.

The pilot program is in effect for 3 years. You still can't sell drugs though such a small possession marker would make that an odd charge.

The threshold may not matter too much in Kamloops, Prince Rupert, Abbotsford, Fort St. John, Kelowna, and Penticton. The limit may not be as much of a concern on Vancouver Island in places such as Victoria, Nanaimo, Tofino, and Ucluelet.

The key concern is opioids in Vancouver Downtown Eastside. Fentanyl and its analogues were detected in nearly 86% of drug toxicity deaths from 2019-2022, according to the latest report from the B.C. Coroners Service.

Experts say that some opioids users consume more than 2.5 grams in a day, citing the need for a higher threshold.

Your humble narrator is a bit surprised that the program is province-wide, given the significance of Vancouver Downtown Eastside. Then again, opioids use isn't limited to that area. 

Experiencing marijuana tourism in Canada

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While we promote the idea of marijuana tourism, we aren't as excited about the prospect of tourists taking too much advantage. An 18-year-old might find it unusual to be able to possess 2 grams of cocaine while marijuana is still illegal until they turn 19.

The help for opioids users is that they can have a safe supply and not overdose and die. That isn't the same as recreational use. There is also the theory that an American possessing a legal supply might be suspected of trafficking more than someone with a British Columbia drivers licence. 

We will be very curious to see how this pilot program goes and maybe a higher threshold within the 3 years.

photo credit: Victoria Police Department/CBC News

Canadian film review: Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers has had great success of late in front of the camera (Blood Quantum, Night Raiders, The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open) and behind the camera (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open).

So taking a step to do a documentary on opioids and addiction might seem unusual. Somehow, this makes sense for someone such as Tailfeathers and her concern for her community.

Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy is a personal documentary in that Tailfeathers' mother is a physician on the front lines of this battle. The documentary focuses on Tailfeathers' home in the Kainai Nation community in Alberta.

The film explores the quandary between abstinence, an approach that works well for alcoholism, versus harm reduction, which can be more helpful for dealing with the addiction of opioids. Convincing the community of the differences in approach is a significant challenge.

We see the Kainai Nation visiting Vancouver Downtown Eastside, where The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open was set. They learn how harm reduction is helping cut the fatality rate.

Tailfeathers talks with people who are suffering as well as those who are helping those in need. The story of George and Leah is so important: they want to get help but they have 4 steps to get into a treatment centre. Even then, some of those steps have wait lists.

Tailfeathers also shows the push back from nearby Lethbridge residents, including violence and death.

Tailfeathers does have an agenda in that harm reduction is a meaningful approach to a very serious problem. She takes great care to show examples of why harm reduction is a working option.

Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy is also a personal documentary when she tells us that her cousin passed away from an overdose. Personal when her mother Esther forms a detox centre as a transition step to see if the patients want to go to a rehab centre.

There is a concern in taking such a personal interest in a story in a documentary. Tailfeathers helps us see the personification in what is mostly are faceless tragedies.

The film is surprisingly easy to follow and you feel the concerns of these people. This should be required viewing in Canada and the United States.

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Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy won the Canadian Screen Award earlier this year for Best Feature Length Documentary. The documentary also received 2 other Canadian Screen Award nominations for Best Cinematography in a Documentary and Best Editing in a Documentary. The film was 1 of 5 winners of the Rogers Audience Award at the 2021 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy is available via the National Film Board in Canada.

video credit: YouTube/NFB
photo credit: Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy

Canadian film review: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On

Ahead of her time. Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On does a very solid job at showing who this person was as a singer, songwriter, and activist. You also learn of the many wonderful thoughts and ideas where Buffy Sainte-Marie was way ahead of the rest of us.

Or as Buffy Sainte-Marie tells us, sometimes you have to "carry the medicine for a long time."

She was way ahead on opiods, writing a song called Cod'ine in 1964. Sainte-Marie had been diagnosed with a bronchial infection and was treated with codeine. Robbie Robertson describes in the documentary about how you can get pain reliever from the drugstore that has codeine in Canada.  

Sainte-Marie was calling what happened to Indigenous people as a genocide decades before a lot of others weighed in on the topic.

She appeared in The Heritage episode of The Virginian in 1968. Sainte-Marie insisted that actual Indigenous people play the extras.

They say the strength of a songwriter is measured in how often others want to do a cover version of a song. The Universal Soldier became so popular than many (sadly) thought Donovan wrote the song. Until It's Time for You to Go was covered 157 times since its original release in 1965. Elvis Presley was a big fan of the latter song.

Sainte-Marie won an Academy Award for co-writing Up Where We Belong from An Officer and a Gentleman. During the time where she was blacklisted from having her songs on the radio, she became a frequent guest on Sesame Street. Sainte-Marie breastfed her son Cody on Sesame Street. She said it wasn't controversial then but would be now.

Later in her career, Sainte-Marie made music with computers, again ahead of her time.

We also learn about her activism. There is a teaching moment, as she points out, when someone in the crowd asks about the red dress hanging on stage. Sainte-Marie points out the dress represents the missing and murdered Indigenous girls and women.

Sainte-Marie was born on the Piapot 75 reserve in Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan to Cree parents. As part of the then government policy, she was taken as an infant and adopted by Americans in Wakefield, Massachusetts.

The documentary shows her in Yorkville in Toronto, playing the folk scene in Canada's largest city. 

Some of the Canadians in the documentary include Robbie Robertson, Joni Mitchell, and George Stroumboulopoulos.

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My parents had Buffy Sainte-Marie records when I was a kid. I had no clue she was Canadian. The thought of her being Indigenous back then wasn't even a thought. They liked folk music and she was a significant artist in their collection. My father has been gone for 22 years and my mother has dementia. They would have loved to see a look at the life and career of Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Canadian rock and roll documentary makes Independent Lens debut on PBS

Sainte-Marie was in Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, a Canadian documentary that has also aired on PBS. If this documentary makes you more curious, this other documentary will help satisfy some of that curiosity.

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Director Madison Thomas incorporates some reenactments in the film to show moments that weren't captured in the moment. Thomas has a lot of ground to cover. The documentary answers a lot of questions yet keeps the viewer curious to learn more, simply because a documentary, any documentary can only cover so much ground.

Whether you do or don't know much about Buffy Sainte-Marie, this documentary will teach you a lot.

The film premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8.

Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On debuts tonight on PBS as part of the American Masters series. Check your local listings for the PBS station in your area and when the station will show the film. Canadians can watch PBS through cable or satellite as well as antenna in limited areas. The PBS version may be censored in some parts, depending on the station. The film is available in Canada on Crave.

video credit: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On/PBS
photo credit: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On

Mi'kmaw filmmaker Jeff Barnaby has passed away at 46

How I'll miss you, @tripgore.

Beautifully stubborn ’til the very end, Jeff Barnaby was bold in his life and his work. He bore a sensitivity, poignancy and depth within him, that translated through his films and resonated with audiences Indigenous and non-Native alike. pic.twitter.com/Ha9cV5VBRG

— Devery Jacobs (@kdeveryjacobs) October 13, 2022

Jeff Barnaby, who opened a lot of eyes with his first 2 full-length feature films, has died at the age of 46. The writer and director of Rhymes for Young Ghouls and Blood Quantum had reportedly a yearlong battle with cancer.

We mentioned Barnaby as someone who could have take over and done a second season of Trickster for the CBC. A devastating loss to film, Canadian film, and especially Indigenous portrayals on screen.

There was a bit of hype for Rhymes for Young Ghouls, which turned out to be worth the hype. Blood Quantum took 13 years to make yet the timing was rich to come out in a pandemic.

Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs, TIFF Rising Star 2018, got her first leading role in Rhymes for Young Ghouls. Jacobs also was in Blood Quantum.

"Beautifully stubborn 'til the very end, Jeff Barnaby was bold in his life and his work. He bore a sensitivity, poignancy and depth within him, that translated through his films and resonated with audiences Indigenous and non-Native alike," Jacobs was quoted as saying in a media release.

Canadian film review: Blood Quantum

Canadian film review: Rhymes for Young Ghouls

Canadian films that might explain a bit about the world of residential schools

Barnaby also did 3 short films earlier in his career: From Cherry English (2004), The Colony (2007), and File Under Miscellaneous (2010).

We run through a lot of up and coming Canadian filmmakers. Few of them have the energy and attention Barnaby put into his work. My desire to see Blood Quantum was based on consuming Rhymes for Young Ghouls. That doesn't happen often enough in the Canadian film world.

To the point Jacobs made, Barnaby's films had the ability to tell authentic Indigenous stories in ways that transcended who was in the audience. Blood Quantum was a zombie film on one level while telling multiple stories below that line.

We should have had so many more films from Jeff Barnaby. Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Blood Quantum and his short films showed an artist powered by a blazing fire. He understood horror on its deepest levels. Such a shock. RIP. pic.twitter.com/qgILv4aieq

— Cameron Bailey (@cameron_tiff) October 13, 2022

Michael Greyeyes, currently starring in the U.S. show Rutherford Falls, won Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Blood Quantum. The film received 10 Canadian Screen Awards in 2021 and won 7 CSAs. Other wins came for art direction/production design, costume design, editing, makeup, visual effects, and stunt coordination. Barnaby received a nomination for original screenplay. Other nominations came for cinematography and casting.

Jacobs was nominated for Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in the 2013 Canadian Screen Awards.

CanadianCrossing.com Indigenous coverage

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CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

If you haven't seen either of Jeff Barnaby's two films, now is the time. BLOOD QUANTUM is available on-demand, and RHYMES FOR YOUNG GHOULS is streaming on @cbcgem. https://t.co/pwNxfbeb6U

— Barry Hertz (@HertzBarry) October 13, 2022

We do spend a bit of time on this blog to encourage people to watch more Canadian film. Watch these films to see an amazing filmmaker and storyteller in motion.

Barry Hertz from The Globe and Mail pointed out options in Canada. In the United States, Rhymes for Young Ghouls is on Tubi and Blood Quantum is on AMC+. Halloween is coming soon and Blood Quantum should be on that list.

Twitter captures: @kdeveryjacobs; @cameron_tiff; @HertzBarry
photo credit: @cameron_tiff