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                ♪               

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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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              (♪♪♪)             

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       (children laughing)      

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           (laughing)           

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              (♪♪♪)             

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            (sighing)           

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     - I remember long ago,     

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      there was a black car     
          that came...          

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     and a man and his wife,    
          White people.         

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      And they were talking     
       to my mom and dad.       

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 I looked at the licence plate, 
  and it was from Pennsylvania. 

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         It was a black         
    and yellow licence plate.   

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          And that man,         
       finally, he said...      

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"Would you like to come and live
 with us, little boy?" he said. 

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  It scared me up. I don't know 
      who these people are.     

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       I ran into the bush      

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     and I stayed over there    
          with my dog.          

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  I had a little plastic sheet, 

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    and I stayed in the bush    
       for about a month,       

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until I was sure they were gone.

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          My mom said:          

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   "It was really quiet here."  

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     Lots of kids were gone.    

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        (Native language)       

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      "I'm sad", she said.      

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    Quite a few years later,    

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          we found out          
  there were different places.  

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     Some of them came home     
  and told us where they were.  

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    And they were different,    
        those young kids.       

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    Some of them were adults    
      when they came home.      

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      - So Canada's efforts     
  to assimilate Indigenous kids 

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     began in the 1840s with    
  the first residential school. 

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       (children praying)       

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       From the late 1950s      
          and early 60s         

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        to the mid-1980s,       

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  the mass removal of children  

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        continued through       
    the child welfare system.   

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        Tens of thousands       
       of Indigenous kids       

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were removed from their families
 and placed into White families 

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        in North America        
      and internationally.      

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 All of this is what we'd refer 
    to as the Sixties Scoop.    

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           In Canada,           
        you know, we have       

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     this sort of collective    
      amnesia about things.     

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        Well... And maybe       
     it's not even amnesia,     

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  cause amnesia means that you  
  actually knew about something 

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    and then forgot about it.   

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    But residential schools,    
         Sixties Scoop,         

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  people didn't know about it.  

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       That was, I think,       
        very deliberate,        

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  because you can, you know...  

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     Who wants to broadcast     
         it there and...        

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      We're on a program of     
 assimilating Indigenous people 

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 so that we don't have any more 
    fiduciary responsibility    

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        and we don't have       
       to, you know, share      

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    the resources of the land   
          and whatnot.          

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   I think truth is important   
       when we're looking       

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        at our collective       
   colonial history in Canada.  

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      If people don't know      
        the true stories,       

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   the truth of what happened,  

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    then, they're never gonna   
        know who we are.        

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      And we've always been     
          storytellers,         

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       so here's one more.      

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        We got a lot more       
         coming, though.        

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              (♪♪♪)             

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  - Little Bird is a miniseries 

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  about one woman's experience  

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      after being abducted      
  from her home in Saskatchewan 

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     and being adopted into     
  a Jewish family in Montreal.  

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      And the story follows     
    her journey of discovery    

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      to uncover the truth      
           of her past          

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      and pursue her desire     

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     to understand the story    
    that was stolen from her    

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        about who she is.       

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              (♪♪♪)             

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 - What we see with Little Bird 
     is one of those stories    

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on a very, you know, personal...

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      on a personal level.      

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       It's a family unit       

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    that's been taken apart.    

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        (Native language)       

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      My name is Elle-Maija     
     Apiniskim Tailfeathers.    

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       I come from Sapmi,       
     from the Norgga region.    

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       I'm also Blackfoot       
    from "Gainah" or Kainai.    

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      And I'm a filmmaker.      

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- And action, kids!             

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- So, we're witnessing something
    really special right now    

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 in terms of Indigenous cinema. 

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          There's been          
      this massive movement     

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 towards narrative sovereignty, 

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         and that means         
         so many things.        

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   I'm just really proud to be  
    a part of this movement,    

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         but I recognize        
    there's a long way to go.   

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                   It's flowers.

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       You're not going to do it
               right now, but...

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            - Hey, can you still
              get me some water?

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        (bucket dropping)       

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               Go!              

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        (Native language)       

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  - My name is Jade Willoughby. 

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 I'm from Whitesand First Nation
      in Northern Ontario.      

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   As First Nations Indigenous  
  people, we're very community, 

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     we're very place-based,    
            you know.           

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    And that's the structure    
         that, you know,        

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    was essentially attempted   
           to destroy.          

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   And, you know, we're seeing  
     the ripple effects now     

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 of what that was, but you still
     see that cohesiveness.     

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00:07:04,924 --> 00:07:06,325
    We're finding each other.   

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  And I think in this project,  
       that's what it is.       

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     So, for me, I'm giving     
       a voice, you know,       

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    to my grandmother's story   
    and her sister, you know,   

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      and many other people     
          in my family          

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  that have gone through this.  

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    - So, I'm Raven Sinclair    

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          and I'm from          
      Gordon First Nation,      

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    Treaty 4 territory, Cree,   
   Assiniboine and Saulteaux,   

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       Crow and Red River       
         Métis ancestry.        

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       And I'm a professor      
         of social work         

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        at the University       
     of Regina in Saskatoon.    

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       So, I am a survivor      
      of the Sixties Scoop.     

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          I was adopted         
  on my fifth birthday in 1966. 

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       And the experience       
     for me of reconnecting     

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  and learning about the Scoop  
  was really, really important. 

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      What was significant      
          about that is         

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         we all thought         
     we were the only ones.     

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 So, learning that this was one 
  of the assimilation projects  

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   of the government... ha-ha!  

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          governments,          
     provincial governments,    

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      was really important      
     because then, you know,    

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     we were able to, then,     
 depersonalize it a little bit. 

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     You know, then, you're     
       no longer thinking:      

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    "This is something that's   
  fundamentally wrong with me." 

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      It's something that's     
       fundamentally wrong      

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        with the system.        

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        - This role hits        
       very close to home       

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      because my dad, being     
 a member of the Sixties Scoop, 

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     changed my entire life.    

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      So, there was a level     
     of compartmentalization    

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 that had to happen where it was
    like I need to sort of...   

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         separate my own        
       personal experience      

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   and sort of put that aside   
       so that I can focus      

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   on the work and do the work  

144
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      because stories like      
      this need to be told.     

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   And I think any other actor  

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           who wasn't           
     of Indigenous ancestry     

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       or have Indigenous       
        lived experience        

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      wouldn't necessarily      
       have to use those,       

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 like, mental coping mechanisms 

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    in order to do this role.   

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00:08:55,201 --> 00:08:56,802
      (indistinct chatter)      

152
00:08:56,869 --> 00:08:59,605
  - All right, folks, let's go  
 to our first position, please! 

153
00:08:59,672 --> 00:09:02,909
    Again, from the very top,   
        but only until...       

154
00:09:02,975 --> 00:09:04,310
- Can we just reset?            

155
00:09:04,377 --> 00:09:06,279
                   - You want me
                    to reset it?
- Yeah.                         

156
00:09:06,345 --> 00:09:07,780
     My name is Zoe Hopkins.    

157
00:09:07,847 --> 00:09:10,816
    I'm a writer and director   
         on Little Bird.        

158
00:09:10,883 --> 00:09:13,953
    I'm born in Bella Bella.    
 I'm Heiltsuk on my mom's side. 

159
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     That's where she lives.    

160
00:09:15,454 --> 00:09:17,924
         And I'm Mohawk         
      on my father's side.      

161
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     I live in Six Nations.     

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     Canada is still having     
     a reckoning with truth     

163
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        and what happened       
     and is still happening     

164
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          to our people         
        in this country.        

165
00:09:28,534 --> 00:09:29,936
        You know, we hear       

166
00:09:30,002 --> 00:09:32,305
     the term reconciliation    
      thrown around a lot.      

167
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       And it is very true      

168
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     that we can't have that    
      until there's truth.      

169
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 And this is a part of that kind
      of frontline advocacy     

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     and activism on screen.    

171
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              (♪♪♪)             

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00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,122
    - Folks, let's go to our    
        first positions!        

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           Rehearsal!           

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          - I was part          
      of the Sixties Scoop,     

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00:10:27,927 --> 00:10:31,764
     so that's my connection    
         with this film.        

176
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  My character's name is Asin.  

177
00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:38,070
        I'm the granddad.       
  I'm doing granddad stuff now. 

178
00:10:38,838 --> 00:10:42,375
        My... slave name,       
       I like to call it,       

179
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         my adopted name        

180
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   - I was adopted at birth -   

181
00:10:45,411 --> 00:10:46,846
      is Eric Kurt Schweig,     

182
00:10:46,912 --> 00:10:48,914
         but the name...        
     I never met my mother,     

183
00:10:48,981 --> 00:10:50,449
  but the name that she gave me 

184
00:10:50,516 --> 00:10:53,252
     before I was taken away    
     was Ray Dean Thrasher.     

185
00:10:53,319 --> 00:10:56,656
     I'm Inuit, Portuguese,     
     German and Senegalese.     

186
00:10:56,722 --> 00:10:59,558
     My birthplace is Inuvik    
  in the Northwest Territories. 

187
00:10:59,625 --> 00:11:03,262
     It's just at the mouth     
  of the Mackenzie River delta  

188
00:11:03,329 --> 00:11:05,131
  underneath the Beaufort Sea.  

189
00:11:05,197 --> 00:11:07,800
       Why is it important      
   that this story be told...   

190
00:11:07,867 --> 00:11:10,269
    this story in particular    
         be told by us?         

191
00:11:10,336 --> 00:11:13,939
       Because every time       
    the other side tells it,    

192
00:11:14,006 --> 00:11:16,308
        they screw it up,       
     or they romanticize it,    

193
00:11:16,375 --> 00:11:19,478
    or they titillate the...    

194
00:11:19,545 --> 00:11:21,147
      any of the bad things     
           that go on,          

195
00:11:21,213 --> 00:11:24,316
     and it's stereotypical     
       and it's nonsense.       

196
00:11:24,383 --> 00:11:26,485
          The only time         
        that you can get        

197
00:11:26,552 --> 00:11:28,988
   the real meat and potatoes   
    from something like this    

198
00:11:29,055 --> 00:11:31,123
  is from First Nations people, 

199
00:11:31,190 --> 00:11:33,459
        from the source.        

200
00:11:33,526 --> 00:11:35,995
     - I knew when I became     
           a producer           

201
00:11:36,062 --> 00:11:38,564
   that I would only ever tell  

202
00:11:38,631 --> 00:11:42,268
       Indigenous stories       
  that multi-dimensionalize us  

203
00:11:42,334 --> 00:11:44,837
      and our experiences.      

204
00:11:44,904 --> 00:11:48,007
      I don't think there's     
      one Indigenous family     

205
00:11:48,074 --> 00:11:51,977
    that hasn't been impacted   
      by residential school     

206
00:11:52,044 --> 00:11:53,879
  or the child welfare system.  

207
00:11:53,946 --> 00:11:55,948
        I don't know one.       
       I've never met one.      

208
00:11:58,884 --> 00:12:02,922
  For me, because my community  
       is in Saskatchewan,      

209
00:12:02,988 --> 00:12:05,491
     Southern Saskatchewan,     
          Muscowpetung,         

210
00:12:05,558 --> 00:12:10,062
       I placed the story       
         in that region,        

211
00:12:10,129 --> 00:12:12,164
       because I wanted it      
         to be as close         

212
00:12:12,231 --> 00:12:15,101
      to my home community      
          as possible.          

213
00:12:15,167 --> 00:12:18,637
    So, I followed the river    
         near my reserve        

214
00:12:18,704 --> 00:12:22,641
     and, like, followed it     
  on Google Maps into Manitoba, 

215
00:12:22,708 --> 00:12:26,512
  and then I chose communities  
 that that river flowed through 

216
00:12:26,579 --> 00:12:29,648
     and had those coolees,     
          the valleys.          

217
00:12:29,715 --> 00:12:32,184
              (♪♪♪)             

218
00:12:32,251 --> 00:12:33,686
       - One of the things      

219
00:12:33,753 --> 00:12:35,521
    that is an important part   

220
00:12:35,588 --> 00:12:38,457
         of the protocol        
   of Indigenous storytelling   

221
00:12:38,524 --> 00:12:40,593
   is to work with community.   

222
00:12:40,659 --> 00:12:43,195
   And the first thing you do   
     is you go to community     

223
00:12:43,262 --> 00:12:45,998
    and you make an offering,   
   and you ask for permission,  

224
00:12:46,065 --> 00:12:49,235
  whether it's to tell a story  
      or to use a location.     

225
00:12:49,301 --> 00:12:50,903
     So, that's what we did     
       with Sioux Valley,       

226
00:12:50,970 --> 00:12:53,806
      and the relationship      
  just got stronger from there. 

227
00:12:56,442 --> 00:12:58,811
   - We've never had this sort  
     of thing happening here    

228
00:12:58,878 --> 00:13:00,212
        in the community        

229
00:13:00,279 --> 00:13:04,250
        and knowing that        
     Sioux Valley's hosting     

230
00:13:04,316 --> 00:13:06,018
     this crew that's doing     
          a film here.          

231
00:13:06,085 --> 00:13:07,620
       So, they're pretty       
        excited about it.       

232
00:13:07,686 --> 00:13:10,589
     Like, community members    
     that are participating.    

233
00:13:10,656 --> 00:13:13,926
     And I have young adult     
        children myself,        

234
00:13:13,993 --> 00:13:15,361
    and I went home at lunch    

235
00:13:15,427 --> 00:13:16,929
       and I was speaking       
       to my youngest son,      

236
00:13:16,996 --> 00:13:19,532
         and he's like:         
   "What's the Sixties Scoop?"  

237
00:13:19,598 --> 00:13:23,068
   And he didn't know, right,   
      what that was and...      

238
00:13:23,135 --> 00:13:28,040
   So, we had a chat about it   
 at lunchtime with my other son.

239
00:13:28,107 --> 00:13:31,877
 And he says: "Well, didn't you 
  learn about that in school?"  

240
00:13:31,944 --> 00:13:35,181
   So, it's bringing awareness  
     about those dark times     

241
00:13:35,247 --> 00:13:37,683
    to our younger generation   
        that didn't know        

242
00:13:37,750 --> 00:13:40,052
      those sorts of things     
           took place.          

243
00:13:40,119 --> 00:13:42,388
              (♪♪♪)             

244
00:13:42,454 --> 00:13:45,591
          - It impacted         
      a lot of people here.     

245
00:13:45,658 --> 00:13:48,093
      When the young people     

246
00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:51,497
        that were adopted       
        of the reserve...       

247
00:13:51,564 --> 00:13:53,566
      I guess it's quite...     

248
00:13:53,632 --> 00:13:58,771
  It is a quite traumatic thing 
   that they never experienced  

249
00:13:58,838 --> 00:14:01,407
     because they're young,     

250
00:14:01,473 --> 00:14:05,144
   they never left the reserve  
      here, the community,      

251
00:14:05,211 --> 00:14:08,380
  and, all of a sudden, they're 
   taken to a different place   

252
00:14:08,447 --> 00:14:10,149
     with different parents.    

253
00:14:11,250 --> 00:14:14,787
        And they struggle       
      growing up out there.     

254
00:14:16,021 --> 00:14:19,458
       Once they come back      
     or trying to come back,    

255
00:14:19,525 --> 00:14:21,126
       it's very difficult      

256
00:14:21,193 --> 00:14:24,496
      because they learned      
      a different lifestyle     

257
00:14:24,563 --> 00:14:28,500
     and they're coming back    
      to a different home.      

258
00:14:28,567 --> 00:14:31,670
     Some of them, I guess,     
        they feel ashamed       

259
00:14:31,737 --> 00:14:34,940
    to be coming home of what   
   happened to them out there.  

260
00:14:35,708 --> 00:14:38,410
     Some of them never want    
          to come home.         

261
00:14:39,645 --> 00:14:41,547
        I guess this will       

262
00:14:41,614 --> 00:14:44,650
     open the eyes of a lot     
    of people out there now.    

263
00:14:44,717 --> 00:14:48,520
              (♪♪♪)             

264
00:14:48,587 --> 00:14:50,522
      - We're finally here      
      and I'm very excited      

265
00:14:50,589 --> 00:14:54,560
      because this expands      
      my heart to be here.      

266
00:14:54,627 --> 00:14:58,364
     I feel like very, very     
     emotional on this land.    

267
00:15:00,032 --> 00:15:02,801
- You were talking about        
smelling sweet grass...         

268
00:15:02,868 --> 00:15:04,536
     - Sweet grass and sage.    

269
00:15:04,603 --> 00:15:07,239
So, we wanted to gift you       
with those from...              
                    - Miigwetch!

270
00:15:07,306 --> 00:15:09,575
- ... on behalf                 
of our community.               

271
00:15:09,642 --> 00:15:13,712
      It's always a great honour
      to be gifted a star quilt.

272
00:15:13,779 --> 00:15:15,180
                It's one of a...

273
00:15:15,247 --> 00:15:18,050
        I guess something that's
     signatory to our community.

274
00:15:18,117 --> 00:15:21,186
           - I really appreciate
                    this honour.

275
00:15:21,253 --> 00:15:22,588
              And I feel very...

276
00:15:22,655 --> 00:15:25,024
- And it's always a tradition   
for the women to...             

277
00:15:25,090 --> 00:15:26,525
  like, whoever they're gifting,

278
00:15:26,592 --> 00:15:28,427
      we wrap them in it, right?

279
00:15:28,494 --> 00:15:30,296
             - Oh, my God.      
- Ha-ha!                        

280
00:15:30,362 --> 00:15:32,264
              (♪♪♪)             

281
00:15:32,331 --> 00:15:34,566
         - Thank you. Miigwetch.

282
00:15:35,401 --> 00:15:40,072
              (♪♪♪)             

283
00:15:46,011 --> 00:15:51,183
              (♪♪♪)             

284
00:15:52,584 --> 00:15:54,620
  - Well, the Indigenous story  

285
00:15:54,687 --> 00:15:59,725
   or the Indigenous narration  
          is important.         

286
00:16:01,327 --> 00:16:03,996
    Crew members Indigenous,    

287
00:16:04,063 --> 00:16:05,364
          cast members          

288
00:16:05,431 --> 00:16:08,033
      and the authenticity      
       that the producers       

289
00:16:08,100 --> 00:16:12,638
    want to bring to not just   
      aspects of the story      

290
00:16:12,705 --> 00:16:16,442
       and how it's told,       
        but to inclusion.       

291
00:16:16,508 --> 00:16:18,544
     And it warms my heart.     

292
00:16:18,610 --> 00:16:21,513
   My name is Lorne Duquette.   

293
00:16:21,580 --> 00:16:23,615
    My Cree name is Mistatim.   

294
00:16:23,682 --> 00:16:25,284
  I come from the Cree Nation,  

295
00:16:25,351 --> 00:16:28,120
      Mistawasis Nêhiyawak      
        in Saskatchewan.        

296
00:16:29,054 --> 00:16:33,258
    My particular connection    
     to the Sixties Scoop is    

297
00:16:33,325 --> 00:16:35,127
       I had a girlfriend,      

298
00:16:35,194 --> 00:16:39,331
  and her and her two siblings  
        were apprehended.       

299
00:16:39,398 --> 00:16:41,467
 She was raised in a White home,

300
00:16:41,533 --> 00:16:46,505
    and her adopted brothers    
      were older than her.      

301
00:16:46,572 --> 00:16:50,976
        And she suffered        
       sexual and physical      

302
00:16:51,043 --> 00:16:52,378
        and mental abuse.       

303
00:16:52,444 --> 00:16:55,614
         And she passed         
        in October 2016.        

304
00:16:55,681 --> 00:16:59,385
      And her two brothers      
       passed before her.       

305
00:16:59,451 --> 00:17:00,986
          This family,          

306
00:17:01,053 --> 00:17:04,456
           the mother           
     and her three children,    

307
00:17:04,523 --> 00:17:08,394
   none of them had children,   
     many of these siblings,    

308
00:17:08,460 --> 00:17:12,698
    and of course, the mother   
      had no grandchildren.     

309
00:17:12,765 --> 00:17:15,434
    So, the Sixties Scoop...    

310
00:17:17,703 --> 00:17:21,774
   literally wiped this family  
   off the face of this earth   

311
00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:23,509
           without...           

312
00:17:26,145 --> 00:17:27,546
             any...             

313
00:17:27,613 --> 00:17:31,250
          any offspring         
     to carry on their name.    

314
00:17:31,316 --> 00:17:35,654
 Like the dialogue my character 
      says at the funeral,      

315
00:17:35,721 --> 00:17:38,690
     my thoughts also turned    
         to our children        

316
00:17:38,757 --> 00:17:43,796
 who were lost and taken from us
        in so many ways.        

317
00:17:45,297 --> 00:17:47,366
      And in this interview     
     that I'm giving today,     

318
00:17:47,433 --> 00:17:50,335
       I give my thoughts       
          and my memory         

319
00:17:50,402 --> 00:17:53,572
     to her and her siblings    
         and her mother.        

320
00:17:53,639 --> 00:17:58,811
           (chanting)           

321
00:18:02,247 --> 00:18:06,418
      - So, this situation      
    with residential schools,   

322
00:18:06,485 --> 00:18:08,053
         Sixties Scoop,         

323
00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:11,190
     it affected us big time    

324
00:18:11,256 --> 00:18:13,225
     mentally, emotionally.     

325
00:18:14,827 --> 00:18:17,296
  My name is Harold Blacksmith. 

326
00:18:17,362 --> 00:18:19,898
    I come from Sioux Valley    
         Dakota Nation,         

327
00:18:19,965 --> 00:18:23,168
         otherwise known        
    as Wipazoka Wakpa Oyate.    

328
00:18:24,570 --> 00:18:25,904
    Full-blood Dakota Sioux.    

329
00:18:25,971 --> 00:18:29,141
         I've lived here        
   my entire 60 years of age.   

330
00:18:29,208 --> 00:18:32,611
   Because of mom's experience  
     in residential school,     

331
00:18:32,678 --> 00:18:34,913
             she...             

332
00:18:35,948 --> 00:18:38,217
           To be told           
     that you're worthless,     

333
00:18:38,283 --> 00:18:41,220
  being told that consistently  
        on a daily basis,       

334
00:18:41,286 --> 00:18:44,590
    had an emotional, mental    
     effect on these people,    

335
00:18:44,656 --> 00:18:46,358
        including my mom.       

336
00:18:46,425 --> 00:18:48,393
             And...             

337
00:18:50,129 --> 00:18:53,832
   And when the Sixties Scoop   
            came in,            

338
00:18:53,899 --> 00:18:55,400
      they took my brother.     

339
00:18:55,467 --> 00:18:58,670
 My grandma and grandpa hid me, 
       they hung on to me.      

340
00:18:58,737 --> 00:19:01,740
     Back then, the law was:    

341
00:19:01,807 --> 00:19:04,143
       okay, you're going       
      to hang on to Harold?     

342
00:19:04,209 --> 00:19:06,178
     You have to adopt him."    

343
00:19:08,580 --> 00:19:11,250
    Ah, we grew up, we didn't   
     have no TV or nothing.     

344
00:19:11,316 --> 00:19:14,953
       Down south, we have      
     a big lake down there.     

345
00:19:15,020 --> 00:19:16,388
      It's still there yet.     

346
00:19:16,455 --> 00:19:20,459
        And we used to go       
  and fish out there and swim.  

347
00:19:20,526 --> 00:19:23,061
 And my personal experience was 

348
00:19:23,128 --> 00:19:25,797
 I've seen two of my cousins... 

349
00:19:25,864 --> 00:19:27,966
      they were picked up.      

350
00:19:28,033 --> 00:19:30,636
        I still remember        
     the individual's name.     

351
00:19:30,702 --> 00:19:33,305
 It was Mr. Malik, big tall guy,

352
00:19:33,372 --> 00:19:35,307
       Hindu guy, glasses.      

353
00:19:35,374 --> 00:19:38,110
   He had a brown Ford Torino.  

354
00:19:40,279 --> 00:19:42,080
         And those guys         
       shared their story.      

355
00:19:42,147 --> 00:19:46,285
  He took the door handles off  
        from the inside,        

356
00:19:46,351 --> 00:19:49,488
   so once he closed the door,  
   the kids couldn't open it.   

357
00:19:49,555 --> 00:19:53,292
        And he lured them       
        with pop, candy.        

358
00:19:54,092 --> 00:19:55,494
       And he wanted to...      

359
00:19:55,561 --> 00:19:57,462
      I don't know what...      
     I think the saying was     

360
00:19:57,529 --> 00:20:00,999
     that he wanted to talk     
 to their caregivers, whatever. 

361
00:20:01,066 --> 00:20:03,035
       So, the boys got in      

362
00:20:03,101 --> 00:20:06,738
          and he closed         
       the doors on them.       

363
00:20:06,805 --> 00:20:11,210
      And one of my cousins     
        was, you know...        

364
00:20:11,276 --> 00:20:12,678
   He had a look on his face.   

365
00:20:12,744 --> 00:20:16,515
      And I think they knew     
    that they were in trouble   

366
00:20:16,582 --> 00:20:18,083
  when they got in the vehicle. 

367
00:20:18,150 --> 00:20:20,352
  I'll never forget that look.  

368
00:20:23,188 --> 00:20:26,425
   My grandma and grandfather   
      told me in Dakota...      

369
00:20:26,491 --> 00:20:29,328
           they said:           
     "Don't talk to anybody,    

370
00:20:29,394 --> 00:20:31,697
  don't talk to any strangers." 

371
00:20:31,763 --> 00:20:33,265
      And about that time,      
            you know,           

372
00:20:33,332 --> 00:20:36,301
       you see this police      
       vehicle out there,       

373
00:20:36,368 --> 00:20:37,970
the one bulb on top of the hood,

374
00:20:38,036 --> 00:20:39,972
       they were the kind       
    of vehicles that were...    

375
00:20:40,038 --> 00:20:42,007
  You didn't know who to trust. 

376
00:20:42,074 --> 00:20:46,378
  And that's another big factor 
     that today, modern day,    

377
00:20:46,445 --> 00:20:47,813
     we don't talk about it     

378
00:20:47,879 --> 00:20:49,648
       because there were       
     trust issues back then.    

379
00:20:49,715 --> 00:20:52,251
      There was a Mr. Malik     
   and there were other people  

380
00:20:52,317 --> 00:20:54,186
 that were collecting children. 

381
00:20:54,253 --> 00:20:58,190
       And we didn't know       
     who to trust, you know.    

382
00:20:59,424 --> 00:21:03,695
     I'm sure today, if our     
leadership could do something...

383
00:21:03,762 --> 00:21:05,297
    Back then, they probably    
       would have stopped       

384
00:21:05,364 --> 00:21:06,765
    these visitors coming in.   

385
00:21:06,832 --> 00:21:08,467
 They should have stopped them. 

386
00:21:08,533 --> 00:21:13,472
              (♪♪♪)             

387
00:21:15,674 --> 00:21:17,609
      - When you're telling     

388
00:21:17,676 --> 00:21:19,478
      any Indigenous story,     

389
00:21:19,544 --> 00:21:23,282
       for the most part,       
  no one's ever gotten it right 

390
00:21:23,348 --> 00:21:25,651
     unless they were truly     

391
00:21:25,717 --> 00:21:27,886
          an Indigenous         
       storyteller, right?      

392
00:21:27,953 --> 00:21:29,655
       No matter how hard       

393
00:21:29,721 --> 00:21:31,156
        people have tried       
        to get it right,        

394
00:21:31,223 --> 00:21:35,360
 they can't because the process 
        of authenticating       

395
00:21:35,427 --> 00:21:39,931
       all of the threads       
  of the story is very complex. 

396
00:21:39,998 --> 00:21:44,770
     And I take my 30 years     
        in this industry        

397
00:21:44,836 --> 00:21:48,273
          and 25 years          
      of creating content.      

398
00:21:48,340 --> 00:21:50,142
        I draw from that        

399
00:21:50,208 --> 00:21:52,311
       and know that once       
      you start a project,      

400
00:21:52,377 --> 00:21:56,315
      you need what I call      
      a circle of advisors.     

401
00:21:56,381 --> 00:21:59,484
         We can't afford        
       to not be authentic      

402
00:21:59,551 --> 00:22:03,288
    because we're reclaiming    
         these stories.         

403
00:22:05,524 --> 00:22:08,593
    - With the consultations    

404
00:22:08,660 --> 00:22:11,563
     and the back and forth     
    about building the house,   

405
00:22:11,630 --> 00:22:15,767
      it was a combination      
     of shared experiences.     

406
00:22:15,834 --> 00:22:20,505
   In the Ojibwe communities,   
           they had...          

407
00:22:20,572 --> 00:22:25,143
     what they would have is    
they would have these milk cans.

408
00:22:27,079 --> 00:22:29,915
        And that's where        
      they kept their stuff     

409
00:22:29,981 --> 00:22:31,817
 that they needed to keep cool. 

410
00:22:36,988 --> 00:22:41,393
    I'm lucky that I remember   
     my grandparents' house.    

411
00:22:41,460 --> 00:22:44,830
       For me, it was one       
       of the most loving,      

412
00:22:44,896 --> 00:22:48,233
    peaceful, grounding times   

413
00:22:48,300 --> 00:22:49,968
         that I've spent        

414
00:22:50,035 --> 00:22:51,837
       when I was younger       

415
00:22:51,903 --> 00:22:53,372
      because I would just      
       lie on their bed...      

416
00:22:53,438 --> 00:22:57,409
    Because they didn't have    
    much in way of furniture.   

417
00:22:57,476 --> 00:23:00,479
     My grandmother, Nokom,     
      would be maybe sewing     

418
00:23:00,545 --> 00:23:03,181
 while my grandfather, Numshun, 

419
00:23:03,248 --> 00:23:04,583
       humming to himself.      

420
00:23:04,649 --> 00:23:07,519
        And then for me,        
     I was taking it all in.    

421
00:23:07,586 --> 00:23:10,922
     So, we had many people     
     that were contributing     

422
00:23:10,989 --> 00:23:13,091
           to the look          

423
00:23:13,158 --> 00:23:15,794
     and to the feel of all     
   these different locations.   

424
00:23:19,398 --> 00:23:24,603
      (Indigenous language)     

425
00:23:25,604 --> 00:23:27,038
               From Muscowpetung
                    First Nation

426
00:23:27,105 --> 00:23:28,540
                in Saskatchewan,
                     near Regina

427
00:23:28,607 --> 00:23:30,742
                in the beautiful
              Qu'Appelle Valley.

428
00:23:30,809 --> 00:23:34,012
        And this is my beautiful
                niece, Jennifer.

429
00:23:35,313 --> 00:23:37,582
    Yesterday, when I walked    
          onto the set,         

430
00:23:37,649 --> 00:23:38,984
      it just brought back      

431
00:23:39,050 --> 00:23:41,686
    some really good memories   
          of childhood.         

432
00:23:41,753 --> 00:23:44,523
      Even that clothesline     
    with the clothes hanging    

433
00:23:44,589 --> 00:23:46,091
    and blowing in the wind.    

434
00:23:46,158 --> 00:23:49,394
        Yeah, this is how       
       we lived back then.      

435
00:23:49,461 --> 00:23:51,463
           That was our reality.

436
00:23:51,530 --> 00:23:53,365
               No running water!

437
00:23:55,267 --> 00:23:57,636
       Sometimes no electricity.

438
00:23:58,570 --> 00:24:00,205
                          And...

439
00:24:00,272 --> 00:24:02,274
             But like I did say,
                       you know,

440
00:24:02,340 --> 00:24:04,109
                we never thought
            of ourselves as poor

441
00:24:04,176 --> 00:24:06,411
                  because we had
           everything we needed.

442
00:24:06,478 --> 00:24:08,113
                      We were...

443
00:24:08,180 --> 00:24:12,617
   Our parents, our grandparents
    were able to provide for us.

444
00:24:12,684 --> 00:24:15,787
    - Every single department   

445
00:24:15,854 --> 00:24:19,224
  worked with myself and Sharon 

446
00:24:19,291 --> 00:24:23,829
           to... like,          
     on every single detail     

447
00:24:23,895 --> 00:24:26,965
     to ensure authenticity.    

448
00:24:27,032 --> 00:24:30,035
        There was photos        
     up in the corner I know    

449
00:24:30,101 --> 00:24:32,704
   of my grandma on the house   
         in the reserve         

450
00:24:33,972 --> 00:24:37,576
  that the art department based 
    Little bird houses off of.  

451
00:24:37,642 --> 00:24:41,446
      My great-grandfather,     
 Noel Pinais, built this house. 

452
00:24:41,513 --> 00:24:44,115
       And, then, this is       
         my grandmother,        

453
00:24:44,182 --> 00:24:45,817
      Dorothy Pearl Pinais,     

454
00:24:45,884 --> 00:24:49,521
 in the porch area of the house,
        Little bird house.      

455
00:24:49,588 --> 00:24:52,724
    To have... My grandmother   
      only lived till 2000,     

456
00:24:52,791 --> 00:24:55,160
  so she never got the apology. 

457
00:24:55,227 --> 00:24:57,329
     She never got anything     
    that was deserved to her    

458
00:24:57,395 --> 00:24:59,965
       for having endured       
       residential school.      

459
00:25:00,031 --> 00:25:02,167
     And seeing these photos    
          on the walls          

460
00:25:02,234 --> 00:25:03,568
      in some of the sets,      

461
00:25:03,635 --> 00:25:06,071
    like, she gets to live on   
          in the story.         

462
00:25:06,137 --> 00:25:10,609
        And that's really       
        special for sure.       

463
00:25:10,675 --> 00:25:14,479
    And seeing how the house    
      looks like her house      

464
00:25:14,546 --> 00:25:18,517
 and how some of the characters 
            are her,            

465
00:25:18,583 --> 00:25:21,386
      just... but not her,      

466
00:25:21,453 --> 00:25:24,189
     it's... I think it's...    

467
00:25:24,256 --> 00:25:25,590
      Yeah, it means a lot.     

468
00:25:25,657 --> 00:25:27,392
     Like, more than I ever     
       could have thought       

469
00:25:27,459 --> 00:25:29,694
  when Jennifer first asked me  
       about this project.      

470
00:25:29,761 --> 00:25:32,898
          I had no idea         
       it would grow to be      

471
00:25:32,964 --> 00:25:37,802
         such a project         
     of the heart, for sure.    

472
00:25:37,869 --> 00:25:43,074
              (♪♪♪)             

473
00:25:46,344 --> 00:25:47,746
       - I am Tanya Brunel      

474
00:25:47,812 --> 00:25:51,550
       and I am currently       
       living in Winnipeg.      

475
00:25:51,616 --> 00:25:55,153
  I'm Métis from the Red River  
       region in Manitoba.      

476
00:25:55,220 --> 00:25:58,523
  I grew up in a predominantly  
        French community        

477
00:25:58,590 --> 00:26:01,860
     southwest of Winnipeg.     

478
00:26:01,927 --> 00:26:04,095
       And I'm a producer.      

479
00:26:04,162 --> 00:26:05,997
        When I first came       
      on board this project     

480
00:26:06,064 --> 00:26:08,500
       and we were looking      
  for places to start filming,  

481
00:26:08,567 --> 00:26:13,538
   I was visiting communities   
   all across Western Manitoba  

482
00:26:13,605 --> 00:26:16,908
  and in every single community 
         that I visited,        

483
00:26:16,975 --> 00:26:19,177
    whether it was, you know,   
     the person that was...     

484
00:26:19,244 --> 00:26:20,579
     that I was talking to,     

485
00:26:20,645 --> 00:26:22,080
       that was showing me      
         the community,         

486
00:26:22,147 --> 00:26:23,682
         maybe they were        
      a survivor themselves     

487
00:26:23,748 --> 00:26:25,083
      or they knew someone      

488
00:26:25,150 --> 00:26:27,819
       who was coming home      
        and reconnecting.       

489
00:26:27,886 --> 00:26:32,924
 But every single community was 
  touched by the Sixties Scoop. 

490
00:26:32,991 --> 00:26:37,195
              (♪♪♪)             

491
00:26:37,262 --> 00:26:38,663
           - Bonjour.           

492
00:26:38,730 --> 00:26:41,566
        (Native language)       

493
00:26:41,633 --> 00:26:43,969
     Obviously, right beside    
      the Brokenhead River,     

494
00:26:44,035 --> 00:26:45,437
         where I'm from.        

495
00:26:45,503 --> 00:26:47,472
   My name is Gordon Bluesky.   

496
00:26:47,539 --> 00:26:50,909
  I'm the ogimaakaan, the Chief 
  of Brokenhead Ojibway Nation. 

497
00:26:50,976 --> 00:26:53,545
        So, we're located       
       about 60 kilometres      

498
00:26:53,612 --> 00:26:56,648
        north of Winnipeg       
       off of Highway 59.       

499
00:26:56,715 --> 00:26:59,217
        Our community has       
        about 700 members       

500
00:26:59,284 --> 00:27:02,087
 situated within our community. 

501
00:27:02,153 --> 00:27:05,023
   And we also have a large...  

502
00:27:05,090 --> 00:27:07,292
        about two thirds        
    of our total population,    

503
00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:08,793
    living in urban centres,    

504
00:27:08,860 --> 00:27:10,662
   like the city of Winnipeg.   

505
00:27:11,596 --> 00:27:15,066
  My story starts with Sixties  
    Scoop here in Brokenhead.   

506
00:27:15,133 --> 00:27:17,602
         My two sisters,        

507
00:27:17,669 --> 00:27:21,439
   we were apprehended in 1977  

508
00:27:21,506 --> 00:27:23,041
  from our grandmother's house  

509
00:27:23,108 --> 00:27:25,143
       just at the corner       
        59 Highway there.       

510
00:27:25,210 --> 00:27:28,647
         For me, leaving        
       the community here,      

511
00:27:28,713 --> 00:27:32,384
and when I was just a young boy,
     I don't remember a lot.    

512
00:27:32,450 --> 00:27:35,520
      Obviously, I do have      
       some small memories      

513
00:27:35,587 --> 00:27:39,624
  of what we could only assume  
      to be my grandmother.     

514
00:27:39,691 --> 00:27:41,726
      But where my memories     
            do start            

515
00:27:41,793 --> 00:27:43,662
             is when            
       my trauma started.       

516
00:27:43,728 --> 00:27:45,363
     When I went to the city    
           of Winnipeg          

517
00:27:45,430 --> 00:27:47,132
          and I got put         
        into foster care,       

518
00:27:47,198 --> 00:27:49,567
  and the things that I've seen 
        there, it just...       

519
00:27:49,634 --> 00:27:51,636
  I've dealt with those things. 

520
00:27:51,703 --> 00:27:53,238
  I've released a lot of that,  

521
00:27:53,304 --> 00:27:56,107
 but I was carrying that trauma 
       for a lot of years.      

522
00:27:56,174 --> 00:27:57,976
    And when I left Winnipeg,   

523
00:27:58,043 --> 00:28:00,011
    I was adopted ultimately    
         in a small town        

524
00:28:00,078 --> 00:28:01,980
     outside of Pittsburgh,     
          Pennsylvania.         

525
00:28:02,047 --> 00:28:04,382
      You know, it was just     
    like they put me on Mars.   

526
00:28:04,449 --> 00:28:09,254
              (♪♪♪)             

527
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:13,091
         You had no idea        
     who these people were.     

528
00:28:13,158 --> 00:28:14,659
       We had to go stand       

529
00:28:14,726 --> 00:28:16,327
       in front of a judge      

530
00:28:16,394 --> 00:28:18,029
      and pledge allegiance     
       and all that stuff       

531
00:28:18,096 --> 00:28:19,531
      at a very young age.      

532
00:28:19,597 --> 00:28:21,032
      I was five years old.     

533
00:28:21,099 --> 00:28:22,634
        So, I had no idea       
       what was going on,       

534
00:28:22,701 --> 00:28:24,002
    but it was in the papers.   

535
00:28:24,069 --> 00:28:26,938
      Native American kids      
       are da-da-da-da-da.      

536
00:28:27,005 --> 00:28:28,540
  We were always in the papers  

537
00:28:28,606 --> 00:28:30,041
      on some sort of thing     

538
00:28:30,108 --> 00:28:32,143
         because, again,        
       I felt like we were      

539
00:28:32,210 --> 00:28:34,045
   the only Indian children...  

540
00:28:34,112 --> 00:28:36,514
     probably on the planet,    
  it's how I felt at the time.  

541
00:28:36,581 --> 00:28:40,351
      So, for me, it's just     
    a matter of understanding   

542
00:28:40,418 --> 00:28:43,021
     that the Sixties Scoop     
         story isn't...         

543
00:28:43,088 --> 00:28:45,457
     like, it's not unique,     
         unfortunately.         

544
00:28:45,523 --> 00:28:48,827
    There are thousands of us   
that were taken out of Manitoba,

545
00:28:48,893 --> 00:28:51,196
      thousands of us taken     
       across the country.      

546
00:28:51,262 --> 00:28:53,064
    There are still thousands   
       that are out there       

547
00:28:53,131 --> 00:28:54,933
  in the world right now, lost. 

548
00:28:54,999 --> 00:28:57,302
      What we used to call      
     the stolen generations.    

549
00:28:57,368 --> 00:28:58,903
    I don't know what people    
      call them now, but...     

550
00:28:58,970 --> 00:29:01,039
     It's the Sixties Scoop.    

551
00:29:03,108 --> 00:29:05,510
           - It refers          
    to the mass apprehensions   

552
00:29:05,577 --> 00:29:07,278
          and removals          
     of Indigenous children     

553
00:29:07,345 --> 00:29:10,348
     that started in the 50s    

554
00:29:10,415 --> 00:29:13,418
      and then just as this     
      exponential increase      

555
00:29:13,485 --> 00:29:14,886
           in the 60s.          

556
00:29:14,953 --> 00:29:17,255
          At that time,         
       social work schools      

557
00:29:17,322 --> 00:29:19,290
    were starting to pump out   
         social workers,        

558
00:29:19,357 --> 00:29:22,060
       most of whom were,       
     you know, upper-class,     

559
00:29:22,127 --> 00:29:24,763
    White, privileged people    

560
00:29:24,829 --> 00:29:27,398
        and who never met       
      an Indigenous person,     

561
00:29:27,465 --> 00:29:29,400
  let alone gone into a reserve 

562
00:29:29,467 --> 00:29:32,871
or gone into an Indigenous home.

563
00:29:32,937 --> 00:29:35,039
    They didn't have the same   
   sort of level of awareness   

564
00:29:35,106 --> 00:29:36,875
          of, you know,         
         the big picture        

565
00:29:36,941 --> 00:29:39,944
      or even the fact that     
  the government was attempting 

566
00:29:40,011 --> 00:29:42,380
          to assimilate         
       Indigenous people.       

567
00:29:43,481 --> 00:29:45,650
          - The removal         
     of Indigenous children     

568
00:29:45,717 --> 00:29:49,220
     was the responsibility     
        of child welfare.       

569
00:29:50,188 --> 00:29:52,157
        In Saskatchewan,        
         in particular,         

570
00:29:52,223 --> 00:29:54,959
    there was a pilot project   
           called AIM,          

571
00:29:55,026 --> 00:29:57,395
      Adopted Indian Métis.     

572
00:29:57,462 --> 00:30:00,265
       - This is a special      
        adoption program.       

573
00:30:00,331 --> 00:30:03,268
    For the past five years,    
     the number of children     

574
00:30:03,334 --> 00:30:04,903
           in care of           
    the Department of Welfare   

575
00:30:04,969 --> 00:30:09,107
       has been increasing      
  by approximately 180 a year.  

576
00:30:09,174 --> 00:30:11,709
        We have had great       
      difficulty in placing     

577
00:30:11,776 --> 00:30:13,244
   Indian and Métis children.   

578
00:30:13,311 --> 00:30:15,413
  - Kids were being apprehended 
       all over the place       

579
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:17,282
 and they just couldn't keep up.

580
00:30:17,348 --> 00:30:20,118
       And so they created      
          this program          

581
00:30:20,185 --> 00:30:24,389
      really to disseminate     
    the need for adoptive...    

582
00:30:24,455 --> 00:30:27,592
    foster and adoptive homes   
      for Indigenous kids.      

583
00:30:27,659 --> 00:30:30,395
     And so they advertised     

584
00:30:30,461 --> 00:30:33,264
 and they took pictures of kids 
   and posted in different...   

585
00:30:33,331 --> 00:30:36,167
         You know, like         
    the "Regina Leader Post"    

586
00:30:36,234 --> 00:30:37,702
     and "The Star Phoenix"     

587
00:30:37,769 --> 00:30:39,337
        and church groups       
      and stuff like that.      

588
00:30:39,404 --> 00:30:41,573
     I think that they were     
        well-intentioned,       

589
00:30:41,639 --> 00:30:43,441
      but again, you know,      
       they didn't know...      

590
00:30:43,508 --> 00:30:46,411
    they had no idea, really,   
      what they were doing.     

591
00:30:47,946 --> 00:30:51,649
       A BC social worker       
  by the name of Bridget Moran  

592
00:30:51,716 --> 00:30:55,687
  went public with her concerns 
          and she said:         

593
00:30:55,753 --> 00:30:57,989
        "We were putting        
       children into homes      

594
00:30:58,056 --> 00:30:59,991
  about which we knew nothing." 

595
00:31:00,058 --> 00:31:02,393
     And then she concluded     
           by saying:           

596
00:31:02,460 --> 00:31:04,362
    "The biggest contributor    
         to child abuse         

597
00:31:04,429 --> 00:31:06,998
         in the province        
      was the government."      

598
00:31:07,999 --> 00:31:10,268
      Why were so many kids     
       being apprehended?       

599
00:31:10,335 --> 00:31:11,769
         There were kids        
        that needed care.       

600
00:31:11,836 --> 00:31:13,805
    There was social disarray   
            going on.           

601
00:31:13,872 --> 00:31:17,342
  I mean, people were raised in 
these total institutions, right?

602
00:31:17,408 --> 00:31:19,777
  Total institutions that were  
    fraught with sexual abuse   

603
00:31:19,844 --> 00:31:21,312
       and physical abuse       
          and violence.         

604
00:31:21,379 --> 00:31:24,182
   They came out traumatized,   
            had kids.           

605
00:31:24,249 --> 00:31:26,184
It was kind of a disastrous mix.

606
00:31:26,251 --> 00:31:28,653
     But Indigenous people,     
    we've always been blamed    

607
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,957
     for the conditions and     
  the outcomes of colonialism.  

608
00:31:34,726 --> 00:31:37,328
       - So, I was scooped      
        at a central park       

609
00:31:37,395 --> 00:31:40,431
      at age five years old     

610
00:31:40,498 --> 00:31:43,368
         and made a ward        
    of the courts through...    

611
00:31:43,434 --> 00:31:45,270
   At the time, it was called   
         Children's Aid.        

612
00:31:45,336 --> 00:31:47,739
      So, me and my younger     
       sister and brother       

613
00:31:47,805 --> 00:31:50,575
        had been scooped        
        out of the park.        

614
00:31:50,642 --> 00:31:52,176
     We had been left alone     

615
00:31:52,243 --> 00:31:56,080
     and a neighbour called,    
  concerned for our wellbeing.  

616
00:31:56,147 --> 00:31:57,882
       And luckily enough,      
          we were able          

617
00:31:57,949 --> 00:31:59,651
          to be placed          
      all in the same home.     

618
00:31:59,717 --> 00:32:03,554
   So, me and my two siblings   
 grew up in the same foster home

619
00:32:03,621 --> 00:32:06,991
 for years and years and years. 

620
00:32:07,058 --> 00:32:08,726
 But I had memories of my home. 

621
00:32:08,793 --> 00:32:10,194
    I had memories of my mom.   

622
00:32:10,261 --> 00:32:13,231
    I had memories of my dad    
     and his home community.    

623
00:32:13,298 --> 00:32:15,934
       And that was always      
     in the back of my mind.    

624
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,002
              (♪♪♪)             

625
00:32:18,069 --> 00:32:21,839
            I grew up           
   in a Lutheran foster home.   

626
00:32:21,906 --> 00:32:24,475
        Christian people.       

627
00:32:24,542 --> 00:32:29,647
  So, coming into the community 
where it was so different and...

628
00:32:29,714 --> 00:32:31,916
  I had a real identity crisis  

629
00:32:31,983 --> 00:32:33,918
       as far as religion       
        and spirituality        

630
00:32:33,985 --> 00:32:35,853
     and what I believed in.    

631
00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:39,090
    And everything I thought    
    I believed my whole life,   

632
00:32:39,157 --> 00:32:41,626
         I questioned it        
        when I came home.       

633
00:32:41,693 --> 00:32:43,328
          (indistinct)          

634
00:32:43,394 --> 00:32:46,197
          - Okay. Yeah.         

635
00:32:46,264 --> 00:32:48,566
- I made these bird...          

636
00:32:48,633 --> 00:32:52,403
       - That's beautiful.      
        Very nice, Uncle.       

637
00:33:06,117 --> 00:33:09,053
        - I said: my name       
       is Walter Greyeyes       

638
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,255
        and they're going       
        to interview me,        

639
00:33:11,322 --> 00:33:13,624
      but I don't know what     
  they're going to talk about.  

640
00:33:15,460 --> 00:33:17,795
       Some of the people       
    that are coming back now,   

641
00:33:17,862 --> 00:33:21,232
      they were taken away      
     when they were younger.    

642
00:33:21,299 --> 00:33:22,900
     They're coming home now    

643
00:33:22,967 --> 00:33:26,804
  and they don't know how long  
       they're going to be      

644
00:33:26,871 --> 00:33:29,007
    and whether they're going   
       to stay, you know.       

645
00:33:29,073 --> 00:33:30,575
         I got a nephew         
         in the States.         

646
00:33:30,641 --> 00:33:33,111
        I got two nieces        
         in the States.         

647
00:33:33,177 --> 00:33:34,746
          I don't know          
         where they are,        

648
00:33:34,812 --> 00:33:36,214
           whether...           

649
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:37,982
       One is in Arizona,       

650
00:33:38,049 --> 00:33:42,487
     one is in Pennsylvania,    
       and their brother.       

651
00:33:42,553 --> 00:33:46,624
   So, you know, I don't know   
     if I'll see them again,    

652
00:33:46,691 --> 00:33:48,226
      which would be nice.      

653
00:33:48,292 --> 00:33:53,498
      And the Sixties Scoop     
          here in 1968.         

654
00:33:54,866 --> 00:33:58,803
    Did anybody here remember   
   that big accident out here?  

655
00:34:00,671 --> 00:34:02,507
       1968, right, Rick?       

656
00:34:02,573 --> 00:34:04,075
      Where the casino is,      

657
00:34:04,142 --> 00:34:06,511
     where all them crosses     
        are on the road.        

658
00:34:06,577 --> 00:34:09,614
     Nine people got killed     
          on one night.         

659
00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:12,116
       And they hit it on.      

660
00:34:13,484 --> 00:34:14,819
        Then, after that,       

661
00:34:14,886 --> 00:34:18,823
     that's when they start     
        taking the kids.        

662
00:34:18,890 --> 00:34:21,859
    Some went to the States.    

663
00:34:21,926 --> 00:34:25,596
     Some went to different     
          communities.          

664
00:34:25,663 --> 00:34:28,833
     But most of the people     
         that were older        

665
00:34:28,900 --> 00:34:31,602
  looked after their siblings.  

666
00:34:32,403 --> 00:34:34,639
     I've made the crosses.     

667
00:34:34,705 --> 00:34:36,240
I do that every once in a while.

668
00:34:36,307 --> 00:34:39,644
     Every four, five years,    
     I'll make a whole set.     

669
00:34:39,710 --> 00:34:40,978
             It's...            

670
00:34:41,045 --> 00:34:45,116
          I think about         
      the people, the kids,     

671
00:34:45,183 --> 00:34:47,552
     and what they thought,     
         what they did,         

672
00:34:47,618 --> 00:34:49,587
     what they went through.    

673
00:34:49,654 --> 00:34:51,622
        You know, that...       

674
00:34:54,592 --> 00:34:57,895
 It must have been hard on them.

675
00:34:57,962 --> 00:35:00,131
     I know it's hard on me.    

676
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:05,403
     It's hard on everybody.    

677
00:35:07,138 --> 00:35:09,574
     See... the fellow here,    

678
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:11,008
      that was one of them.     

679
00:35:11,075 --> 00:35:13,744
     Her parents were killed    
          on that road.         

680
00:35:15,046 --> 00:35:17,381
        - I'm Mary Chief        
         from Brokenhead        

681
00:35:17,448 --> 00:35:21,352
     and they used my house     
        for Little Bird,        

682
00:35:21,419 --> 00:35:23,721
 the production of Little Bird. 

683
00:35:24,789 --> 00:35:28,526
      Like, I don't really      
          know about...         

684
00:35:28,593 --> 00:35:30,661
      the children getting      
          apprehended.          

685
00:35:30,728 --> 00:35:34,866
      It's just that, like,     
    it happened to my family.   

686
00:35:34,932 --> 00:35:39,103
   When my parents were killed  
    on that highway there...    

687
00:35:47,812 --> 00:35:52,617
              (♪♪♪)             

688
00:35:52,683 --> 00:35:57,388
     Yeah, it's really hard     
      to talk about it yet      

689
00:35:57,455 --> 00:35:59,657
        because there was       
         no counselling.        

690
00:35:59,724 --> 00:36:03,361
     Like, there was nobody     
     to talk to us about it,    

691
00:36:03,427 --> 00:36:06,597
     to get everything out.     

692
00:36:06,664 --> 00:36:08,399
            And my...           

693
00:36:08,466 --> 00:36:11,602
       There was 11 of us.      

694
00:36:11,669 --> 00:36:15,573
      And me and my brother     
   that was the oldest son...   

695
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:20,578
  I was 18 and he was 20... 20. 

696
00:36:20,645 --> 00:36:22,914
 And then, we looked after them 

697
00:36:22,980 --> 00:36:26,551
   because those ones from...   

698
00:36:26,617 --> 00:36:28,686
         those nuns were        
        trying to take...       

699
00:36:28,753 --> 00:36:31,489
They kept coming back and forth,
         back and forth,        

700
00:36:31,556 --> 00:36:34,992
   and, well, they seemed like  
     they're trying to help,    

701
00:36:35,059 --> 00:36:37,795
         but, you know,         
 as if they were trying to find 

702
00:36:37,862 --> 00:36:42,900
  something wrong in the house, 
  and then trying to take them. 

703
00:36:43,935 --> 00:36:45,436
      I was in the hospital     
          for a month,          

704
00:36:45,503 --> 00:36:49,574
    and then I got my sister    
       to look after them,      

705
00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,143
       and when I came out      
       of the hospital...       

706
00:36:52,210 --> 00:36:56,347
    I was in there for about    
  almost three weeks, I guess.  

707
00:36:56,414 --> 00:36:58,282
   And then, when I came back,  
           and I said:          

708
00:36:58,349 --> 00:37:02,019
        "Where's Tuttle?"       

709
00:37:02,086 --> 00:37:03,588
      That's his nickname.      

710
00:37:03,654 --> 00:37:05,756
            And I...            

711
00:37:05,823 --> 00:37:08,226
     And nobody didn't want     
        to say anything.        

712
00:37:08,292 --> 00:37:11,829
     So, I phoned this lady,    
     the Child and Family...    

713
00:37:11,896 --> 00:37:13,998
    that worker at the time.    

714
00:37:14,065 --> 00:37:18,502
          And she said:         
       "He's in Winnipeg."      

715
00:37:18,569 --> 00:37:20,972
   So, I went to that office,   
   and looking around for him,  

716
00:37:21,038 --> 00:37:26,177
  like, I'm home now, I could,  
you know, take him home with me.

717
00:37:26,244 --> 00:37:30,114
    So, he was around, what,    

718
00:37:30,181 --> 00:37:33,117
    about five, six years old   
          at the time,          

719
00:37:33,184 --> 00:37:35,019
   and then, all of a sudden,   
           I found out          

720
00:37:35,086 --> 00:37:39,190
       that he was adopted      
      out into the States.      

721
00:37:39,257 --> 00:37:43,027
       He was adopted out       
         to a minister.         

722
00:37:44,729 --> 00:37:48,666
    And when he came back...    

723
00:37:50,301 --> 00:37:54,472
      he was so very quiet      
      all the time, and...      

724
00:37:54,538 --> 00:37:57,208
     he said he was abused.     

725
00:37:58,409 --> 00:38:03,547
              (♪♪♪)             

726
00:38:21,265 --> 00:38:23,401
 - I was an only adopted child. 

727
00:38:23,467 --> 00:38:24,935
 I didn't have any of my bro... 

728
00:38:25,002 --> 00:38:26,671
    I'm the oldest of seven.    

729
00:38:26,737 --> 00:38:28,306
      I have three brothers     
       and three sisters,       

730
00:38:28,372 --> 00:38:30,308
  but we were all parcelled out 
       all across Canada.       

731
00:38:30,374 --> 00:38:32,176
           I had to...          

732
00:38:32,243 --> 00:38:33,678
   Every time I got into a...   

733
00:38:33,744 --> 00:38:35,112
   Whether it was alcoholism,   

734
00:38:35,179 --> 00:38:37,415
          whatever kind         
     of situation I was in,     

735
00:38:37,481 --> 00:38:40,084
        it was just like        
    from the time I was five,   

736
00:38:40,151 --> 00:38:42,687
        I had to stand up       
       and take beatings.       

737
00:38:42,753 --> 00:38:44,722
   So, it wasn't any different  
           than that.           

738
00:38:44,789 --> 00:38:46,924
         I just thought:        
        I gotta stand up.       

739
00:38:46,991 --> 00:38:50,294
           I can't...           
   There's nowhere else to go.  

740
00:38:50,361 --> 00:38:53,297
    I have no one to run to.    
           This is it.          

741
00:38:53,364 --> 00:38:55,466
          I have to...          
  Like I did when I was a kid,  

742
00:38:55,533 --> 00:38:57,735
  I gotta take care of myself.  

743
00:38:57,802 --> 00:38:59,570
         There has to be        

744
00:38:59,637 --> 00:39:01,072
    happiness and acceptance    

745
00:39:01,138 --> 00:39:02,540
    somewhere in this world,    

746
00:39:02,606 --> 00:39:04,075
   but I have to fight for it.  

747
00:39:04,141 --> 00:39:05,509
       It's not for free.       

748
00:39:05,576 --> 00:39:08,212
         Once I get it,         
  you have to fight to keep it. 

749
00:39:08,279 --> 00:39:10,815
     And that's what I did.     

750
00:39:13,784 --> 00:39:18,089
              (♪♪♪)             

751
00:39:18,155 --> 00:39:20,157
   - One of my favourite lines  

752
00:39:20,224 --> 00:39:22,626
         in the script,         

753
00:39:22,693 --> 00:39:25,763
          in describing         
     the Little Bird family     

754
00:39:25,830 --> 00:39:29,433
     and how they all sleep     
     together in their room.    

755
00:39:29,500 --> 00:39:32,069
    And it still makes me cry   
       to think about it.       

756
00:39:32,136 --> 00:39:34,839
          There's love          
         in this family.        

757
00:39:34,905 --> 00:39:39,443
         And that's been        
       a guiding thought,       

758
00:39:39,510 --> 00:39:41,912
   you know, to me throughout   
      directing this show.      

759
00:39:41,979 --> 00:39:44,048
   And I wrote it on a paper,   
           a big paper          

760
00:39:44,115 --> 00:39:45,483
    in our production office.   

761
00:39:45,549 --> 00:39:48,085
     I wrote: "There's love     
        in this family."        

762
00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:54,592
              (♪♪♪)             

763
00:39:55,459 --> 00:39:58,362
       - Hey! Do you think      
         that was funny?        

764
00:40:09,240 --> 00:40:13,144
  - Today, the scene I will be  
     playing is a huge scene    

765
00:40:13,210 --> 00:40:17,448
   and it's the one when I get  
     taken away from my mom     

766
00:40:17,515 --> 00:40:19,550
   and I get put in a cop car.  

767
00:40:19,617 --> 00:40:22,520
            - As a mother, like,
     you just can't even imagine

768
00:40:22,586 --> 00:40:26,223
   or fathom going through this.

769
00:40:26,290 --> 00:40:28,092
     And just seeing her play it

770
00:40:28,159 --> 00:40:29,994
                 just puts me at
             an emotional state.

771
00:40:30,060 --> 00:40:33,597
              I'm usually crying
          watching these scenes,

772
00:40:33,664 --> 00:40:35,166
            these harder scenes.

773
00:40:35,232 --> 00:40:38,502
         So, it's just really...
     it really just, as a parent

774
00:40:38,569 --> 00:40:42,540
               and as aboriginal
        and just being affected,

775
00:40:42,606 --> 00:40:47,878
            it just really grabs
                  a hold of you.

776
00:40:49,814 --> 00:40:51,482
         - I want to go         
          with my mom!          

777
00:40:51,549 --> 00:40:53,517
                - Hey! Hey! Hey!
                  Go in our car!

778
00:40:53,584 --> 00:40:55,019
          Hey! No! Hey!         

779
00:40:55,085 --> 00:40:57,521
      - You cannot do that!     
       You can't do that!       

780
00:40:59,156 --> 00:41:02,126
        - Ah!                   
                 - What the hell
                   is she doing?

781
00:41:02,193 --> 00:41:03,861
                      - Running.

782
00:41:05,896 --> 00:41:09,467
                  - Ah! No!     
            - No! No!           

783
00:41:09,533 --> 00:41:14,238
                No! No!         
  - No! Give me my...           

784
00:41:14,305 --> 00:41:16,073
             Ah! Ah!            

785
00:41:16,140 --> 00:41:18,876
           - And cut!           
           - Cut! Cut!          

786
00:41:18,943 --> 00:41:20,978
        - How's the mark?       

787
00:41:21,045 --> 00:41:22,947
                 - The thing I'm
           thankful for the most

788
00:41:23,013 --> 00:41:24,548
        is that she's able to...

789
00:41:24,615 --> 00:41:26,050
                       You know,
                they yell "cut!"

790
00:41:26,116 --> 00:41:28,586
       and she's able to go back
        to her happy little self

791
00:41:28,652 --> 00:41:31,856
          and it's not affecting
                 her afterwards.

792
00:41:31,922 --> 00:41:33,557
              (♪♪♪)             

793
00:41:33,624 --> 00:41:38,496
      - I think it's very,      
         very, very fun.        

794
00:41:38,562 --> 00:41:43,601
     And a lot of the people    
      here try to help me,      

795
00:41:43,667 --> 00:41:46,570
   and also, like my mom said,  

796
00:41:46,637 --> 00:41:48,839
          how she tries         
       to check up on me,       

797
00:41:48,906 --> 00:41:50,407
    some people do that too.    

798
00:41:50,474 --> 00:41:52,109
                  Yeah.         

799
00:41:54,445 --> 00:41:56,714
         - We have seen         
    a lot of trauma on screen   

800
00:41:56,780 --> 00:41:59,650
          when it comes         
      to Indigenous people.     

801
00:42:00,484 --> 00:42:02,920
        And it is a part        
          of our story.         

802
00:42:04,021 --> 00:42:07,424
           But I think          
       that it's important      

803
00:42:07,491 --> 00:42:09,560
        to tell the story       

804
00:42:09,627 --> 00:42:14,498
   in a way that acknowledges   
           the trauma,          

805
00:42:14,565 --> 00:42:19,603
  but also respects the person  
     that is witnessing it,     

806
00:42:19,670 --> 00:42:22,973
          the audience,         
         and the actors,        

807
00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:25,309
       the people who are       
         performing it.         

808
00:42:26,110 --> 00:42:29,947
  Like, there really is nothing 
     worse than going to set    

809
00:42:30,014 --> 00:42:34,718
   and doing a traumatic scene  
     as an Indigenous person    

810
00:42:34,785 --> 00:42:36,754
         and not seeing         
      one Indigenous person     

811
00:42:36,820 --> 00:42:38,222
          on the crew.          

812
00:42:38,289 --> 00:42:42,126
     So, we were just trying    
      to come at everything     

813
00:42:42,192 --> 00:42:45,429
        through the lens        
         of recognizing         

814
00:42:45,496 --> 00:42:48,265
    how the stories of trauma   

815
00:42:48,332 --> 00:42:52,236
     might impact the person    

816
00:42:52,303 --> 00:42:55,773
     on camera, on the crew,    

817
00:42:55,839 --> 00:42:58,142
        in the audience.        

818
00:42:59,043 --> 00:43:00,678
    It's not void of trauma,    

819
00:43:00,744 --> 00:43:05,816
     it's just being careful    
  about how you tell the story. 

820
00:43:11,021 --> 00:43:12,623
- I can't step on my shadow.    

821
00:43:12,690 --> 00:43:14,391
- Hey, you,                     
are you hot?                    

822
00:43:15,225 --> 00:43:16,660
  - It's been really wonderful  

823
00:43:16,727 --> 00:43:20,064
       to work with these       
       young child actors       

824
00:43:20,130 --> 00:43:22,199
     who are all growing up     
      in their communities,     

825
00:43:22,266 --> 00:43:27,237
 who are connected to community 
    and culture and language    

826
00:43:27,304 --> 00:43:30,874
      and are living full,      
          joyful lives.         

827
00:43:30,941 --> 00:43:34,078
     Because to have joy is     
     a really radical thing     

828
00:43:34,144 --> 00:43:36,347
    as an Indigenous person.    

829
00:43:36,413 --> 00:43:37,848
       You know, we're not      
      supposed to be here,      

830
00:43:37,915 --> 00:43:39,583
     so the fact that we're     
       even able to laugh       

831
00:43:39,650 --> 00:43:40,951
        and to feel joy,        

832
00:43:41,018 --> 00:43:43,854
      that is a very, very      
       significant thing.       

833
00:43:45,723 --> 00:43:48,592
         To think about         

834
00:43:48,659 --> 00:43:50,094
 what our communities look like 

835
00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:51,662
   when there are no children.  

836
00:43:51,729 --> 00:43:53,697
        You know, what...       

837
00:43:54,798 --> 00:43:57,267
        what is a nation        
      without its children?     

838
00:43:57,334 --> 00:44:00,170
  That's such a violent thing,  
            you know.           

839
00:44:00,237 --> 00:44:04,775
              (♪♪♪)             

840
00:44:07,244 --> 00:44:09,279
     - I am an Indian chief.    

841
00:44:09,346 --> 00:44:11,415
     I am an Indian father.     

842
00:44:11,482 --> 00:44:12,883
  I am an Indian man who hurts  

843
00:44:12,950 --> 00:44:14,585
      when I see our Indian     
       children taken away      

844
00:44:14,652 --> 00:44:16,086
      from their families,      

845
00:44:16,153 --> 00:44:18,756
  their land, their traditions, 

846
00:44:18,822 --> 00:44:20,424
       stolen and removed.      

847
00:44:20,491 --> 00:44:23,627
  The Spallumcheen Indian Band  
     has taken legal action     

848
00:44:23,694 --> 00:44:25,963
     against the provincial     
           government           

849
00:44:26,030 --> 00:44:29,266
      to stop the stealing      
     of our Indian children.    

850
00:44:29,333 --> 00:44:31,301
  - Wayne Christian, he's a...  

851
00:44:31,368 --> 00:44:33,537
        he was the chief        
  of Spallumcheen Indian Band,  

852
00:44:33,604 --> 00:44:35,005
          or Splatsin.          

853
00:44:35,072 --> 00:44:37,307
   And he became chief at 19,   

854
00:44:37,374 --> 00:44:38,776
        and his platform        
        was child welfare       

855
00:44:38,842 --> 00:44:41,211
        because that was        
 the community that out of 300, 

856
00:44:41,278 --> 00:44:43,013
      they had 100 children     
          apprehended.          

857
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:46,517
        And one weekend,        
 a social worker turned into... 

858
00:44:46,583 --> 00:44:48,485
    and apprehended 38 kids.    

859
00:44:48,552 --> 00:44:51,088
          - In my mind,         
    the provincial government   

860
00:44:51,155 --> 00:44:55,492
   has never really recognized  
 our rights or even our culture.

861
00:44:55,559 --> 00:44:57,661
 There's always been a conflict 
        with our culture        

862
00:44:57,728 --> 00:44:59,430
   and the non-Indian culture.  

863
00:44:59,496 --> 00:45:01,865
  And one of the quickest ways  
     to assimilate a people     

864
00:45:01,932 --> 00:45:05,769
  is to destroy the family unit 
      and take the children     

865
00:45:05,836 --> 00:45:07,905
     and force them to live     
       in non-Indian homes      

866
00:45:07,971 --> 00:45:09,840
      to learn a different      
          value system.         

867
00:45:09,907 --> 00:45:12,710
   And henceforth, in my mind,  
   it's a planned type thing.   

868
00:45:12,776 --> 00:45:14,211
              (♪♪♪)             

869
00:45:14,278 --> 00:45:16,280
     - They stole our land.     

870
00:45:16,346 --> 00:45:17,815
     They stole our culture.    

871
00:45:17,881 --> 00:45:19,216
    They stole our language.    

872
00:45:19,283 --> 00:45:21,618
    And now, they're stealing   
          our children.         

873
00:45:21,685 --> 00:45:23,020
    - They set up a caravan.    

874
00:45:23,087 --> 00:45:25,923
         They marched on        
   the provincial government.   

875
00:45:25,989 --> 00:45:27,791
         And he did make        
       a difference, yeah.      

876
00:45:27,858 --> 00:45:29,493
           They became          
     the only band in Canada    

877
00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:31,361
      to have jurisdiction      
      over their children.      

878
00:45:31,428 --> 00:45:33,831
     - We want full control     
    of child welfare matters    

879
00:45:33,897 --> 00:45:35,532
    in our community, period.   

880
00:45:35,599 --> 00:45:37,901
    Like our first preference   
    is to rebuild the family.   

881
00:45:37,968 --> 00:45:40,304
  Were trying to get the parent 
  and the child back together,  

882
00:45:40,370 --> 00:45:41,905
     and that type of thing.    

883
00:45:41,972 --> 00:45:43,941
      And the second one is     
 with relatives, and on and on. 

884
00:45:44,007 --> 00:45:45,542
The last resort, in our minds...

885
00:45:45,609 --> 00:45:48,378
   We have to get that child,   
   in terms of a placement...   

886
00:45:48,445 --> 00:45:50,481
      We'll put the child,      
       as a last resort...      

887
00:45:50,547 --> 00:45:51,915
 I think there's seven of them. 

888
00:45:51,982 --> 00:45:53,550
        We'll place them        
    with a non-Indian family    

889
00:45:53,617 --> 00:45:55,018
        off the reserve.        

890
00:45:55,085 --> 00:45:56,553
      Because that would be     
        the last resort.        

891
00:45:56,620 --> 00:45:58,856
     Or if that's the wishes    
    of the parent, you know.    

892
00:45:58,922 --> 00:46:00,991
 Like, we have to consider also 

893
00:46:01,058 --> 00:46:02,526
if it's the wishes of the child.

894
00:46:02,593 --> 00:46:04,595
      Those are the things      
we consider with our legislation

895
00:46:04,661 --> 00:46:06,396
        because we listen       
         to our people.         

896
00:46:06,463 --> 00:46:10,634
    (indistinct conversation)   

897
00:46:11,635 --> 00:46:13,303
      - The experience here     
         on Little Bird,        

898
00:46:13,370 --> 00:46:15,906
        there definitely        
   is a respect to the story,   

899
00:46:15,973 --> 00:46:17,407
  to what it is we're telling.  

900
00:46:17,474 --> 00:46:20,144
    Because some of the crew    
      members don't realize     

901
00:46:20,210 --> 00:46:22,045
     that that's my auntie,     
        that's my uncle.        

902
00:46:22,112 --> 00:46:23,514
     You know, that's right,    
            in a way.           

903
00:46:23,580 --> 00:46:25,182
        That's my auntie,       
     my uncle that's crying.    

904
00:46:25,249 --> 00:46:26,884
     It's the same for a lot    
     of people on our crew.     

905
00:46:26,950 --> 00:46:29,753
      And... So, it's also      
      an educational point      

906
00:46:29,820 --> 00:46:31,688
     for our non-Indigenous     
          friends here.         

907
00:46:31,755 --> 00:46:35,392
        So, there's a lot       
  of on-set learning going on,  

908
00:46:35,459 --> 00:46:37,494
       a lot of questions       
          being asked.          

909
00:46:38,395 --> 00:46:39,730
     We're more visible now     

910
00:46:39,797 --> 00:46:41,632
   than we were ten years ago   
          on film sets,         

911
00:46:41,698 --> 00:46:43,400
      and I recognize that.     

912
00:46:43,467 --> 00:46:44,935
   There were times I'd come,   
         show up to work        

913
00:46:45,002 --> 00:46:47,271
       and I'd be the only      
    Indigenous person on set.   

914
00:46:47,337 --> 00:46:50,407
     It'd be like, you know,    
  this is like how Manitoba is. 

915
00:46:50,474 --> 00:46:51,975
  And it's like, no, it's not.  

916
00:46:52,042 --> 00:46:53,544
    There's a huge Indigenous   
        population here,        

917
00:46:53,610 --> 00:46:55,179
  you're just not seeing them.  

918
00:46:55,245 --> 00:46:57,915
       - There is one, it's just
           the way it's written.

919
00:46:57,981 --> 00:46:59,616
      - Working with Maija      
      and things like that,     

920
00:46:59,683 --> 00:47:01,151
           she fights           
       for what she wants.      

921
00:47:01,218 --> 00:47:04,254
       And a lot of people      
       might look at that       

922
00:47:04,321 --> 00:47:07,257
 as just a director or whatever,
    fighting about something.   

923
00:47:07,324 --> 00:47:09,293
  But myself, as a storyteller  

924
00:47:09,359 --> 00:47:10,794
 and also as an Anishinaabe man,

925
00:47:10,861 --> 00:47:13,730
       you know, it feels       
      so important for them     

926
00:47:13,797 --> 00:47:16,266
   to fight for these stories   
    or just for these takes.    

927
00:47:20,838 --> 00:47:23,574
 - We deserve to lead the front 
   in telling our own stories.  

928
00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:26,210
        We deserve space        
        in this industry.       

929
00:47:26,276 --> 00:47:29,179
      Narrative sovereignty     
    is a very tangible thing.   

930
00:47:29,246 --> 00:47:33,650
   It is something that we can  
     achieve as an industry.    

931
00:47:33,717 --> 00:47:38,255
 It just requires a major shift 
      in power structures.      

932
00:47:38,322 --> 00:47:41,525
      And it needs to move      
      beyond just us being,     

933
00:47:41,592 --> 00:47:45,028
      you know, consultants     
       on our own stories.      

934
00:47:45,095 --> 00:47:47,564
       And I think we are       
       seeing that shift.       

935
00:47:47,631 --> 00:47:50,968
    (indistinct conversation)   

936
00:47:53,704 --> 00:47:55,505
     - Having women on set,     

937
00:47:55,572 --> 00:47:57,808
         just especially        
        Indigenous women,       

938
00:47:57,875 --> 00:48:00,944
  just makes me feel less fear. 

939
00:48:01,011 --> 00:48:02,279
             (laugh)            

940
00:48:02,346 --> 00:48:04,748
      Like, I try not to be     
        intimidated by...       

941
00:48:04,815 --> 00:48:08,018
     well, one, all the men,    
   but also White men on set.   

942
00:48:08,085 --> 00:48:09,419
          I've been...          

943
00:48:09,486 --> 00:48:11,655
    I just love that I could    
     probably be more myself    

944
00:48:11,722 --> 00:48:13,123
    instead of being guarded    

945
00:48:13,190 --> 00:48:14,758
because you waste so much energy

946
00:48:14,825 --> 00:48:17,394
   trying to protect yourself   
       and all this stuff.      

947
00:48:17,461 --> 00:48:19,763
      Whereas when I'm with     
    Indigenous women on set,    

948
00:48:19,830 --> 00:48:22,232
      I feel like I can let     
        a few walls down        

949
00:48:22,299 --> 00:48:25,269
        and actually let        
      real creativity flow.     

950
00:48:27,971 --> 00:48:30,674
     I'm only just learning     
     about the Sixties Scoop    

951
00:48:30,741 --> 00:48:35,112
      and how that affected     
 a lot of our people growing up.

952
00:48:35,178 --> 00:48:38,515
     But both my parents are    
  residential school survivors, 

953
00:48:38,582 --> 00:48:42,519
        so I have an idea       
          of the trauma         

954
00:48:42,586 --> 00:48:46,223
          and baggage,          
      all that comes with.      

955
00:48:46,290 --> 00:48:48,025
    I think it's important...   

956
00:48:48,091 --> 00:48:49,693
             (sigh)             

957
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:51,161
 ... that others hear about it. 

958
00:48:51,228 --> 00:48:54,197
      Just because how are      
     things going to change     

959
00:48:54,264 --> 00:48:56,500
     if we can't get people     
       to really empathize      

960
00:48:56,566 --> 00:49:01,038
        with our history        
          and all that?         

961
00:49:01,104 --> 00:49:03,407
          - Here we go!         
         We're rolling!         

962
00:49:04,207 --> 00:49:06,810
  - Something that I've spoken  
         about before is        

963
00:49:06,877 --> 00:49:09,046
    the controversy of having   

964
00:49:09,112 --> 00:49:12,883
  non-Indigenous women stepping 
     into Indigenous roles,     

965
00:49:12,950 --> 00:49:15,252
  casting someone who may look  
    Native but isn't Native.    

966
00:49:15,319 --> 00:49:16,987
    And some people are like:   

967
00:49:17,054 --> 00:49:18,522
           "Well, does that mean
                 that, you know,

968
00:49:18,588 --> 00:49:21,558
                   "you can only
                 play a Native?"

969
00:49:21,625 --> 00:49:23,894
        And I'm like: "Well, no,
           it doesn't mean that.

970
00:49:23,961 --> 00:49:27,864
  "What it means is that I carry
        those stories in my DNA.

971
00:49:27,931 --> 00:49:29,833
    "So, when I tell that story,
      it's going to be different

972
00:49:29,900 --> 00:49:31,902
       than somebody who doesn't
        have the life experience

973
00:49:31,969 --> 00:49:34,037
                  of being brown
               or being Native."

974
00:49:34,104 --> 00:49:37,407
  Right now, I mean, we've lived
      where it's been like this,

975
00:49:37,474 --> 00:49:40,177
          where Native people in
 the country have been like this

976
00:49:40,243 --> 00:49:42,713
              and the mainstream
                 have been here.

977
00:49:42,779 --> 00:49:45,148
             So, until it starts
                     to go here,

978
00:49:45,215 --> 00:49:46,984
                  it's really...

979
00:49:47,050 --> 00:49:49,252
                 You know, like,
       then we can start talking

980
00:49:49,319 --> 00:49:52,089
             about playing roles
                as human beings.

981
00:49:52,155 --> 00:49:53,523
                 But until then,

982
00:49:53,590 --> 00:49:55,459
               you know, we need
           to express ourselves,

983
00:49:55,525 --> 00:49:57,694
                 we need to step
                 into our light,

984
00:49:57,761 --> 00:50:00,864
 we need to reclaim those roles.

985
00:50:00,931 --> 00:50:02,632
- Let's see.                    
Look at me.                     

986
00:50:03,667 --> 00:50:06,136
   - I can remember as a kid,   
          I saw Tantoo          

987
00:50:06,203 --> 00:50:08,805
            and I was like: "Ah!
   That's a Native woman on TV!"

988
00:50:08,872 --> 00:50:11,274
          Because it was so rare
               to see ourselves.

989
00:50:11,341 --> 00:50:13,076
              And now, you know,
                this generation,

990
00:50:13,143 --> 00:50:14,444
                  we've got APTN

991
00:50:14,511 --> 00:50:17,014
                   and we've got
      Indigenous radio stations,

992
00:50:17,080 --> 00:50:18,515
         and it's not a big deal

993
00:50:18,582 --> 00:50:21,351
        to turn on the TV       
  and see an Indigenous person. 

994
00:50:21,418 --> 00:50:23,053
     But myself growing up,     

995
00:50:23,120 --> 00:50:24,988
        that was so rare.       

996
00:50:26,123 --> 00:50:28,125
 - I'm a young actor, obviously!

997
00:50:28,191 --> 00:50:29,659
     I'm new to this still.     

998
00:50:29,726 --> 00:50:31,595
           I'm just...          

999
00:50:31,661 --> 00:50:33,030
I'm taking it all in.           

1000
00:50:33,096 --> 00:50:34,498
And then, I'm also              
talking to my mom,              

1001
00:50:34,564 --> 00:50:36,400
who's also watching it with me  
and she's an actor.             

1002
00:50:36,466 --> 00:50:39,302
So, learning how she did        
things is so different.         

1003
00:50:39,369 --> 00:50:44,474
      So, I'm just grateful     
  that I came in at this time.  

1004
00:50:45,509 --> 00:50:48,111
   - To know that what you do   
         as an artist...        

1005
00:50:48,178 --> 00:50:50,113
     And this is what I tell    
          my daughter:          

1006
00:50:50,180 --> 00:50:52,416
             is that as artists,
           we are only channels.

1007
00:50:52,482 --> 00:50:53,850
              It's not about us.

1008
00:50:53,917 --> 00:50:56,086
  It's not about me personally. 

1009
00:50:56,153 --> 00:50:58,522
    It's about the character    
   that I am bringing through   

1010
00:50:58,588 --> 00:51:00,891
 and it's about the grandmothers
               and the ancestors

1011
00:51:00,957 --> 00:51:02,826
 bringing that story through us.

1012
00:51:04,027 --> 00:51:08,932
              (♪♪♪)             

1013
00:51:08,999 --> 00:51:11,001
    - There's a lot of people   

1014
00:51:11,068 --> 00:51:14,871
with good intentions who want to
 support Indigenous productions,

1015
00:51:14,938 --> 00:51:18,742
     but aren't necessarily     
      willing to recognize      

1016
00:51:18,809 --> 00:51:20,377
   that the systems in place,   

1017
00:51:20,444 --> 00:51:22,546
  the power structures in place 
     need to be dismantled.     

1018
00:51:22,612 --> 00:51:24,714
 Because, you know, we're having
       these conversations      

1019
00:51:24,781 --> 00:51:26,683
 around diversity and inclusion.

1020
00:51:26,750 --> 00:51:30,854
     I'm so tired of hearing    
         those two terms        

1021
00:51:30,921 --> 00:51:33,557
        because inclusion       
       inherently centers       

1022
00:51:33,623 --> 00:51:35,325
  White voices, settler voices. 

1023
00:51:35,392 --> 00:51:39,029
    It just means that we get   
  a little bit more resources.  

1024
00:51:39,096 --> 00:51:43,100
    But we're not witnessing    
    actual change and action    

1025
00:51:43,166 --> 00:51:44,768
    on the part of settlers.    

1026
00:51:44,835 --> 00:51:47,370
     It's Indigenous voices     
   who are continually having   

1027
00:51:47,437 --> 00:51:49,406
        to do that labour       
    and to make that change.    

1028
00:51:49,473 --> 00:51:52,876
         - Quite often,         
       we are put into...       

1029
00:51:54,744 --> 00:51:57,581
       these relationships      
    where we have to partner    

1030
00:51:57,647 --> 00:51:59,649
 with a non-Indigenous partner. 

1031
00:51:59,716 --> 00:52:02,352
         And that's been        
        a real challenge,       

1032
00:52:02,419 --> 00:52:05,622
    and it's been a challenge   
     on multiple productions    

1033
00:52:05,689 --> 00:52:08,758
        because it's hard       
    acknowledging privilege.    

1034
00:52:08,825 --> 00:52:10,427
          It really is.         

1035
00:52:10,494 --> 00:52:12,762
     And in order for these     
     relationships to work,     

1036
00:52:12,829 --> 00:52:14,464
          you have to.          

1037
00:52:14,531 --> 00:52:16,066
    And you have to recognize   

1038
00:52:16,133 --> 00:52:19,069
         that if you say        
  that you're here to support,  

1039
00:52:19,136 --> 00:52:20,770
    then you have to support.   

1040
00:52:20,837 --> 00:52:22,239
    And what does that mean?    

1041
00:52:22,305 --> 00:52:25,442
       Because, you know,       
         when I sit here        

1042
00:52:25,509 --> 00:52:27,010
     and say I need support     
        and I need help,        

1043
00:52:27,077 --> 00:52:30,247
      that's not weakness,      
            that's...           

1044
00:52:32,282 --> 00:52:34,351
       So, it doesn't mean      
   that I need you to step in   

1045
00:52:34,417 --> 00:52:36,319
    and fix something, right?   

1046
00:52:36,386 --> 00:52:38,788
      I'm saying I need you     
    to step back and listen.    

1047
00:52:38,855 --> 00:52:41,591
       - There's been some      
      upsetting experiences     

1048
00:52:41,658 --> 00:52:43,960
that I've had on this production

1049
00:52:44,027 --> 00:52:48,064
 that are reflective of being on
the receiving end of paternalism

1050
00:52:48,131 --> 00:52:50,133
   and being on the receiving   
         end of distrust        

1051
00:52:50,200 --> 00:52:54,337
      and ultimately being      
 on the receiving end of racism.

1052
00:52:54,404 --> 00:52:55,972
      But that being said,      

1053
00:52:56,039 --> 00:52:58,675
   there's a lot of beautiful   
   aspects to this production   

1054
00:52:58,742 --> 00:53:03,513
   in terms of the Indigenous   
          team members          

1055
00:53:03,580 --> 00:53:05,415
     who are taking charge,     

1056
00:53:05,482 --> 00:53:07,584
    who are trying to change    
      the way we do things.     

1057
00:53:07,651 --> 00:53:09,986
          And then also         
    our non-Indigenous allies   

1058
00:53:10,053 --> 00:53:11,488
          who are part          
       of this production       

1059
00:53:11,555 --> 00:53:15,392
        and who are doing       
    their very best to change   

1060
00:53:15,458 --> 00:53:17,294
        how we do things.       

1061
00:53:18,428 --> 00:53:20,096
        - Four years ago,       

1062
00:53:20,163 --> 00:53:23,099
      my agent forwarded me     
       just a page or two       

1063
00:53:23,166 --> 00:53:27,237
    that Resolution Pictures    
  had developed on Little Bird. 

1064
00:53:27,304 --> 00:53:29,506
             And...             

1065
00:53:29,573 --> 00:53:34,077
       I didn't know about      
    the Sixties Scoop and...    

1066
00:53:35,145 --> 00:53:39,349
     I read it and I called     
    my agent, and I was like:   

1067
00:53:39,416 --> 00:53:43,587
        "I would do this        
      if they want me to."      

1068
00:53:43,653 --> 00:53:47,390
     Like, the thought to me    
    that there was a genocide   

1069
00:53:47,457 --> 00:53:49,659
    that wasn't known was...    
            it was...           

1070
00:53:51,061 --> 00:53:54,998
just stunning and heartbreaking.

1071
00:53:55,966 --> 00:53:58,401
         Because there's        
     such an important part     

1072
00:53:58,468 --> 00:54:00,737
     of my community story's    
        that we get to...       

1073
00:54:00,804 --> 00:54:02,372
           It's known.          

1074
00:54:02,439 --> 00:54:04,507
        Esther is Jewish.       

1075
00:54:04,574 --> 00:54:09,212
  And so representing that was  
  also important on the screen. 

1076
00:54:09,279 --> 00:54:11,448
           (chanting)           

1077
00:54:11,514 --> 00:54:14,784
I'm using my Jewishness in order
     to, like, get those...     

1078
00:54:14,851 --> 00:54:19,289
  the minutiae of being a part  
    of a specific community.    

1079
00:54:20,290 --> 00:54:21,725
          I haven't...          
        I've never worked       

1080
00:54:21,791 --> 00:54:23,293
        on a show that's        
        this meaningful.        

1081
00:54:23,360 --> 00:54:25,495
  I think this set has been...  

1082
00:54:25,562 --> 00:54:27,030
  I hope, for other people too. 

1083
00:54:27,097 --> 00:54:28,498
    It's been collaborative,    

1084
00:54:28,565 --> 00:54:31,234
   which has felt really good   
      and beautiful to me.      

1085
00:54:31,301 --> 00:54:34,204
         I've been like:        
     "Wow, we're really able    

1086
00:54:34,271 --> 00:54:35,605
    to collaborate on this."    

1087
00:54:35,672 --> 00:54:37,073
      And so, there's just      
         a lot of people        

1088
00:54:37,140 --> 00:54:39,142
   who are trying really hard   
        to make it better       

1089
00:54:39,209 --> 00:54:40,944
   and working together on it.  

1090
00:54:41,011 --> 00:54:44,481
     You know, that doesn't     
         always happen.         

1091
00:54:45,515 --> 00:54:47,150
Do you want to have             
that girl in the back?          

1092
00:54:47,217 --> 00:54:49,286
 - This whole story is very much

1093
00:54:49,352 --> 00:54:53,757
          based on much         
     of my life experience.     

1094
00:54:53,823 --> 00:54:55,825
       Also, my mother's,       

1095
00:54:55,892 --> 00:54:59,362
    being an Indigenous woman   

1096
00:54:59,429 --> 00:55:01,564
  coming into a Jewish family,  

1097
00:55:01,631 --> 00:55:06,569
 and how isolated that she felt 

1098
00:55:06,636 --> 00:55:10,073
   and how ostracized she was.  

1099
00:55:11,908 --> 00:55:13,910
       And then my own...       

1100
00:55:13,977 --> 00:55:17,147
    really my own psychology    
        around identity.        

1101
00:55:17,213 --> 00:55:19,949
    I have never ever fit in    

1102
00:55:20,016 --> 00:55:24,454
      to what I'm supposed      
          to fit into.          

1103
00:55:24,521 --> 00:55:28,958
     So, I think, you know,     
       Esther is the same.      

1104
00:55:29,025 --> 00:55:31,895
  You know, I wanted that to be 
    a part of who Esther is.    

1105
00:55:31,961 --> 00:55:36,766
 You know, just not ever really 
   fitting into being Jewish.   

1106
00:55:36,833 --> 00:55:40,003
    The difference is she was   
 adopted and is fully Indigenous

1107
00:55:40,070 --> 00:55:43,139
    and I am actually Jewish!   

1108
00:55:43,206 --> 00:55:44,908
       Still don't fit in!      

1109
00:55:44,974 --> 00:55:46,643
             But...             

1110
00:55:46,710 --> 00:55:48,645
    And then, we brought in,    
            you know,           

1111
00:55:48,712 --> 00:55:53,149
      real actual survivors     

1112
00:55:53,216 --> 00:55:54,784
      of the Sixties Scoop      

1113
00:55:54,851 --> 00:55:58,922
        to help us really       
      shape the experience      

1114
00:55:58,988 --> 00:56:01,124
        through the lens        
        of being adopted.       

1115
00:56:01,191 --> 00:56:02,859
      - My name is Nakuset.     

1116
00:56:02,926 --> 00:56:05,695
       I'm originally from      
   Lac La Ronge, Saskatchewan,  

1117
00:56:05,762 --> 00:56:07,297
            Treaty 6.           

1118
00:56:07,364 --> 00:56:08,832
  However, I live in Montreal.  

1119
00:56:08,898 --> 00:56:10,767
I run the Native Women's Shelter
          of Montreal.          

1120
00:56:10,834 --> 00:56:12,402
   I'm the executive director.  

1121
00:56:12,469 --> 00:56:16,639
   But my role on Little Bird   
       was as a consultant      

1122
00:56:16,706 --> 00:56:20,343
    because I was adopted by    
  a Jewish family in Westmount. 

1123
00:56:20,410 --> 00:56:22,412
      So, Jennifer thought      
     it would be interesting    

1124
00:56:22,479 --> 00:56:24,781
 to have my point of view and...

1125
00:56:24,848 --> 00:56:27,484
         I know that in,        
     you know, Little Bird,     

1126
00:56:27,550 --> 00:56:32,155
   the family was very loving   
         and connected.         

1127
00:56:32,222 --> 00:56:34,090
   My experience was not that.  

1128
00:56:34,157 --> 00:56:37,360
      So, it was important      
       for me to be moved,      

1129
00:56:37,427 --> 00:56:41,231
         not necessarily        
  all the way here to Montreal. 

1130
00:56:41,297 --> 00:56:43,767
         But, you know,         
    I did have other siblings   

1131
00:56:43,833 --> 00:56:45,702
 that were older and responsible

1132
00:56:45,769 --> 00:56:47,370
     and wanted to keep me.     

1133
00:56:47,437 --> 00:56:50,540
  But the idea was to remove me 
        from the family,        

1134
00:56:50,607 --> 00:56:52,075
    put me into a White home,   

1135
00:56:52,142 --> 00:56:54,811
         change my name,        
       change my culture.       

1136
00:56:54,878 --> 00:56:57,147
 I would lose my Indian status. 

1137
00:56:57,213 --> 00:57:01,050
    I would become part of...   
   you know, like assimilated   

1138
00:57:01,117 --> 00:57:02,786
    and lose all my culture.    

1139
00:57:02,852 --> 00:57:07,257
              (♪♪♪)             

1140
00:57:07,323 --> 00:57:08,858
   - One day, social services   
          were called.          

1141
00:57:08,925 --> 00:57:10,527
    I think they were called    
       a number of times,       

1142
00:57:10,593 --> 00:57:13,430
        but the only time       
  I remember is the last time.  

1143
00:57:13,496 --> 00:57:14,864
      And the police came,      

1144
00:57:14,931 --> 00:57:17,734
    and I remember, you know,   
          seeing this.          

1145
00:57:17,801 --> 00:57:20,236
 It was the old style, you know,

1146
00:57:20,303 --> 00:57:23,673
       like rounded black       
     with the cherry on top,    

1147
00:57:23,740 --> 00:57:25,175
    that type of police car.    

1148
00:57:25,241 --> 00:57:28,011
        And we carted off       
        to Kilburn Hall,        

1149
00:57:28,077 --> 00:57:30,447
   which was a receiving home   
          at that time.         

1150
00:57:30,513 --> 00:57:34,217
 And we loved it there because, 
 you know, it was like good food

1151
00:57:34,284 --> 00:57:36,019
      and we loved to eat.      

1152
00:57:36,085 --> 00:57:38,922
    And we got treated well.    

1153
00:57:38,988 --> 00:57:40,924
      And then we were put      
         in foster care.        

1154
00:57:40,990 --> 00:57:43,893
  And my foster care experience 
        was a nightmare.        

1155
00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:45,995
    Abuse of all kinds there.   

1156
00:57:46,062 --> 00:57:48,198
  We were treated like animals. 
       We didn't even eat.      

1157
00:57:48,264 --> 00:57:49,999
       I was never allowed      
         in the kitchen.        

1158
00:57:50,066 --> 00:57:52,168
 And so the day that the social 
worker came to take me, I was...

1159
00:57:52,235 --> 00:57:54,704
     The foster mother said:    
      "Here, come in here."     

1160
00:57:54,771 --> 00:57:56,272
         And I sat there        
      and I was so nervous.     

1161
00:57:56,339 --> 00:57:57,907
  She gave me milk and cookies. 

1162
00:57:57,974 --> 00:57:59,976
    And I was so nervous that   
 I swallowed the milk too fast, 

1163
00:58:00,043 --> 00:58:01,878
     it came out of my nose.    

1164
00:58:01,945 --> 00:58:03,980
     That's what I remember!    

1165
00:58:04,047 --> 00:58:06,316
 And then, she's kind of, like, 
   you know, fretting over me.  

1166
00:58:06,382 --> 00:58:08,451
    And it was very bizarre.    

1167
00:58:08,518 --> 00:58:09,886
It's like: what's going on here?

1168
00:58:09,953 --> 00:58:11,688
     And my sister came home    
          from school.          

1169
00:58:11,754 --> 00:58:13,690
    I was still, you know...    
       I was still like...      

1170
00:58:13,756 --> 00:58:15,158
  It's just my fifth birthday.  

1171
00:58:15,225 --> 00:58:16,926
        And she came home       
   from school and I was gone.  

1172
00:58:16,993 --> 00:58:21,764
     I didn't see her again     
    for 20... 22 years. Yeah.   

1173
00:58:21,831 --> 00:58:26,803
              (♪♪♪)             

1174
00:58:27,570 --> 00:58:30,306
  - Probably at about 12 years  
     old, I began searching.    

1175
00:58:30,373 --> 00:58:31,841
  I didn't feel like I had it.  

1176
00:58:31,908 --> 00:58:33,610
      Like, I had a family.     

1177
00:58:33,676 --> 00:58:36,379
   I had a home, but I didn't   
  really have a family, right?  

1178
00:58:36,446 --> 00:58:37,981
      So, I began searching     

1179
00:58:38,047 --> 00:58:41,384
      and I ended up going      
        out to Vancouver,       

1180
00:58:41,451 --> 00:58:42,986
  where my birth mother lived.  

1181
00:58:43,052 --> 00:58:48,091
      And, you know, it was     
 a bittersweet reunion as well. 

1182
00:58:48,157 --> 00:58:50,093
     My mom has some issues     
           of her own           

1183
00:58:50,159 --> 00:58:53,196
   that she's still working on  
and struggling with to this day.

1184
00:58:53,263 --> 00:58:56,332
          But I met her         
     where she is, you know,    

1185
00:58:56,399 --> 00:58:59,569
     and I don't expect more    
      from... from what...      

1186
00:58:59,636 --> 00:59:00,904
            from her.           

1187
00:59:00,970 --> 00:59:03,273
      I'm accepting of what     
        she's capable of.       

1188
00:59:03,339 --> 00:59:04,774
       And you know what,       
          she's funny.          

1189
00:59:04,841 --> 00:59:07,176
          She's great.          
       She's a good cook.       

1190
00:59:07,243 --> 00:59:09,045
       She tries her best       
        to look after us.       

1191
00:59:09,112 --> 00:59:13,016
              (♪♪♪)             

1192
00:59:17,654 --> 00:59:21,457
      - Esther's character      
   is finding out where to go.  

1193
00:59:21,524 --> 00:59:24,060
    Like, she's been lost and   
  driving around her community, 

1194
00:59:24,127 --> 00:59:28,164
 and she encounters someone who 
helps her figure out where to go

1195
00:59:28,231 --> 00:59:29,666
  and where to find her family, 

1196
00:59:29,732 --> 00:59:31,467
   because they remember her.   

1197
00:59:33,670 --> 00:59:35,772
 - I think I might be from here.

1198
00:59:36,573 --> 00:59:38,841
    - What's your name, then?   
            - Bezhig.           

1199
00:59:38,908 --> 00:59:40,443
         I had siblings.        

1200
00:59:40,510 --> 00:59:41,978
        We were adopted.        

1201
00:59:42,045 --> 00:59:43,479
- Follow that river.            

1202
00:59:43,546 --> 00:59:45,214
      Go right to the end.      

1203
00:59:45,281 --> 00:59:47,684
   And it's the long driveway   
          on the right.         

1204
00:59:47,750 --> 00:59:49,185
       You can't miss it.       

1205
00:59:49,252 --> 00:59:53,790
              (♪♪♪)             

1206
01:00:00,563 --> 01:00:02,432
    - Like, people are trying   
     to find their families.    

1207
01:00:02,498 --> 01:00:04,500
      People are displaced      
     from their communities.    

1208
01:00:04,567 --> 01:00:08,705
        People don't have       
    that feeling of I'm home.   

1209
01:00:08,771 --> 01:00:10,239
   Even though they are home.   

1210
01:00:10,306 --> 01:00:11,708
       This is their land.      

1211
01:00:11,774 --> 01:00:13,610
      You know what I mean?     
     It's very complicated.     

1212
01:00:13,676 --> 01:00:18,848
              (♪♪♪)             

1213
01:00:20,583 --> 01:00:24,754
   - In 1995, I came back here  

1214
01:00:24,821 --> 01:00:28,191
  and I just was like a sponge, 
      you know what I mean?     

1215
01:00:28,257 --> 01:00:30,360
       For... What was it?      

1216
01:00:30,426 --> 01:00:32,061
    Because all these years,    

1217
01:00:32,128 --> 01:00:34,030
I was never known as what I was.

1218
01:00:34,097 --> 01:00:37,333
      I was an Anishinaabe      
      First Nation person.      

1219
01:00:37,400 --> 01:00:39,969
    So, that coming back home   
        to this reserve,        

1220
01:00:40,036 --> 01:00:42,171
          I didn't know         
     what I was coming into,    

1221
01:00:42,238 --> 01:00:45,108
   because all I had previous   
    to that for understanding   

1222
01:00:45,174 --> 01:00:48,711
  what it was to be Anishinaabe 
    was what was ever on TV.    

1223
01:00:48,778 --> 01:00:51,347
         So, of course,         
   one of my younger years...   

1224
01:00:51,414 --> 01:00:54,717
     Tatanka, Chief Wahoo...    

1225
01:00:54,784 --> 01:00:56,319
    And those are all things    

1226
01:00:56,386 --> 01:00:59,489
   that, I think, people only   
  understood to be Anishinaabe  

1227
01:00:59,555 --> 01:01:01,024
 or Native American down there, 

1228
01:01:01,090 --> 01:01:02,425
    because there wasn't much   

1229
01:01:02,492 --> 01:01:04,060
       that was available       
      other than Hollywood.     

1230
01:01:04,127 --> 01:01:05,828
              (♪♪♪)             

1231
01:01:05,895 --> 01:01:08,665
       - When I was living      
          in Westmount,         

1232
01:01:08,731 --> 01:01:11,601
      my biological sister,     
        Sonya, turned 18.       

1233
01:01:11,668 --> 01:01:14,237
         She saw my name        
 and she had been looking for me

1234
01:01:14,303 --> 01:01:15,705
     since we were separated    

1235
01:01:15,772 --> 01:01:18,441
      because I was three,      
         but she was six        

1236
01:01:18,508 --> 01:01:20,410
         and she clearly        
      remembered who I was.     

1237
01:01:20,476 --> 01:01:23,413
     So, she started writing    
          letters to me         

1238
01:01:23,479 --> 01:01:25,915
       since she turned 18      

1239
01:01:25,982 --> 01:01:27,383
  and I was probably about 15.  

1240
01:01:27,450 --> 01:01:28,918
    And my parents were just    
     ripping up the letters.    

1241
01:01:28,985 --> 01:01:32,121
    They were not allowing us   
        to have anything.       

1242
01:01:32,188 --> 01:01:34,457
   They wanted no connection.   

1243
01:01:34,524 --> 01:01:36,726
           Like, I had          
   an incredible relationship   

1244
01:01:36,793 --> 01:01:38,695
         with my bubbie,        
      not with my parents,      

1245
01:01:38,761 --> 01:01:42,065
   whereas Esther had a great   
  relationship with her mother. 

1246
01:01:42,131 --> 01:01:45,568
   So, that was not the same,   
   but it was really my bubbie  

1247
01:01:45,635 --> 01:01:49,138
         that pushed me         
     because she was dying.     

1248
01:01:51,908 --> 01:01:55,178
      (clearing her throat)     

1249
01:01:55,244 --> 01:01:57,280
  She knew that when she'd died 
        that I would have       

1250
01:01:57,346 --> 01:01:59,649
       no more connection       
         with my family         

1251
01:02:00,950 --> 01:02:03,753
          and wanted me         
      to have a connection      

1252
01:02:03,820 --> 01:02:06,089
   with my Indigenous family.   

1253
01:02:07,523 --> 01:02:09,292
 So, she bought my plane ticket 

1254
01:02:09,358 --> 01:02:13,129
  and sent me down to Winnipeg, 

1255
01:02:13,196 --> 01:02:15,665
    where I ended up meeting    

1256
01:02:15,732 --> 01:02:17,400
       one of my brothers.      

1257
01:02:17,467 --> 01:02:18,801
      He tried to adopt me,     

1258
01:02:18,868 --> 01:02:20,870
       but the government       
    didn't really want that.    

1259
01:02:20,937 --> 01:02:24,607
      And then I met Sonya,     
       which was awesome,       

1260
01:02:24,674 --> 01:02:26,242
  because that bond that we had 
       when we were kids,       

1261
01:02:26,309 --> 01:02:27,944
     it never really ended.     

1262
01:02:28,010 --> 01:02:32,815
              (♪♪♪)             

1263
01:02:35,885 --> 01:02:38,988
- The discourse of child saving,

1264
01:02:39,055 --> 01:02:41,290
    it's like an overarching    
            narrative           

1265
01:02:41,357 --> 01:02:43,359
     that can really subsume    

1266
01:02:43,426 --> 01:02:47,497
   lots of nefarious conduct.   

1267
01:02:47,563 --> 01:02:50,500
       "We're just trying       
    to help these children."    

1268
01:02:50,566 --> 01:02:52,335
        That's the child        
        saving narrative.       

1269
01:02:52,401 --> 01:02:53,870
      It's that, you know,      

1270
01:02:53,936 --> 01:02:56,939
our families and our communities
    were in such dire straits   

1271
01:02:57,006 --> 01:02:59,308
   that we just were incapable  
    of raising our children.    

1272
01:02:59,375 --> 01:03:01,778
        And so, the great       
      White saviour came in     

1273
01:03:01,844 --> 01:03:04,847
 to rescue our children from us.

1274
01:03:04,914 --> 01:03:07,350
        Nothing could be        
     further from the truth.    

1275
01:03:08,584 --> 01:03:10,186
     Even though it's called    
       the Sixties Scoop,       

1276
01:03:10,253 --> 01:03:12,255
       I had adoptees say:      
   "Well, I'm not part of that  

1277
01:03:12,321 --> 01:03:13,923
      because I was adopted     
          in the 70s."          

1278
01:03:13,990 --> 01:03:15,758
      But it's like, no...      

1279
01:03:15,825 --> 01:03:17,894
     It spanned from the 50s    

1280
01:03:17,960 --> 01:03:20,163
        into about 1985,        

1281
01:03:20,229 --> 01:03:22,465
    when there was an inquiry   
        here in Manitoba.       

1282
01:03:23,232 --> 01:03:25,468
       So, Edwin Kimmelman      
          was appointed         

1283
01:03:25,535 --> 01:03:27,870
    to oversee this inquiry.    

1284
01:03:27,937 --> 01:03:29,405
        Because he wanted       
     to find out, you know.     

1285
01:03:29,472 --> 01:03:30,973
        Indigenous people       
         are complaining        

1286
01:03:31,040 --> 01:03:32,375
     about what's going on.     

1287
01:03:32,441 --> 01:03:34,710
      And so he interviewed     
         social workers         

1288
01:03:34,777 --> 01:03:37,213
       and administrators       
        and bureaucrats.        

1289
01:03:37,280 --> 01:03:39,682
       And he also looked       
         at case files.         

1290
01:03:39,749 --> 01:03:41,284
     He was really concerned    
       with what he found,      

1291
01:03:41,350 --> 01:03:43,719
   which was that there was...  

1292
01:03:43,786 --> 01:03:46,422
     The process of children    
  being apprehended, it was...  

1293
01:03:46,489 --> 01:03:48,758
      Like, the case files      
      were a mess, he said.     

1294
01:03:48,825 --> 01:03:50,459
     And his conclusion was     
  that it was cultural genocide 

1295
01:03:50,526 --> 01:03:52,061
      because a lot of kids     
       from Manitoba were       

1296
01:03:52,128 --> 01:03:53,796
   shipped down to the States,  

1297
01:03:53,863 --> 01:03:55,731
       the Midwest states.      

1298
01:03:57,633 --> 01:04:00,570
  - There are so many children  
   that were taken from Canada  

1299
01:04:00,636 --> 01:04:02,205
  and adopted into the States.  

1300
01:04:02,271 --> 01:04:04,941
      Some of the adoptions     
  that passed through happened  

1301
01:04:05,007 --> 01:04:06,409
 at, like, a McDonald's, right? 

1302
01:04:06,475 --> 01:04:08,778
      Like: "Hey, you like      
      this kid? Take him."      

1303
01:04:08,845 --> 01:04:10,413
     They didn't necessarily    
        check backgrounds       

1304
01:04:10,479 --> 01:04:11,881
        for the families.       

1305
01:04:11,948 --> 01:04:13,316
    Like, it wasn't important   

1306
01:04:13,382 --> 01:04:16,385
      if the families were      
         able to support        

1307
01:04:16,452 --> 01:04:19,922
 or were even should-be parents.

1308
01:04:21,757 --> 01:04:24,560
       - Justice Kimmelman      
          said no more.         

1309
01:04:24,627 --> 01:04:25,995
   This is cultural genocide.   

1310
01:04:26,062 --> 01:04:28,264
        No more adopting        
   Indigenous kids in Manitoba  

1311
01:04:28,331 --> 01:04:29,832
  into non-Indigenous families. 

1312
01:04:29,899 --> 01:04:31,200
        Just in Manitoba.       

1313
01:04:31,267 --> 01:04:33,236
       But other provinces      
     were paying attention,     

1314
01:04:33,302 --> 01:04:35,771
   so they sort of took note.   

1315
01:04:35,838 --> 01:04:38,241
       And the moratorium       
      was on the placement,     

1316
01:04:38,307 --> 01:04:40,610
    the transracial placement   
     of Indigenous children     

1317
01:04:40,676 --> 01:04:42,278
  into non-Indigenous families. 

1318
01:04:42,345 --> 01:04:43,779
              (♪♪♪)             

1319
01:04:43,846 --> 01:04:46,415
        That doesn't mean       
       that apprehensions       

1320
01:04:46,482 --> 01:04:48,517
       or child protection      
       changed in any way.      

1321
01:04:48,584 --> 01:04:49,986
       It just continued.       

1322
01:04:50,052 --> 01:04:51,754
  And they're still continuing. 

1323
01:04:51,821 --> 01:04:54,991
     Only now, they just go     
         in foster care         

1324
01:04:55,057 --> 01:04:58,261
      and they become part      
  of that foster care economy.  

1325
01:04:58,327 --> 01:05:00,096
     - I want people to know    

1326
01:05:00,162 --> 01:05:01,597
     that it's still alive.     

1327
01:05:01,664 --> 01:05:03,032
      It's still happening.     

1328
01:05:03,099 --> 01:05:05,935
       It's trickled into       
     our current CFS system.    

1329
01:05:06,002 --> 01:05:07,536
           If you look          
     at the numbers of kids     

1330
01:05:07,603 --> 01:05:09,505
   that are in care right now   
      that are Aboriginal,      

1331
01:05:09,572 --> 01:05:10,973
      it's still happening.     

1332
01:05:11,040 --> 01:05:13,509
 - It's like the system exists, 

1333
01:05:13,576 --> 01:05:15,845
      we just don't call it     
   the Sixties Scoop anymore.   

1334
01:05:15,912 --> 01:05:17,413
         So, nothing has        
        actually changed.       

1335
01:05:17,480 --> 01:05:19,382
     And I think that a lot     
        of the families,        

1336
01:05:19,448 --> 01:05:22,184
 a lot of the mothers that were 
 themselves in youth protection 

1337
01:05:22,251 --> 01:05:23,819
        now have children       
      in youth protection.      

1338
01:05:23,886 --> 01:05:28,257
  It's really systemic racism.  

1339
01:05:28,324 --> 01:05:32,295
    Like, it is unbelievable    
           how quickly          

1340
01:05:32,361 --> 01:05:34,130
     police, social workers,    

1341
01:05:34,196 --> 01:05:35,965
   anyone will pick up a child  

1342
01:05:36,032 --> 01:05:38,567
  and decide that their parents 
         aren't worthy.         

1343
01:05:38,634 --> 01:05:41,704
    - I know so many parents    
 that have had their kids taken,

1344
01:05:41,771 --> 01:05:44,774
   and they have so many hoops  
  that they have to go through. 

1345
01:05:44,840 --> 01:05:46,342
          And you know,         
      they end up giving up     

1346
01:05:46,409 --> 01:05:47,843
  because that was their life.  

1347
01:05:47,910 --> 01:05:49,345
  And they've tried everything. 

1348
01:05:49,412 --> 01:05:50,846
     They've gone to groups,    

1349
01:05:50,913 --> 01:05:52,882
   they've gone to treatment,   

1350
01:05:52,949 --> 01:05:54,383
   and it's still not enough.   

1351
01:05:54,450 --> 01:05:56,786
     You know, the barriers     
      that the workers put      

1352
01:05:56,852 --> 01:05:58,955
    in front of these parents   
   that are trying their best   

1353
01:05:59,021 --> 01:06:00,489
     to get their kids back,    

1354
01:06:00,556 --> 01:06:01,958
        it's crazy to me.       

1355
01:06:02,024 --> 01:06:03,392
    - In the current system,    

1356
01:06:03,459 --> 01:06:05,661
          which I call          
    the "Foster Care Scoop",    

1357
01:06:05,728 --> 01:06:07,496
   children are in foster care  

1358
01:06:07,563 --> 01:06:11,100
    and non-Indigenous people   
   are getting a lot of money   

1359
01:06:11,167 --> 01:06:12,735
  to take care of our children. 

1360
01:06:12,802 --> 01:06:14,236
      It's a huge economy.      

1361
01:06:14,303 --> 01:06:16,706
   - If you put those supports  
    in place for the parents    

1362
01:06:16,772 --> 01:06:19,308
     that are having issues     
    instead of paying people    

1363
01:06:19,375 --> 01:06:21,444
    that aren't their family    
      to take care of them,     

1364
01:06:21,510 --> 01:06:23,312
   you know, they can probably  
        do a lot better.        

1365
01:06:23,379 --> 01:06:25,081
       Put those supports       
       in place for them,       

1366
01:06:25,147 --> 01:06:26,615
  give them parenting classes,  

1367
01:06:26,682 --> 01:06:28,017
    help them with extra food   

1368
01:06:28,084 --> 01:06:29,752
         if that's where        
       they're struggling.      

1369
01:06:29,819 --> 01:06:33,723
 - So, it's an ingrained system 
     that we are not worthy,    

1370
01:06:33,789 --> 01:06:35,658
     which is why they took     
        our children away       

1371
01:06:35,725 --> 01:06:37,259
     for residential school,    

1372
01:06:37,326 --> 01:06:40,129
     why they're taking away    
  for, like, youth protection,  

1373
01:06:40,196 --> 01:06:41,664
  that we are not good parents. 

1374
01:06:41,731 --> 01:06:43,766
 And you become hypersensitive. 

1375
01:06:43,833 --> 01:06:45,935
    You're like: "Oh, my God,   
       I hope I don't have      

1376
01:06:46,002 --> 01:06:47,336
      my kids taken away."      

1377
01:06:47,403 --> 01:06:49,405
         Because I worry        
    about that all the time,    

1378
01:06:49,472 --> 01:06:51,340
       and I like to think      
       I'm a good parent.       

1379
01:06:51,407 --> 01:06:53,376
  But you get these sorts of... 

1380
01:06:53,442 --> 01:06:55,911
         Well, you know,        
       when I took, like,       

1381
01:06:55,978 --> 01:06:57,913
      Kistin to the dentist     
       when he was a baby       

1382
01:06:57,980 --> 01:06:59,515
       because, you know,       
       he had tooth decay,      

1383
01:06:59,582 --> 01:07:01,851
   I was sure they were going   
    to take my children away    

1384
01:07:01,917 --> 01:07:05,354
        because I wasn't,       
   you know, like, a good mom.  

1385
01:07:05,421 --> 01:07:07,923
         And I have gone        
      to a doctor's office      

1386
01:07:07,990 --> 01:07:10,226
 where the doctor says: "Oh..." 

1387
01:07:10,292 --> 01:07:12,495
       Like, when Mahkisis      
        had a diaper rash       

1388
01:07:12,561 --> 01:07:15,264
        and I couldn't do       
       anything about it.       

1389
01:07:15,331 --> 01:07:16,799
      She said: "Oh, well,      
    it's just a diaper rash,    

1390
01:07:16,866 --> 01:07:19,468
    so I'm not going to call    
    youth protection on you."   

1391
01:07:20,569 --> 01:07:22,605
        That's a threat.        

1392
01:07:22,671 --> 01:07:25,107
    It's not a frickin' joke,   
      but that's a threat.      

1393
01:07:25,174 --> 01:07:27,043
     So, I have to not react    

1394
01:07:27,109 --> 01:07:29,512
       because if I react,      
    then I'm a hostile Indian   

1395
01:07:29,578 --> 01:07:31,080
         and then maybe         
    that would give a reason    

1396
01:07:31,147 --> 01:07:32,615
    to call youth protection.   

1397
01:07:32,681 --> 01:07:34,116
    But that is our reality.    

1398
01:07:34,183 --> 01:07:35,684
       So, who am I to say      

1399
01:07:35,751 --> 01:07:38,020
 "That's really discriminatory, 
    I'm going to report you"?   

1400
01:07:38,087 --> 01:07:39,855
I'm just going to take my child,

1401
01:07:39,922 --> 01:07:41,724
     take the prescription,     
  walk out the door backwards,  

1402
01:07:41,791 --> 01:07:44,894
    smile and change doctors.   

1403
01:07:44,960 --> 01:07:46,495
     But it's in the system.    

1404
01:07:46,562 --> 01:07:50,766
              (♪♪♪)             

1405
01:07:55,871 --> 01:07:57,373
    - Because of the flames.    

1406
01:07:57,440 --> 01:08:00,609
      - Yeah. So, I was thinking
      about something like that.

1407
01:08:00,676 --> 01:08:04,547
       - Yeah.                  
                     - We'll see
             if it's not enough.

1408
01:08:04,613 --> 01:08:09,618
 - This is a significant scene. 

1409
01:08:09,685 --> 01:08:11,987
       Our character Leo,       

1410
01:08:12,054 --> 01:08:15,558
      who feels so forlorn      

1411
01:08:15,624 --> 01:08:18,694
    and so angry and bereaved   

1412
01:08:18,761 --> 01:08:21,130
       that he does this,       

1413
01:08:21,197 --> 01:08:22,665
      burns his house down.     

1414
01:08:22,731 --> 01:08:24,100
         It's such a...         

1415
01:08:24,166 --> 01:08:28,070
      The episode is called     
    "Burning Down the House".   

1416
01:08:28,137 --> 01:08:31,774
       So, when the light       
        is exactly right,       

1417
01:08:31,841 --> 01:08:36,779
  then we're going to complete  
    the special effects work    

1418
01:08:36,846 --> 01:08:39,048
       that has to be done      
     before we light it up.     

1419
01:08:39,815 --> 01:08:41,884
          We put a lot          
       of medicines in it       

1420
01:08:41,951 --> 01:08:45,121
  to just make it feel honoured 

1421
01:08:45,187 --> 01:08:48,390
         in this moment         
   that we all built together,  

1422
01:08:48,457 --> 01:08:51,594
      and it kind of feels      
        like a ceremony.        

1423
01:08:53,429 --> 01:08:54,997
       - As a crew member,      
         the house holds        

1424
01:08:55,064 --> 01:08:57,099
        a lot of memories       
         for us as well.        

1425
01:08:57,166 --> 01:08:58,834
 When I walked into that house, 

1426
01:08:58,901 --> 01:09:01,003
      I pictured the flats      
     in Churchill, Manitoba,    

1427
01:09:01,070 --> 01:09:03,038
  where my grandparents lived,  
     where I used to visit.     

1428
01:09:03,105 --> 01:09:04,940
  The exact same architecture.  

1429
01:09:05,007 --> 01:09:06,408
     You know, they were...     

1430
01:09:06,475 --> 01:09:07,977
 What a lot of people don't give

1431
01:09:08,043 --> 01:09:09,778
 Anishinaabe people credit for, 

1432
01:09:09,845 --> 01:09:14,250
 is that we were the first with 
 an open concept in a household!

1433
01:09:14,316 --> 01:09:16,185
 So, that home there reminds me 
        exactly of that.        

1434
01:09:16,252 --> 01:09:20,022
And fire is life in our culture,
        as you all know.        

1435
01:09:20,089 --> 01:09:21,891
     Some people look at it     
     like in a negative way,    

1436
01:09:21,957 --> 01:09:25,094
but I look at it like it's a new
 beginning and things like that.

1437
01:09:25,161 --> 01:09:27,763
And it helps light another path.

1438
01:09:29,165 --> 01:09:31,534
    - Rolling! We're rolling!   

1439
01:09:31,600 --> 01:09:34,236
- This is 104 dash 45, take one.

1440
01:09:34,303 --> 01:09:38,073
       (indistinct words)       

1441
01:09:38,140 --> 01:09:40,709
       - Three, two, one!       

1442
01:09:40,776 --> 01:09:44,180
              (♪♪♪)             

1443
01:09:44,246 --> 01:09:48,384
             (fire)             

1444
01:09:53,022 --> 01:09:55,558
       (indistinct words)       

1445
01:09:55,624 --> 01:09:57,026
  I don't think he would leave  

1446
01:09:57,092 --> 01:09:58,594
        while it's still        
        burning actively.       

1447
01:09:58,661 --> 01:10:00,129
          - Okay. Okay.         

1448
01:10:00,196 --> 01:10:02,831
             - Yeah.            

1449
01:10:06,135 --> 01:10:09,004
             - Can you just turn
               a bit more to us?

1450
01:10:10,306 --> 01:10:12,474
   - Glen, can you stay there?  

1451
01:10:12,541 --> 01:10:14,610
         Tayton, can you        
      look down and then...     

1452
01:10:14,677 --> 01:10:16,312
      So, look at the fire      
         for a few beats        

1453
01:10:16,378 --> 01:10:19,181
       and then look down       
  and then walk straight to me. 

1454
01:10:19,248 --> 01:10:21,250
                  And then come.

1455
01:10:21,317 --> 01:10:26,255
              (♪♪♪)             

1456
01:10:26,322 --> 01:10:28,190
                     Okay, good.

1457
01:10:34,129 --> 01:10:39,301
              (♪♪♪)             

1458
01:10:42,638 --> 01:10:44,940
       - All the pieces...      
    Look at all the pieces...   

1459
01:10:45,007 --> 01:10:46,842
     It's going, it's going.    

1460
01:10:47,676 --> 01:10:49,078
         - Look at that!        

1461
01:10:49,144 --> 01:10:51,046
    Oh, yeah, it's happening.   

1462
01:10:53,082 --> 01:10:57,453
      (Indigenous chanting)     

1463
01:11:13,168 --> 01:11:16,205
     - I feel very honoured     
       to tell this story.      

1464
01:11:16,272 --> 01:11:18,474
   It's a huge responsibility.  

1465
01:11:20,042 --> 01:11:24,280
      Yes, we make stories      
for audiences, global audiences.

1466
01:11:24,346 --> 01:11:25,814
    That's really important.    

1467
01:11:25,881 --> 01:11:31,220
     But I really make these    
     stories for our people.    

1468
01:11:32,488 --> 01:11:36,392
     So, what it means to me    
      is it's an offering.      

1469
01:11:36,458 --> 01:11:38,761
    It's an offering to heal,   

1470
01:11:38,827 --> 01:11:40,262
    to come together and heal   

1471
01:11:40,329 --> 01:11:44,099
  through witnessing something  

1472
01:11:44,166 --> 01:11:48,103
      and being validated,      
  being reminded of your worth. 

1473
01:11:49,505 --> 01:11:51,307
   - Everyone watching her go?  

1474
01:11:51,373 --> 01:11:54,610
  - Yeah. We're getting it wide 
    right now, but we will...   

1475
01:11:54,677 --> 01:11:58,514
    All of those little beats   
     tighter on the gimbal.     

1476
01:11:58,580 --> 01:12:00,249
         - Okay, great.         

1477
01:12:01,350 --> 01:12:02,785
      - I think most people     
          take family,          

1478
01:12:02,851 --> 01:12:04,987
      the familial circle,      
          for granted.          

1479
01:12:05,054 --> 01:12:06,422
          And I don't.          

1480
01:12:06,488 --> 01:12:08,057
   It's sort of comparable to,  

1481
01:12:08,123 --> 01:12:09,925
       if you can imagine,      

1482
01:12:09,992 --> 01:12:12,594
   just being born out at sea   

1483
01:12:12,661 --> 01:12:17,199
    in just chaos, you know,    
        and uncertainty.        

1484
01:12:17,266 --> 01:12:20,703
     And then anytime you're    
   invited into a familial...   

1485
01:12:20,769 --> 01:12:23,706
          I'm speaking          
      as an adopted person.     

1486
01:12:23,772 --> 01:12:25,974
    As soon as you're invited   
     into a familial circle,    

1487
01:12:26,041 --> 01:12:28,544
         it's like being        
       in this weird port       

1488
01:12:28,610 --> 01:12:30,012
        that you've never       
         been to before.        

1489
01:12:30,079 --> 01:12:31,480
        You're a stranger       
       in a strange land,       

1490
01:12:31,547 --> 01:12:34,483
       and the only place       
    you feel safe is back out   

1491
01:12:34,550 --> 01:12:36,618
    in the chaotic sea again.   

1492
01:12:36,685 --> 01:12:39,321
 And now I take all that stuff. 

1493
01:12:39,388 --> 01:12:40,989
 I'm a frontline outreach worker

1494
01:12:41,056 --> 01:12:43,425
     at Resource Assistance     
           for Youth.           

1495
01:12:43,492 --> 01:12:45,027
         I help other...        

1496
01:12:45,094 --> 01:12:47,629
     I help kids that are in    
  the same boat that I was in.  

1497
01:12:47,696 --> 01:12:50,766
    - Because when you put up   
       a barrier to love,       

1498
01:12:50,833 --> 01:12:53,402
    it's really fucking hard    
         to get it back.        

1499
01:12:53,469 --> 01:12:56,038
      And sometimes people      
     don't ever get it back.    

1500
01:12:56,105 --> 01:12:59,007
     Yeah, because it's like    
 an imposed attachment disorder.

1501
01:12:59,074 --> 01:13:01,377
       That's really what       
  the Sixties Scoop was about.  

1502
01:13:01,443 --> 01:13:04,046
   It imposed this attachment   
   disorder on so many of us.   

1503
01:13:04,113 --> 01:13:07,182
   And it wasn't until I had,   
   you know, as a young adult,  

1504
01:13:07,249 --> 01:13:08,617
 done about 10 years of therapy 

1505
01:13:08,684 --> 01:13:10,285
      that I actually sort      
      of came into my body      

1506
01:13:10,352 --> 01:13:13,122
   and said: "Okay! What now?"  

1507
01:13:13,188 --> 01:13:14,723
     And that's when I went     
        into social work.       

1508
01:13:14,790 --> 01:13:17,092
     - I'm going to feel air    
       like Mary Poppins.       

1509
01:13:17,159 --> 01:13:18,827
           I felt air.          

1510
01:13:18,894 --> 01:13:21,063
    - Gideon, how has it been   

1511
01:13:21,130 --> 01:13:23,732
       working on the set?      

1512
01:13:23,799 --> 01:13:25,367
             - Good.            
             - Yeah?            

1513
01:13:25,434 --> 01:13:27,669
  What was your favourite day?  

1514
01:13:27,736 --> 01:13:31,407
- Ah! The part when I was       
doing under the bed.            

1515
01:13:31,473 --> 01:13:32,808
             - Why?             

1516
01:13:32,875 --> 01:13:35,944
- I just like going under beds, 

1517
01:13:36,011 --> 01:13:37,413
hiding like a monster.          

1518
01:13:37,479 --> 01:13:38,914
    - Ha-ha! That's awesome.    

1519
01:13:38,981 --> 01:13:40,949
        - Gideon has lots       
       of fun on the set.       

1520
01:13:41,016 --> 01:13:43,452
             Ha-ha!             

1521
01:13:43,519 --> 01:13:45,053
   - And this is my last day.   

1522
01:13:45,120 --> 01:13:46,622
    - You did so well today.    

1523
01:13:46,688 --> 01:13:48,724
- Okay, good...                 

1524
01:13:48,791 --> 01:13:51,460
Bye-bye, camera.                
Bye-bye, camera.                

1525
01:13:51,527 --> 01:13:53,128
             - Bye.             

1526
01:13:53,195 --> 01:13:55,264
          Bye, Gideon!          
             - Bye.             

1527
01:13:55,330 --> 01:13:56,732
    - Nice working with you.    

1528
01:13:56,799 --> 01:13:58,634
  - It's just really inspiring  

1529
01:13:58,700 --> 01:14:01,437
   to see everyone just making  

1530
01:14:01,503 --> 01:14:04,406
 such an amazing pathway for us 

1531
01:14:04,473 --> 01:14:09,278
       and just guiding us      
         who want to be         

1532
01:14:09,344 --> 01:14:11,814
        in that position        
     as well in the future.     

1533
01:14:11,880 --> 01:14:13,449
 It's really inspiring for sure.

1534
01:14:13,515 --> 01:14:15,584
           - And a young man who
          needs no introduction!

1535
01:14:15,651 --> 01:14:17,453
                         Gideon!

1536
01:14:17,519 --> 01:14:20,889
          (acclamation)         

1537
01:14:21,723 --> 01:14:23,659
         - Our only job,        
     as near as I can tell,     

1538
01:14:23,725 --> 01:14:26,094
  is to look after each other,  

1539
01:14:26,161 --> 01:14:28,130
      take care of our kids     

1540
01:14:28,197 --> 01:14:30,432
 and raise them up to be strong,

1541
01:14:30,499 --> 01:14:32,034
  better versions of ourselves. 

1542
01:14:32,100 --> 01:14:35,103
        If we can do that       
  for a couple of generations,  

1543
01:14:35,170 --> 01:14:36,839
I swear to God, we'll get all...

1544
01:14:36,905 --> 01:14:40,175
  We'll decolonize much faster  
       if we just do that.      

1545
01:14:42,611 --> 01:14:46,782
        - I think we have       
    a responsibility locally,   

1546
01:14:46,849 --> 01:14:48,183
    and not just the rhetoric   

1547
01:14:48,250 --> 01:14:50,185
    of "it takes a community    
       to raise a child".       

1548
01:14:50,252 --> 01:14:52,387
     I think we got to start    
      looking at the system     

1549
01:14:52,454 --> 01:14:54,223
  we have in place here locally 

1550
01:14:54,289 --> 01:14:58,026
        and say: what is        
   that system doing to change  

1551
01:14:58,093 --> 01:14:59,995
  the impacts of colonization?  

1552
01:15:01,029 --> 01:15:03,332
   - I'm happy that our nation  
         is taking back         

1553
01:15:03,398 --> 01:15:06,235
      our Child and Family      
         Services agency        

1554
01:15:06,301 --> 01:15:08,337
       and really focusing      
        on reunification        

1555
01:15:08,403 --> 01:15:10,439
         because I think        
      that's so important.      

1556
01:15:10,506 --> 01:15:12,174
   That's what we need, right,  

1557
01:15:12,241 --> 01:15:13,575
     to heal and be healthy     

1558
01:15:13,642 --> 01:15:15,143
     and to have those next     
        seven generations       

1559
01:15:15,210 --> 01:15:16,912
  in a good healthy mind frame. 

1560
01:15:16,979 --> 01:15:18,680
      That's what we need.      

1561
01:15:18,747 --> 01:15:21,583
     We need those supports     
 and we need that encouragement 

1562
01:15:21,650 --> 01:15:26,922
   and the change of people's   
    beliefs, their mindsets.    

1563
01:15:27,990 --> 01:15:30,526
      - So Child and Family     
       Services have been       

1564
01:15:30,592 --> 01:15:33,896
   a priority for Sioux Valley  
  for quite a number of years.  

1565
01:15:33,962 --> 01:15:35,764
    And like putting emphasis   

1566
01:15:35,831 --> 01:15:39,668
     on Dakota culture again    
     and language, kinship.     

1567
01:15:39,735 --> 01:15:43,505
        You know, putting       
 responsibility back on families

1568
01:15:43,572 --> 01:15:45,374
   to take care of one another  

1569
01:15:45,440 --> 01:15:47,843
     and going back to those    
      traditional teachings     

1570
01:15:47,910 --> 01:15:50,178
     where we all looked out    
         for one another        

1571
01:15:50,245 --> 01:15:53,849
    and ensuring that we have   
 jurisdiction over our children 

1572
01:15:53,916 --> 01:15:56,318
        and not only here       

1573
01:15:56,385 --> 01:15:57,786
     on Sioux Valley lands,     

1574
01:15:57,853 --> 01:16:01,089
      but throughout Canada     
        through Bill C-92       

1575
01:16:01,156 --> 01:16:03,058
   and our own self-government  
           agreement.           

1576
01:16:03,125 --> 01:16:07,629
   - Bill C-92 is now federal   
   law effective January 2020.  

1577
01:16:07,696 --> 01:16:10,499
 And what it states in there is 

1578
01:16:10,566 --> 01:16:12,801
        that Governments        
       and social workers,      

1579
01:16:12,868 --> 01:16:14,303
      social work agencies      

1580
01:16:14,369 --> 01:16:16,338
  are compelled now to support  

1581
01:16:16,405 --> 01:16:19,508
  the sovereignty of Indigenous 
    families and communities.   

1582
01:16:19,575 --> 01:16:22,377
       What this means is       
    that they cannot advocate   

1583
01:16:22,444 --> 01:16:25,314
  for our children to be placed 
      in any other family.      

1584
01:16:25,380 --> 01:16:27,783
      We have jurisdiction,     
 they cannot take our children. 

1585
01:16:27,849 --> 01:16:29,518
          End of story.         

1586
01:16:31,553 --> 01:16:35,624
    The priority of placement   
  that we see in C-92, I think, 

1587
01:16:35,691 --> 01:16:38,727
 comes from Wayne Christian's...
           the by-law.          

1588
01:16:38,794 --> 01:16:41,063
         He was talking         
       about this in 1980.      

1589
01:16:41,129 --> 01:16:42,531
          It shows us.          

1590
01:16:42,598 --> 01:16:45,300
  This is 1983, it's now 2023.  
       That's a 40-year...      

1591
01:16:45,367 --> 01:16:47,202
     That's a 40-year battle    

1592
01:16:47,269 --> 01:16:49,605
       to get jurisdiction      
         over our kids.         

1593
01:16:49,671 --> 01:16:53,475
     So, everybody is doing     
     this massive adjusting     

1594
01:16:53,542 --> 01:16:56,411
   and, you know, I'm telling   
          people, like:         

1595
01:16:56,478 --> 01:16:58,413
          just assert,          
        assert authority,       

1596
01:16:58,480 --> 01:17:02,818
       assert jurisdiction      
 because we never gave that up. 

1597
01:17:02,884 --> 01:17:05,754
   Yeah, we never gave it up.   

1598
01:17:05,821 --> 01:17:08,323
  So, big changes are underway. 

1599
01:17:08,390 --> 01:17:10,225
       Big changes, yeah.       

1600
01:17:13,128 --> 01:17:16,031
    - So, you're good for...    
           Thank you!           

1601
01:17:16,098 --> 01:17:18,500
      (indistinct chatter)      

1602
01:17:18,567 --> 01:17:21,203
    - At this moment, we are    
   shooting the very beginning  

1603
01:17:21,269 --> 01:17:23,238
           of the end           
      of the entire series.     

1604
01:17:23,305 --> 01:17:27,209
       So, there obviously      
    is a lot of choreography    

1605
01:17:27,275 --> 01:17:30,846
  because the story takes place 
  over a couple of generations. 

1606
01:17:30,912 --> 01:17:34,516
       This moment is kind      
         of the epitome,        

1607
01:17:34,583 --> 01:17:38,420
        it's the ultimate       
         returning home         

1608
01:17:38,487 --> 01:17:42,357
    to a place that you have    
     not been able to be at.    

1609
01:17:42,424 --> 01:17:44,893
         This moment is         
    the ultimate coming home.   

1610
01:17:44,960 --> 01:17:47,629
  And it's a very brave thing,  
           to go home.          

1611
01:17:47,696 --> 01:17:49,564
     It's one of the bravest    
       things you can do.       

1612
01:17:49,631 --> 01:17:54,803
              (♪♪♪)             

1613
01:17:56,405 --> 01:17:59,274
     - When I came down here    
     for that one-week visit    

1614
01:17:59,341 --> 01:18:01,143
      and then I ultimately     
    went back to Pennsylvania   

1615
01:18:01,209 --> 01:18:02,811
    for about a month or two,   

1616
01:18:02,878 --> 01:18:04,346
  I just couldn't shake it off. 

1617
01:18:04,413 --> 01:18:07,015
      It was just something     
     inside of me turned on.    

1618
01:18:07,082 --> 01:18:09,885
     And I really do believe    
    that our children are...    

1619
01:18:09,951 --> 01:18:13,422
  And being our relationship as 
 Indigenous people to the land, 

1620
01:18:13,488 --> 01:18:16,825
         there's a GPS,         
    like a natural GPS system   

1621
01:18:16,892 --> 01:18:18,226
      that's inside of us.      

1622
01:18:18,293 --> 01:18:20,962
     That when I came back,     
        when I came home,       

1623
01:18:21,029 --> 01:18:23,598
        I couldn't leave        
  and I never left ever since.  

1624
01:18:23,665 --> 01:18:27,469
I've been here for 27 years now.

1625
01:18:27,536 --> 01:18:29,905
 The naturalness of coming home 

1626
01:18:29,971 --> 01:18:33,475
 and the first moment that I got
   back from the airport here   

1627
01:18:33,542 --> 01:18:36,678
  and got into our family home, 

1628
01:18:36,745 --> 01:18:38,914
      and I walked upstairs     
      because I was trying      

1629
01:18:38,980 --> 01:18:41,283
        to hide from them       
     for quite a long time.     

1630
01:18:41,349 --> 01:18:44,052
          I was just...         
         My sister's...         

1631
01:18:44,119 --> 01:18:46,254
      I was here by myself.     

1632
01:18:46,321 --> 01:18:49,324
           And I said:          
   "I need to take a shower."   

1633
01:18:49,391 --> 01:18:50,959
      And I ended up doing      
    like an hour and a half,    

1634
01:18:51,026 --> 01:18:52,527
    maybe a two-hour shower.    

1635
01:18:52,594 --> 01:18:54,362
  Because, like, Jesus, there's 
    a lot of people up there,   

1636
01:18:54,429 --> 01:18:55,797
 I don't even know who they are.

1637
01:18:55,864 --> 01:18:57,499
         But as soon as         
     I walked up the stairs     

1638
01:18:57,566 --> 01:18:59,401
and I saw everybody in the room,
     they all looked like me    

1639
01:18:59,468 --> 01:19:02,571
       and it was the most      
   magical moment of my life.   

1640
01:19:02,637 --> 01:19:07,042
              (♪♪♪)             

1641
01:19:11,446 --> 01:19:14,382
        - It is something       
    that has impacted my life   

1642
01:19:14,449 --> 01:19:16,351
   right from the start of it.  

1643
01:19:16,418 --> 01:19:18,186
         And it's still         
       impacting my life.       

1644
01:19:18,253 --> 01:19:19,955
  I struggle with my identity,  

1645
01:19:20,021 --> 01:19:21,656
   I struggle with my beliefs,  

1646
01:19:21,723 --> 01:19:25,660
   I struggle with, you know,   
 knowing if I'm teaching my kids

1647
01:19:25,727 --> 01:19:27,996
        the right things,       

1648
01:19:28,063 --> 01:19:29,397
       improving my merit.      

1649
01:19:29,464 --> 01:19:30,999
       I feel like I have       
         to walk around         

1650
01:19:31,066 --> 01:19:33,568
   with my treaty card pinned   
     to my shirt some days,     

1651
01:19:33,635 --> 01:19:35,737
   you know, convincing people  

1652
01:19:35,804 --> 01:19:38,707
          that I'm not          
     an outsider... "26101!"    

1653
01:19:38,774 --> 01:19:43,178
    But I'm happy when people   
  come back into the community  

1654
01:19:43,245 --> 01:19:44,780
   and they share their story.  

1655
01:19:44,846 --> 01:19:47,215
       You know, I just...      
 I feel that instant camaraderie

1656
01:19:47,282 --> 01:19:48,784
   and that kinship with them.  

1657
01:19:48,850 --> 01:19:53,088
     I know that they've had    
     a long journey as well.    

1658
01:19:55,390 --> 01:19:57,592
    I connected with an elder   
        in the community        

1659
01:19:57,659 --> 01:19:59,494
 and she gave me my Indian name,

1660
01:19:59,561 --> 01:20:01,229
 which was really special to me.

1661
01:20:01,296 --> 01:20:04,432
   She shared some information  
     with me about my clan.     

1662
01:20:04,499 --> 01:20:07,469
       And, you know what,      
      it is me, that is me.     

1663
01:20:07,536 --> 01:20:09,004
       I am an Eagle Clan.      

1664
01:20:09,070 --> 01:20:11,439
I am a Spotted Thunderbird woman
      and that's who I am.      

1665
01:20:11,506 --> 01:20:12,974
      And I'm here to help.     

1666
01:20:13,041 --> 01:20:15,811
       I'm here to do good      
   and I'm not going anywhere.  

1667
01:20:15,877 --> 01:20:17,946
         And, you know,         
    now that I found my home,   

1668
01:20:18,013 --> 01:20:19,748
  I'm staying and that's that!  

1669
01:20:19,815 --> 01:20:22,050
       It's like... Yeah.       

1670
01:20:22,117 --> 01:20:25,587
     - I feel cemented here,    
      you know, in Montreal     

1671
01:20:25,654 --> 01:20:27,989
         and my children        
      are here in Montreal,     

1672
01:20:28,056 --> 01:20:29,925
      and this is our home.     

1673
01:20:29,991 --> 01:20:33,395
 And I don't think there should 
  be any sort of, like, stigma  

1674
01:20:33,461 --> 01:20:37,165
     or one... like, it's...    

1675
01:20:37,232 --> 01:20:40,001
   Some people really do want   
     to go back to the land     

1676
01:20:40,068 --> 01:20:41,803
  and be with their communities 

1677
01:20:41,870 --> 01:20:44,606
          and help heal         
    those communities, right?   

1678
01:20:45,907 --> 01:20:48,677
        Being brought up        
     in Montreal, I feel...     

1679
01:20:48,743 --> 01:20:51,980
     Like, I mean, honestly,    
  we are in Westmount right now 

1680
01:20:52,047 --> 01:20:55,917
  and this is where the Mohawks 
 used to have their ceremonies. 

1681
01:20:55,984 --> 01:20:57,819
   So, there's a peacefulness   

1682
01:20:57,886 --> 01:20:59,855
       that I always felt       
       when I lived here.       

1683
01:20:59,921 --> 01:21:02,424
     Walking around here...     
  I used to do a lot of walking 

1684
01:21:02,490 --> 01:21:04,125
      because I didn't want     
         to be at home.         

1685
01:21:04,192 --> 01:21:05,827
     I did a lot of walking     
  and I always felt that peace. 

1686
01:21:05,894 --> 01:21:08,630
     And I didn't understand    
   what it was until I learnt   

1687
01:21:08,697 --> 01:21:12,033
  that the Mohawks used to have 
    their trails here, right?   

1688
01:21:12,100 --> 01:21:13,335
             (sigh)             

1689
01:21:13,401 --> 01:21:15,337
       You have to create       
     that home for yourself     

1690
01:21:15,403 --> 01:21:16,872
     where you are at peace.    

1691
01:21:16,938 --> 01:21:19,608
       And I think that's       
  the sort of thing about home: 

1692
01:21:19,674 --> 01:21:21,176
     is that it's a peaceful    
          place to be.          

1693
01:21:21,243 --> 01:21:22,978
  It's a place you want to be.  

1694
01:21:24,813 --> 01:21:27,916
          - Here we go!         
     Background and action!     

1695
01:21:31,720 --> 01:21:36,491
  - So, the scene is that I am  
     sitting at the campfire    

1696
01:21:36,558 --> 01:21:40,328
      with my adoptive mom      
    and with my birth family,   

1697
01:21:40,395 --> 01:21:43,198
      like my birth brother     

1698
01:21:43,265 --> 01:21:44,933
  and his wife and their kids,  

1699
01:21:45,000 --> 01:21:49,537
    and my aunt and my uncle    
         and my grandpa.        

1700
01:21:49,604 --> 01:21:54,142
  And my mom starts walking up  
        to the campfire.        

1701
01:21:54,209 --> 01:21:57,312
          And at first,         
  I don't realize it's my mom,  

1702
01:21:57,379 --> 01:22:00,248
   but just based on the look   
      on everybody's faces      

1703
01:22:00,315 --> 01:22:02,450
        and kind of like        
 the whispering that's going on 

1704
01:22:02,517 --> 01:22:03,952
       at the campfire...       

1705
01:22:04,019 --> 01:22:05,453
          And I get up          

1706
01:22:05,520 --> 01:22:06,821
        and I look at her       

1707
01:22:06,888 --> 01:22:09,357
       and it's just like       
    this instant connection.    

1708
01:22:09,424 --> 01:22:13,295
              (♪♪♪)             

1709
01:22:13,361 --> 01:22:18,233
     And for me personally,     
   I imagined it being like...  

1710
01:22:18,300 --> 01:22:23,238
    the person that you love    
  the most in this entire world 

1711
01:22:23,305 --> 01:22:24,706
      is walking up to you      
         after you kind         

1712
01:22:24,773 --> 01:22:26,241
       of already accepted      
       that they're gone.       

1713
01:22:26,308 --> 01:22:27,809
     So, it's kind of as if     
          they're dead          

1714
01:22:27,876 --> 01:22:29,244
   and they come back to life.  

1715
01:22:29,311 --> 01:22:33,481
       For me, that moment      
      is what it felt like.     

1716
01:22:33,548 --> 01:22:36,851
              (♪♪♪)             

1717
01:22:54,669 --> 01:22:57,038
   - Cut! Thank you very much.  

1718
01:22:59,274 --> 01:23:03,912
   (indistinct conversations)   

1719
01:23:03,979 --> 01:23:05,780
              - Congratulations.

1720
01:23:06,715 --> 01:23:08,450
                      Ah!       

1721
01:23:09,918 --> 01:23:14,255
     It's been so long that     
   the media, the television,   

1722
01:23:14,322 --> 01:23:16,958
       the movies, radio,       
         what have you,         

1723
01:23:17,025 --> 01:23:21,863
      it was happening to,      
    it came to us as passive,   

1724
01:23:21,930 --> 01:23:24,099
     as a passive audience.     

1725
01:23:24,165 --> 01:23:26,067
  And so now we're taking over, 

1726
01:23:26,134 --> 01:23:29,304
  we're being able to come into 
      these producer roles,     

1727
01:23:29,371 --> 01:23:32,707
     into the writers roles,    
          into actors.          

1728
01:23:32,774 --> 01:23:34,876
        And then you see        
     all these young people     

1729
01:23:34,943 --> 01:23:37,445
  taking on a trainee position  

1730
01:23:37,512 --> 01:23:40,749
     or they've already been    
  in the business for a while.  

1731
01:23:40,815 --> 01:23:45,053
    That makes my heart soar,   
            you know.           

1732
01:23:45,120 --> 01:23:48,456
         And, you know,         
    we have something to say.   

1733
01:23:48,523 --> 01:23:50,492
    We have stories to tell.    

1734
01:23:50,558 --> 01:23:52,427
 We've got teachings to pass on.

1735
01:23:54,095 --> 01:23:55,864
    - You know, our survival,   

1736
01:23:55,930 --> 01:23:59,000
  our recovery isn't an attempt 
       to revise history,       

1737
01:23:59,067 --> 01:24:02,404
     it's an attempt to live    
a good life in spite of history.

1738
01:24:02,470 --> 01:24:03,772
              Yeah.             

1739
01:24:03,838 --> 01:24:07,709
       - You know, I think      
    it is about coming home.    

1740
01:24:07,776 --> 01:24:11,212
      It's about welcoming      
      those who were taken.     

1741
01:24:11,279 --> 01:24:13,848
      It's about welcoming      
         what was lost.         

1742
01:24:13,915 --> 01:24:17,318
    And it's about, you know,   

1743
01:24:17,385 --> 01:24:19,421
 a deep relationship with home. 

1744
01:24:19,487 --> 01:24:23,324
   And home to me is the land.  

1745
01:24:23,391 --> 01:24:25,660
       It's the language,       
        it's our culture,       

1746
01:24:25,727 --> 01:24:27,896
  it's my grandmother's laugh.  

1747
01:24:27,962 --> 01:24:31,599
   And I think that the story   
 in and of itself is about that.

1748
01:24:31,666 --> 01:24:34,702
      It's about reclaiming     
  that relationship with home,  

1749
01:24:34,769 --> 01:24:36,805
    which is so many things.    

1750
01:24:36,871 --> 01:24:38,206
   Home is not just the land.   

1751
01:24:38,273 --> 01:24:41,109
   It's everything that we are  
          as a people.          

1752
01:24:41,876 --> 01:24:45,380
 - I think First Nations people 
    as a whole collectively,    

1753
01:24:45,447 --> 01:24:47,515
   we have to open a new page.  

1754
01:24:47,582 --> 01:24:52,587
         Sharing a story        
        is very critical.       

1755
01:24:52,654 --> 01:24:55,056
    I felt good today. I do.    

1756
01:24:55,123 --> 01:24:57,425
        I feel good that        
  because I'm going to use this 

1757
01:24:57,492 --> 01:24:59,494
     to be a better herald.     

1758
01:24:59,561 --> 01:25:01,796
       I don't hardly cry.      

1759
01:25:01,863 --> 01:25:03,765
   When I thought of my mom...  

1760
01:25:03,832 --> 01:25:05,567
           I love her.          

1761
01:25:05,633 --> 01:25:08,303
 She'd be proud of my daughters.

1762
01:25:08,369 --> 01:25:09,971
      She'd be proud of me.     

1763
01:25:10,038 --> 01:25:12,173
         She'd be proud         
       of my grandchildren      

1764
01:25:12,240 --> 01:25:13,641
 if she was sitting right here. 

1765
01:25:13,708 --> 01:25:16,111
    She's spiritually sitting   
      right here beside me,     

1766
01:25:16,177 --> 01:25:17,879
          I know that.          

1767
01:25:18,780 --> 01:25:20,415
       So, when the tears       
      came out of my eyes,      

1768
01:25:20,482 --> 01:25:22,617
 I knew this is the place to be.

1769
01:25:22,684 --> 01:25:24,652
     Because you're pushing     
         something out.         

1770
01:25:24,719 --> 01:25:27,288
    You're pushing something    
        out of your body,       

1771
01:25:27,355 --> 01:25:29,124
      that negative energy.     

1772
01:25:29,190 --> 01:25:34,229
       And if our people,       
  the oyate of this community,  

1773
01:25:34,295 --> 01:25:39,467
 shared their story from here...

1774
01:25:40,702 --> 01:25:44,472
 boy, we would all learn to sit 
together and smile, shake hands.

1775
01:25:44,539 --> 01:25:49,043
              (♪♪♪)             

1776
01:26:18,139 --> 01:26:23,311
              (♪♪♪)