June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada. To mark the moment, B.C.-based public broadcaster Knowledge Network has curated a selection of 12 films and original series highlighting the richness and diversity of Indigenous experiences, histories and calls for justice. Eight of the projects feature stories about Indigenous communities across B.C.
“There are so many exceptional Indigenous filmmakers in Canada and so many stories still to be told,” said Knowledge Network president and CEO Michelle van Beusekom of the collection.
Van Beusekom says National Indigenous History Month is an opportunity to lean in and explore the experiences of Indigenous Peoples in B.C. and Canada through an ever-growing range of expertly crafted films, curated for curious minds.
The Knowledge Network collection spotlights important stories of cultural preservation while exploring Indigenous histories as living, breathing realities rather than static, monolithic narratives of the past.
Here are four standout films from the collection that feature inspiring stories of belonging, heritage and the power of communities standing together.
WATCH: The trailer for From the Land , a Knowledge Originals film on three Indigenous women in BC leading cultural revitalization efforts.
Trailer via Knowledge Network .
In ‘From the Land,’ love and tenderness
From the Land is a Knowledge Originals film that follows three Indigenous women across B.C. in their journeys to preserve intergenerational cultural traditions.
Renowned Cowichan knitter and knowledge holder Swutstisiye’ guides her grandchildren through working with wool — a tradition passed on to her by her own father. It’s a loving, joyful and tender process.
“The most important thing is [that] my great-grandbabies need to know [how] to work with wool,” she explains.
Swutstisiye’ prays that her kin will continue the tradition along, remember these rich traditions and move forward in their lives with a good heart.
The film also follows the journeys of Keisha Charnley, a registered midwife with a reverence for holistic birthing care rooted in Indigenous values, and Witchita Paull, who embarked on a journey of self-discovery after building a passion for basket weaving.
Treaty Road follows Erin Goodpipe and Saxon de Cocq, two friends who embark on a personal journey to uncover the truth about the signing of Canada’s numbered treaties and their lasting impact.
Photo courtesy of Animiki See Distribution.
In ‘Treaty Road,’ an investigation of self
Treaty Road is a six-part series exploring the signing of Canada’s numbered treaties .
Métis writer and host Saxon de Cocq discovers that his ancestor James McKay was a commissioner on the first six numbered treaties to be signed between Crown expansionists and First Nations across Turtle Island.
Joining forces with multidisciplinary artist, educator and researcher Erin Goodpipe, de Cocq sets off to uncover the truth about how these treaties were brokered in the first place.
WATCH: The trailer for the six-part series Treaty Road .
Trailer via Knowledge Network .
The show challenges the narrative that through these treaties, First Nations peoples willingly surrendered their land. While the current Canadian legal system is built upon this assumption, Treaty Road reveals the predatory and evasive tactics used by settlers. It traces the limits of the English language in translating the concept of land surrender to Indigenous communities, and how Indigenous people reckoned with the disruption and violence of settlers upon their ways of relating to one another and the land.
“It’s a privilege for those who benefit and don’t have to learn what [treaties] are,” Goodpipe says to Cocq in the first episode of the series.
Cocq and Goodpipe meet with Elders, knowledge keepers, oral historians, Indigenous rights advocates and more to gain a deeper understanding of the relational dynamics within Indigenous communities. Through this, they learn of their relationships with settlers that led to the violent mass land surrender the treaties authorized.
On the Swan Lake First Nation reserve, Elder Wayne Scott shares how, in order to understand the treaty, he had to be curious about his ancestors at the time, their worldviews and what conditions drove them.
In this way, an investigation of treaties becomes an investigation of selfhood, community and cultural values.
“I needed to understand my people, my ancestors who were at the negotiations,” Scott said.
“These people were living off the land... land meaning their very livelihood, their very source of life.”
In So Surreal: Behind the Masks , the musical group Pamyua dances in Alaska in masks carved by Yup’ik artist Drew Michael.
Photo courtesy of Rezolution Pictures/CBC International Sales.
In ‘So Surreal,’ a surprising journey
In another offering from the collection, Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond embarks on a journey of historical exploration as he connects the surprising journey of Yup’ik and K…
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