Our People Will Be Healed
Alanis Obomsawin
Canada
84 minutes

 

Synopsis

Legendary documentary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin provides a glimpse of what action-driven decolonization looks like in Norway House, one of Manitoba's largest First Nations communities.

The film explores the Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre, an N-12 Frontier School Division school in Norway House, Manitoba where Cree students are taught about their own history and culture alongside the regular Manitoba school curriculum.

Obomsawin previously filmed at the school during the production of We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice to document the story of Jordan River Anderson, a Cree child whose death became the basis of Jordan's Principle, a federal government commitment to funding services for Indigenous children. Impressed by the school's success in helping to develop strong, healthy children, she decided to tell its story in a standalone film. The title, Our People Will Be Healed is a quote from someone interviewed in the film, and Obomsawin has said she sees a new optimism for Canadian Indigenous people.

About the Director

Alanis Obomsawin, OC GOQ is an American Canadian Abenaki filmmaker. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised primarily in Quebec, Canada, she has written and directed many National Film Board of Canada documentaries on First Nations issues.

Post Film Discussions:

Jan Shermanwill lead a post-film discussion. Jan is an Anishnabe mother, culture keeper, storyteller, drummer, and spiritual guide has spent the last 25 years of her life helping people remember ancestral earth teachings in relation to our personal spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical journeys on Mother Earth. Jan has gathered knowledge and wisdom from Grandmothers and Aunties from around the world which she shares to support individual inner peace that she believes will become community and global peace.