Not Just Another Day Off: Orange Shirt Day and the Legacy of Indian Residential Schools: To Watch

Available through the NFB. A musical documentary by Marie Clements, connects a pivotal moment in Canada’s civil rights history—the beginnings of Indian Nationalism in the 1930s—with the powerful momentum of First Nations activism today. The Road Forward’s stunningly shot musical sequences, performed by an ensemble of some of Canada’s finest vocalists and musicians, seamlessly connect past and present with soaring vocals, blues, rock, and traditional beats. A rousing tribute to the fighters for First Nations rights, a soul-resounding historical experience, and a visceral call to action.

The biography of Garnet Angeconeb, as told in short videos, totaling roughly 21 minutes in length.

With his brand of hard-hitting comedy, Ryan speaks with well respected Indigenous and settler lawyers, historians, researchers and policy makers who provide history, context and solutions for colonization roads and their impact.

Video available in the library
E96.5 .F35 2007

They do not sell films, but are able to lend DVDs through their lending library program to educators.

A new generation of Inuit, armed with social media and their own sense of humour and justice, challenge anti-sealing groups. They are pushing for a sustainable way to take part in the global economy, but in opposition stands an army of well-funded activists and well-meaning celebrities. Filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and her cameras travel through the Canadian Arctic, giving voice to the people the animal activists rarely bother to meet: the hunters, the craftspeople, the families for whom the seal hunt is a critical part of their livelihood and survival.

Three sisters and a brother, adopted as infants into separate families, meet together for the first time in this deeply moving documentary. Removed from their young Dene mother’s care as part of Canada’s infamous Sixties Scoop, Betty Ann, Esther, Rosalie and Ben were four of the 20,000 Indigenous children taken from their families between 1955 and 1985, to be either adopted into white families or to live in foster care. Now all in middle age, each has grown up in different circumstances, with different family cultures, different values and no shared memories. Birth of a Family follows them through pain, trepidation and laughter as they work together to build their family.

Centring on three generations of Canadian Aboriginal women, Peter Stebbings' Empire of Dirt is a gripping story about confronting the past, set within a family burdened by cycles of addiction, poverty, and teenage pregnancy.

In light of the renewed focus on Indian Residential Schools, the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology and the Kule Institute for Advanced Study have partnered to develop a Rapid Research Response 4 part web-series to facilitate conversations by highlighting the voices of experts, community members, and faculty members across the University of Alberta.