Our People Will Be Healed

The rights of First Nations children take centre stage in this monumental work, where generations of injustices endured by children living on reserves are exposed. Through passionate testimony and unwavering conviction, frontline childcare workers and experts, including Cindy Blackstock, take part in a decade-long court battle to ensure these children receive the same level of care as other Canadian children. Their case against Canada is a stark reminder of the disparities that persist in First Nations communities and the urgent need for justice to be served.

As one of the 11 Numbered Treaties with First Nations in Canada, Treaty No. 9 covers a vast swath of northern Ontario. Trick or Treaty? details how the interpretations of this agreement between First Nations and the Crown can be vastly divergent. To the Canadian government, this treaty represents a surrendering of Indigenous sovereignty, while the descendants of the Cree signatories contend its original purpose to share the land and its resources has not been upheld. As enlightening as it is entertaining, Trick or Treaty? succinctly and powerfully portrays one community's attempts to enforce their treaty rights and protect their lands, while also revealing the complexities of contemporary treaty agreements.

It took one little boy, Jordan River Anderson, and his determined family to ensure that thousands of First Nations children can today receive the same standard of health care as the rest of the Canadian population. In Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger, Alanis Obomsawin chronicles the long legal fight against a system that caused injustices and suffering that resulted in the establishment of Jordan's Principle, which ensures First Nations children get the services they need when they need them.