A scene from the film Holy Angels.
Decolonizing Lens series features National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation film
Event to include panel on Residential Schools and the missing children and unmarked burial project
The upcoming Decolonizing Lens series at Winnipeg’s Cinematheque will screen four films on Residential Schools and the missing children and unmarked burial project.
One of the featured films is Remembering the Forgotten Children, created by Graham Constant from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR). The film focuses on the abandoned Residential School building that the Muscowekwan community is working to preserve and transform into a museum and archives, a site of public memory.
The community, with the aid of the NCTR and forensic archeologist, is in the process of locating and honouring all the unmarked graves of the children buried near the school. The film captures the emotional impact of the school and the unmarked graves on the community.
The film is just one step towards the NCTR’s daunting task of meeting the Calls to Action #71-76 – Missing Children and Burial Information. The NCTR will continue to collect information to identify, recover and honour the gravesites of children gone missing. As Sen. Murray Sinclair summarized the situation, “they just didn’t bother keeping track of children who died. I think that is unacceptable.”
Residential School buildings and the land that they once occupied are sometimes lost and forgotten; one school building, Birtle, was sold on Kijiji in 2012. Other communities have chosen to take the land once used for a Residential School and turn it into a place of healing from this horrendous past. For example, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation are taking the land where Brandon Residential School once stood and are turning it into a place of healing, called Healing Centre.
These films ensure the stories are told so that Canadians learn and understand what happened to our children.
The night will also feature a filmmakers panel that includes Constant; producer Susan Enberg and Residential School Survivor Edmund Metatawabin (In Jesus’ Name: Shattering the Silence of St. Anne’s Residential School); lead actor, Residential School Survivor and Elder Noel Starblanket (From Up North); and Raymond Frogner, NCTR’s Head of Archives.
The NCTR preserves all the TRC records, documents, photos, statements and objects. Any Survivors who wish to have their stories and records preserved please contact the NCTR.
The Decolonizing Lens
Film screenings and panel on Residential Schools and the missing children and unmarked burial project
Featured films: Remembering the Forgotten Children; In Jesus’ Name: Shattering the Silence of St. Anne’s Residential School; Holy Angels; From Up North
December 11, 7:00 p.m.
Cinematheque, 100 Arthur Street
Free to all