Racism Against Aboriginal People

Film & Video

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. 

National Film Board of Canada, 1993

From the NFB website: "On a July day in 1990, a confrontation propelled Native issues in Kanehsatake and the village of Oka, Quebec, into the international spotlight. Director Alanis Obomsawin spent 78 nerve-wracking days and nights filming the armed stand-off between the Mohawks, the Quebec police and the Canadian army. This powerful documentary takes you right into the action of an age-old Aboriginal struggle. The result is a portrait of the people behind the barricades." (119 min)

Directed by:Alanis Obomsawin

Scenes of violence, view discretion is advised.

Rocks At Whiskey Trench (Film Clips)

National Film Board of Canada, 2000

From the NFB website: "On August 28, 1990, a convoy of 75 cars left the Mohawk community of Kahnawake and crossed Montreal's Mercier Bridge--straight into an angry mob that pelted the vehicles with rocks. The targets of this violence were Mohawk women, children and elders leaving Kahnawake, in fear of a possible advance by the Canadian army. In Rocks at Whiskey Trench, Mohawks remember the terror as windows shattered around them. A painstakingly researched social document, the film looks back at the events surrounding the August 28 attack, and delves into the history of Kahnawake and the consequences of the appropriation of land that have shrunk its territory by more than two-thirds over the last 300 years." (105 min 18s)

Directed by:Alanis Obomsawin

For Angela

National Film Board of Canada, 1993

From the NFB website: "This short film portrays the experiences of Rhonda Gordon and her daughter, Angela, when a simple bus ride changes their lives in an unforeseeable way. When they are harassed by three boys, Rhonda finds the courage to take a unique and powerful stance against ignorance and prejudice. What ensues is a dramatic story of racism and empowerment." (21 min 20 s)

Directed by: Nancy Trites Botkin & Daniel Prouty