Sâkowêw is a young woman in a remote community who just wants to welcome her new baby safely into the world. She trusts Auntie Mary to honour her family’s traditions.
When something goes wrong, she’s snatched from warmth and safety, and spirited away to a disorienting place she never wanted to go.
Told from her perspective, Sâkowêw’s story of giving birth lays bare the anti-Indigenous racism entrenched in health systems across Canada. Through intimate conversations with family and harrowing experiences at the local health centre, the film plunges audiences headlong into the deep impacts of colonialism, poor communication, and personal bias that Indigenous communities face.
"Watchers of the Land” tells the story of the Ni Hat'ni Dene Guardians as they venture out on their boats and teach each other how to live off the land – the Łutsël K'é Dene way. Throughout the week, youth and elders journey across Tu Nedhé lake with the Ni Hat'ni Dene Guardians to monitor and protect the home that their community relies on - a home that is now being opened up as a new national park reserve. A 50-year process in the making, this reserve in the Northwest Territories of Canada is one of the first places of its kind: a national park that founded and co-governed by the Indigenous community.
A group of Indigenous Handgames players based in the Yukon travelled to four separate communities in the Delta region of the Northwest Territories (Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic) teaching Handgames to citizens. In addition to the history & culture being taught, selflessness and humility were major lessons in this ancient game. In the end, each community submitted a team to a Delta-wide tournament in Inuvik.