FINDING OUR WAY
A film by Giovanni Attili and Leonie Sandercock
This is a story of a people dispossessed, deep historic wounds, and still unresolved conflict between Indigenous people, governments in Canada and industry. It’s a story of the struggles of two First Nations in the Carrier territory of north central British Columbia (Canada) for land and sovereignty, for healing and revitalization.
The Ts’il Kaz Koh First Nation (Burns Lake Band) have been in conflict with the Village of Burns Lake over appropriated lands for almost a hundred years, a conflict that culminated in the municipality shutting off water and sewerage services to their Reservation in the year 2000, and the Band taking the Village to the Supreme Court of BC. The Cheslatta Carrier Nation were evicted from their homeland in 1952 by Alcan’s hydroelectric project, and are still struggling to keep their heads above water.
This is 21st century Canada, and this is a story with a question mark. After almost a century of apartheid in this region, the film asks: Is there a way forward?