| SUMMARY OF THE EPISODES Episode 1: History of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation
This episode relates the historical facts of acculturation
by means of residential schools and then portrays the Aboriginal Healing Foundation as a
beneficiary of Government funding and initiator of groups formed in view of permitting
Aboriginal peoples to revive their culture. It then introduces us to several of the
Foundation’s projects that will be the subject of following episodes.
Episode 2: The Anishnabegs and the residential schools
The Algonquins-Anisnabegs of Abitibi bear witness to the
forced acculturation of the Autochthon nomads by the white man. Victims of yesterday who
are leaders in their community today, have built projects with regard to the family, one
of the cultural pillars most affected by the residential school drama. The film focuses on
the healing project having to do with learning how to become good parents and, in
addition, reveals the cultural shock resulting from the confrontation of differing
mentalities.
Episode 3: Philomène and her children
One family was torn apart by the separation of the mother
from her ten children. The loss of traditions and the weakening of family ties are the
plight of this family and of many other Canadian Autochthon families. Some children must
follow a therapy in order to find meaning in their lives, whereas the mother still hopes
to pass on to them her people’s traditional heritage.
Episode 4: The Middle Lake (Lac du milieu)
A group of Innu elders of Natashquan were separated from
their children when they were sent to residential schools. The residential school
“survivors” tell us about the severance from their families. Today, through
their healing project, the elders teach their grandchildren how to live in the woods, thus
helping them to become familiar with their ancestral way of life.
Episode 5: The Sharing Circle
One of the greatest Aboriginal traditions, the Circle
of Sharing, takes us to the core of spoken evidence when participants in a ceremony
relate both their joys and sorrows of living in White society. A couple of residential
school victims learn to love each other after several therapies. Today, they in turn offer
traditional therapies. The film’s scope reaches also to those who found advantages in
residential schooling.
Episode 6: The Soul of the Drum
The most senior member of La Romaine, a traditional drum
player, tells us of the blessed past when even missionaries spoke Innu. Because of his
efforts, and with the support of many, we discover that the real issue is one of
education, which was imposed in French in their own village. The last generation of
surviving, unilingual Innus pass on to us, by means of the drum, a great mythology
resonating in our ears even today.
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