Photo courtesy of Sundance Film Festival
Filmmakers Julian Brave Noisecat and Emily Cassie confront audiences with questions about morality and justice, and explore the lives of the Williams Lake First Nation (Secwepemuk or Shuswap Nation) people from the boarding school system. He creates multi-layered films that invite us to witness the trauma that continues to be endured across generations. These included forced family separation, physical and sexual abuse, and destruction of indigenous culture and language. Drawing on his activist and journalistic backgrounds, as well as his NoiseCat’s own personal connection to the story and community, the filmmakers deftly weave together multiple elements to create this compelling, heartbreaking story. shaping the story.
Their powerful documentary, which shows an unparalleled humanity and compassion for the affected indigenous communities of North America, is based on pure and total empathy. At the same time, NoiseCat and Kassie recognize the resilience of survivors and their descendants and their determination to seek answers to long-buried secrets. After all, sugar cane reminds us to respect our own humanity and the humanity of others.
St. Joseph’s Mission Boarding School was one of 139 boarding schools for Indigenous children operating in Williams Lake, British Columbia. Like other boarding schools in Canada, St. Joseph’s removes Indigenous youth from their communities and assimilates them into Euro-Canadian culture by suppressing their traditional language, cultural practices, and identity. That’s what I was aiming for. Students endured poor living conditions, menial labor, and frequent abuse.
The school has left a tragic legacy, with many former students reporting physical, emotional and sexual abuse, including permanent separation from their families and devastating loss of culture. St. Joseph’s mission reflects the widespread residential school system that caused intergenerational trauma. Although it has only been closed for 30 years, the ruins of St. Joseph’s remain a haunting reminder of the divisive colonial policies that robbed youth of their childhood.
The abusive practices and cultural erasure at St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School reflected Canada’s broader residential school program, but Canada was not alone in operating such a system. In the United States, from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century, indigenous children were forcibly removed from reservations to government-run boarding schools.
Reflecting St. Joseph’s goal of assimilating Native American youth into a Eurocentric society, American Indian boarding schools such as the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania were designed to “kill the Indian in him and With the goal of “saving the man,” he imposed strict discipline and physical labor. Students were stripped of their culture, forbidden to speak their native language, frequently malnourished, and abused. According to the documentary, there were a total of 408 schools in the United States.
Partly because his father attended such a school directly, Noise Cat has an intimate view of the lingering collective harm caused by forced family separation and rampant physical and sexual abuse of children. I’m wearing a lens. The film clearly shows how reactions vary when violence targets an entire population, from urgent calls for justice to painful self-preservation through secrecy and denial. We see how Charlene Bellow uses her experiences at boarding school in her activism and Noisecat’s father seeks personal healing.
Yet, despite all the pain, sugar cane It works through humanity and empathy. NoisecCat and Kassie’s visual storytelling form conveys Williams Lake’s deep solidarity with his First Nation, which continues to bear the scars of a school designed to eradicate its culture. As the investigation into missing children progresses, this film serves as a witness that brings this sadness from the shadows into the light. Moving forward requires a complex balance between appropriate commemoration and protecting survivors from re-traumatization. By making room for conflicting views within the bands they influenced, the filmmakers model a delicate reconciliation centered around community.
NoiseCat and Kassie are a powerful testament to the resilience of communities that still seek reparations for the harm caused by residential schools, and Williams Lake First Nation, where these schools were designed to eradicate their presence. continues to exist despite the fact that It is hoped that with empathy and the determination of the people, a much-needed solution can be achieved quickly.