Life on the Reserve

Life on the Reserve is a documentary about what life on a Canadian First Nation reserve is really like.

Director’s Bio: Why I made the Film

I was inspired to volunteer on a Canadian First Nation Reserve because I have volunteered abroad on several trips to developing countries and as much as I loved the experience, I felt that I could be doing the same thing in my home country. I felt that volunteering here in Canada is more important because we need to help those in our own backyard before we can go help others.

All that I knew about first nation people were that they were the first people on this land and that after being exploited by the European settlers, they faced numerous problems. As a city-kid, all I knew about their problems were what I saw on the TV, which was often very negative. I heard about the drugs, the highway blockades, the tax breaks and what I got from the media was First Nations were a lazy, negative, accusatory group.

I think one of the lessons I learned very early was that the media often doesn’t go deep enough in reporting why the problems are there, they decide to pick and choose who they interview and they often pick the people on the extreme ends of the scale. I remember thinking that Kenya was going to be a place filled with people who were pessimistic about their future because they had no material possessions. I could not have been more wrong, they were incredibly optimistic, had a great sense of community and were the most generous people I’ve ever met.

So on I went to Gull Bay First Nation Reserve, two hours north of Thunder Bay and just like every other trip, I was surprised and amazed by the generosity of the strangers that I met there. There were so many people on the reserve who were working diligently to make their community a better place. Those are the people that the mass population never hears about, but are the true heroes of the community.

Description:

Life on the Reserve is a documentary that follows a few members of the Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek (Gull Bay First Nation) community as they take us through what their daily life consists of.

Life on the reserve was different from what I was expecting, although certain stereotypes were somewhat accurate, if any outsider had taken the chance to get to know the people living in this community, they would know that they are hard-working, humorous, down to earth people. This community also has quite a bit of development happening, they have a new band office, they have a brand new health centre and they are currently building a hockey rink arena for the kids to play hockey in the winter.

Life on Gull Bay Reserve is difficult compared to living in a big city. They don’t have clean drinking water, so they have to get bottled water shipped to the community. The school is not big enough to have adequate space for the students and they don’t have a gymnasium. And despite being a small community of 400 on-reserve members, they have deep family conflicts that affect everyone’s daily life.

The aim of this documentary is to introduce you to what living on a reserve is really like. Although Gull Bay is only one reserve in this great country, it has similarities to them all. I hope this trailer intrigues you to check out the film once it comes out in Fall 2010 and my hope is that after watching this movie you will see First Nations in a different light and begin to understand their struggle.