Film Review: Trick or
Treaty?
By: Christine Smith
(McFarlane)
Canadian Distributor-
National Film Board of Canada
Acclaimed Canadian documentarian
Alanis Obomsawin does another incredible job with her latest documentary “Trick
or Treaty,” which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this
year.
Although Obomsawin uses the
backdrop of numerous integral events such as the hunger strike of Chief Theresa
Spence of Attawapiskat First Nation and the rise of the Idle No More Movement,
and other youth oriented movements, she mostly digs into the history of Treaty
9- an agreement in 1905 where it is alleged that First Nations communities
relinquished their sovereignty over traditional territories.
According to the Indian and
Northern Affairs website, Treaty No. 9 was created in response to continuous
petitions from the Cree and Ojibwa people of northern Ontario, and in keeping
with its policy of paving the way for settlement and development, the federal
government in 1905-1906 negotiated Treaty 9, also known as the James Bay
Treaty. It is said that “For the first and only time, a provincial government
took an active role in negotiations.”[1]
and together with the area acquired by adhesions in 1929-1930, Treaty 9 covers
almost two-thirds of the area that became northern Ontario.
However Obomsawin, through
numerous interviews with legal, historical and cultural experts- as well as
those whose ancestors were present when the treaty was signed reveals the
deceptions and distortions in which the real agreement was subjected to by successive
Canadian governments. It becomes clear through the interviews that the printed
copy of the treaty is not the only valid version and that the First Nations who
signed the treaty, were not able to see the written treaty itself until decades
later. It was also written in a language they didn’t understand.
I thoroughly enjoyed
watching Obomsawin’s latest documentary because she is a force to be reckoned
with as far as film documentarians documenting the state sanctioned indignities
and injustices visited on First Nations peoples and their communities. She has
created numerous bodies of work that show a reality that is not often shown by
government and mainstream media.
Cast & Credits
Executive
Producer: Annette Clarke
Producer:
Alanis Obomsawin
Production
Company: National Film Board of Canada
Principal
Cast:
Screenplay:
Alanis Obomsawin
Source
Author:
Cinematographer:
René Sioui Labelle, Philippe Amiguet, Michael Darby
Animator:
Editor:
Alison Burns
Sound:
Glenn Hodgins, Donald Ayer
Music:
Alain Auger
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