(Canada, 100 min.)
Written and directed by Alanis Obomsawin
Programme: TIFF Docs (World Premiere)
 |
| Photo taken from the production, courtesy of the NFB. |
The Northern Ontario Cree village of Attawapiskat became a
hot topic in the winter of 2012 with the grassroots campaign “Idle No More”,
which began as advocacy for water rights, but spiralled into a great campaign
for the rights of First Nations’ Canadians. Predating the controversial
campaign, however, was another significant cultural movement spearheaded by a
member of the Attawapiskat village. That brave girl was the late Shannen
Koostachin, who led a campaign for the rights of youth to a proper education.
Shannen was tragically killed in a car accident in 2010 at age 16, but her
courage to speak up inspired her community and lived on in the campaign
“Shannen’s Dream”, which continued to fight for the students of Attawapiskat to
receive the same standards of education provided in public schools across
Canada.
The fight of Shannen, Attawapiskat, and all First Nations
children is captured in fine detail in Alanis Obomsawin’s latest documentary, Hi-Ho Mistahey! The film marks another
notable entry in Obomsawin’s filmography of activist documentaries highlighting
the lives of First Nations Canadians. (The director is perhaps best known for
her powerful, and arguably best, film Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, which chronicles the Oka Crisis in Quebec, 1990.) Obomsawin
cuts directly to the heart of Shannen’s plight in Hi-Ho Mistahey! and takes her camera to
Attawapiskat and lets the members of the community, young and old, explain the
fundamental necessities to which the village lacks access.
The camera observes a village of poor material wealth—small,
modest houses line the streets, although it’s hard to tell if they’re lived in
or abandoned. The land on which the Attawapiskat schoolhouse sits is equally
barren: contaminated by a diesel spill thirty years prior, the school was torn
down in 2009 and replaced by portables. Facilities of all kinds are lacking,
and resources are tapped out by lawsuits and a high-turnover rate of teachers
who come to the North looking for escapism and a big paycheck, but can’t handle
the poverty.
In spite of the dire situation of Attawapiskat, Obomsawin’s
interviews with the children and some of the elders reveal an endurance of
spirit. This community clearly has the heart to persist and rebuild. The
children of Attawapiskat, symbols of a generation of children to parents lost
by the residential schools but offered promises of apology and rectification, can
aspire to opportunities that their parents could not realize. It’s a
difficult situation to handle, but the sobriety of Hi-Ho Mistahey’s strong, perseverant message is remarkable.
Hi-Ho Mistahey is
a fair and compelling look at the inequality that exists between First Nations
communities and other communities across Canada. The film makes a genuine and
emotionally compelling argument that the right to a proper education is a basic
human right that every child deserves. Obomsawin never exploits Shannen’s death
for an additional emotional pull, nor does the film’s focus on the pleas from
children ever tread into sentimentality. Occasional inserts of archival footage
paired with reminiscences by friends and family show Shannen to be a strong
speaker with a courageous spirit, but Obomsawin smartly lets the members of the
community who are continuing Shannen’s fight do most of the talking. The film
speaks to and from the heart. The poignant persuasiveness of Hi-Ho Mistahey is one of its strengths,
for the fight behind Shannen’s Dream seems like such a no-brainer when the
argument is delivered so clearly and passionately.
Alanis Obomsawin delivers another
strong and insightful portrait of First Nations Canadians and the social
inequalities faced by their communities due to negligence from the Canadian government. Hi-Ho
Mistahey is an appropriately activist reveal of an important story that
might not have received the attention it deserved. As one Québécois teacher
admits as she invites the students continuing “Shannen’s Dream” into her
classroom via Skype, “We’re learning about a side of Canada that has been
hidden from us.” The fight of the children of Attawapiskat, who take “Shannen’s
Dream” to the United Nations and eventually see a bill pass through Parliament,
are lobbying not only for the right to a fair education, but also for the continuation and the regeneration of their people’s identity following decades of
devastation and neglect. The fight is about preserving the culture while
enjoying the same resources offered to public schools in other parts of Canada.
Hi-Ho Mistahey celebrates the endurance of culture, though, in all
that the children and people of Attawapiskat have seen. One particularly
memorable sequence sets a lengthy geese hunting expedition to some rousing
music. The scene depicts a tradition that continues a family history, something
that’s worth preserving in Attawapiskat and could be lost if the younger
generation migrates elsewhere in search of greater opportunity. The most
striking image of Hi-Ho Mistahey,
however, comes in its final moments as Obomsawin provides an animated sequence
that depicts a spirit, Shannen perhaps, dancing atop the fields of Attawapiskat
to the tune of a traditional chant. Hi-Ho
Mistahey thus ends with a celebration of the spirit that endures in the
village and of the history and legacy that will continue.
Hi Ho Mistahey is generally
optimistic as the film chronicles the successful lobby of Parliament and the
beginning of the construction of a new school in Attawapiskat. The portrayal of
the Canadian government is mostly favourable, but Hi-Ho Mistahey holds the government accountable to its promises by
noting that many schools in First Nations communities are in a state of
disrepair and that the ground has only just been broken, so there is still much
work to do. Hi-Ho Mistahey tells an
essential Canadian story.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
UPDATE: Hi-Ho Mistahey! screens in Ottawa at the Human Rights Film Festival on Friday, Oct. 25 at 7:00 pm at the Almuni Auditorium in the Jock Turcot University Centre at the University of Ottawa (85 University)
***Director Alanis Obomsawin will attend the screening and participate in a discussion following the film.***
Please visit the Canadian Film Institute's website for more details.
Hi-Ho Mistahey opens in Toronto at TIFF Bell Lightbox Nov. 1.
Alanis Obomsawin will be in attendamce Nov. 1 & 2.
