Riding the Great Whale

Made in collaboration with the Inuit Tungavingat Nunamini, this film focuses on those dissident members of the Inuit community who rejected the agreement signed on November 11, l975, between the Northern Quebec Inuit Association, the Québec and federal governments, the James Bay Energy Corporation, the James Bay Development Corporation, Hydro-Québec and the Grand Council of the Crees, which took away Native rights to a territory of almost one million square kilometres. By their words and actions, the dissident Inuit of Povungnituk, Ivujivik and Sugluk express their strong desire to retain their land and their traditions. The filmmakers go into their homes, on the ice and the sea to record first-hand the lives of these northern people.

François Paulette has devoted more than 25 years of his life to resolving a battle that is more than a century old. Senior negotiator for the Smith's Landing First Nation, Paulette is determined to see the Canadian government honour promises made to the Thebatthi (Chipewyan) people in an 1899 treaty. Shot in northern Alberta and Ottawa, Honour of the Crown is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the turbulent final years of this fight. Plunged into seemingly endless negotiations, Paulette and his brother, Chief Jerry Paulette, struggle to reclaim nine tracts of land and $33 million in compensation. Featuring interviews with tribal, provincial and federal government representatives, this documentary provides a rare glimpse into one community's success in settling a one-hundred-year-old treaty obligation of the Crown.

Nain is a remote Inuit community on the coast of Labrador that has existed peacefully for two hundred years. Now, one of the worlds largest deposits of nickel and copper has been discovered 50 kilometres away, at Voisey Bay. As commercial interests prepare to exploit the regions natural resources, Nain finds itself standing in the eye of a storm. The promise of sudden wealth and jobs for all is clouded by the spectre of environmental damage, the unsettled question of Aboriginal land claims, and the influx of hundreds of newcomers which will, inevitably, bring with it a new set of social problems. These issues have already created divisions among the people of the town. Some are eager to benefit from the coming economic boom, while others see the changes as threatening a way of life which has been successful for generations. A storm of social, political and economic forces is about to be unleashed on the residents of Nain. It will change their lives forever.