Working away on various things....

First on the plate, the video script for the 5 minute trailer, so I can send it off to be voiced. How to make it heart-rending and hopeful, shocking and somehow heartening? A shock to your cozy world view and a call to action. In 5 minutes....

Also working on funding applications. How many ways can I describe the artistic vision, artistic intent, topic summary and narrative synopsis before I go crazy? Or is it already too late?

Myself & Angela (the director) at "H House" the homeless shelter in Attawapiskat.

FUNdraiser!!

We are rapidly firming up the artists and speakers for this dinner/ dance/ art auction.

Shaun Hedican and Mark Seabrook are donating original paintings!
Cindy Blackstock will be speaking!
Mo Sayk will be playing jazz during the cocktail hour (6-7pm)

Trust me, you don't want to miss this. Especially since it's for a good cause!

Fundraising!

Museum of Civilization - Grand Hall

Dinner/Dance/Auction

February 13th, 2010

Cocktails: 6 pm to 7 pm
Dinner: 7pm to 9pm
Dance: 9pm to 1am

A silent auction for beautiful pieces of native art will take place throughout the evening.


Please join Sagesse Productions for a dinner and dance fundraising event for their feature documentary “Voices of the People”. This Valentine's Day give your heart something powerful…. Hope.


“Voices of the People” will expose the tragic poverty our first people live with, conditions our government have allowed to exist for far too long. Set on the Attawapiskat First Nation community, this documentary follows this Native reservation, its current third world conditions, and the heroes of the community fighting to create awareness and change.


Being such a young country drives us, as a people, to define ourselves; as a culture of compassion, a culture of promise, and a culture of equality. And yet, many of our First Nations people live in third world conditions of poverty and hopelessness. This documentary will give that fact a face.



It is time for hope, it is time to build, it is time to care for all of the people of Canada.


Tickets are $125 per person, available at http://voicesofthepeople.eventsbot.com/
Donations also accepted for the documentary and the donations drive for the reserve.

*
Canada Without Poverty supports this initiative.

Attawapiskat visit: Day 3

I forgot this for Day 2:

We spoke with deputy chief Theresa Spence. She’s fairly new to Attawapisket, being an ‘off reserve’ native/ she spent 5 years in a residential school, losing her language, her culture and her identity & hope. She was very political at first, discussing the crises openly, but not giving any clue as to whom she feels is at fault. After I pretended to turn off the camera, she was far more open.
Theresa and her kids live at the homeless shelter. Although her house was unaffected by the sewage back-up and the diesel fuel contamination, she willingly gave it up to a young family with 6 kids. She sees it simply as the right thing to do; there was no sense in 3-4 people living in a house and 8 going to a 10x20 room in the shelter. Would our politicians have done the same? And would they have been as unassuming and self-deprecating about it?

Day 3:

First thing in the morning we spoke to Alex Kataquapit, with Rosie translating. He’d done his hair for the camera, and was very self conscious. Rosie sat beside him, disrupting the line of his eyes to the camera, but I decided to let her stay there since it made him more comfortable.
Alex talked about how the community is lost”, leading to abuse, alcoholism and suicide attempts. He didn’t really want to answer questions; he had a message to tell.

After that we spoke to Jackie Hookimaw-Witt, who worked for the health dept up there. Her husband teaches at the school, so they get the best housing available, usually reserved for outsiders coming up to teach. Here, it would be considered a low-end townhouse, up there, it’s a jewel. She had a great deal to tell us, and the papers to back it up. What a fabulous resource. She also made us waffles with local cranberries and blueberries the size of a nickel!

We returned to the homeless shelter to help Rosie distribute the donations that came in yesterday, and to film a bit more. I was very conscious of our 3pm deadline to catch our plane!

I took off my coat & hat so it wouldn’t get in the way as we filmed the sorting & choosing of the donated clothes. I’d brought up a box of Ty beanie babies, and I handed a few out to the kids as I waited for things to get started. I was saddened by how serious the kids were all the time. Even the smallest child seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders.
I’ve heard that small children are very in tune with their mother’s emotions. They can tell if things aren’t right with her, and they take her uneasiness onto themselves. Well, I believe it now.

Rosie had told us how much it hurt being homeless, how insecure you felt, and scared all the time. These kids were showing the same emotions, adding mistrust and doubt of any stranger’s motives. It was sad to see a 2 year old not trusting me enough to take a teddy bear out of my hand. And not smiling even after her dad took it from me and gave it to her. She just kind of…. studied it. And kids normally love me. Even strangers sitting next to me at a Timmies notice their babies love me. But not here. Here they doubted.

One of the residents asked to be interviewed, as she had a story to tell. We went to her room to tape her. The story was depressing, and apparently all too common here. She, 3-4 kids and her elderly mother, crammed into a 16X10 room, at least until last week. Last week her mother, who had been on intravenous feeding after a major stroke (still in the shelter!) had a second major stroke and was finally medivacced out to Kingston. But no family member was allowed to go with her. Partially paralyzed, unable to speak, and suffering memory loss from the two strokes, this grandmother is alone in a strange city’s hospital. She may die there. But there is apparently no money to send one of her kids to be with her, or to oversee her treatment.

By now it was after 2pm, we had to hurry to get to the airport. But my coat was gone! OMG, did someone think my coat, hat & gloves were a donation? How was I going to get home with no coat!! Angela & I panicked. Rosie was very calm, a tower of common sense.
“Why did she just leave them here? What was she thinking?” I wasn’t, I hate to admit.
But, everything was found, and we made it to the plane on time, barely. I was in such a rush to get checked in, I forgot my cane in Rosie’s truck. I don’t know how, my back was killing me.

I was torn about leaving. I couldn’t wait to get to the hotel in Timmins for a hot shower, some real food and a large glass of wine. But I hated to leave; the people were so warm and welcoming. Even with nothing they were so giving.

We’d done so little to help, not even giving them hope. Most people flat out did not believe that we would ever return. They didn’t believe that the doc would be made. Or that their call for help would be heard. We were warned that “people” would try to stop us from making the doc, because other reporters had come and gone, but the message was never passed on.

I burn to prove them wrong. To show that the millions in federal funding given to Indian & Northern Affairs never reaches these people. It’s spent on big offices in several cities, and office staff, and make-work projects that have little or no impact. To show that in a country named one the best places to live in the world, we will not accept these conditions for our citizens. Much less for our first peoples!

Expect a PSA (30 seconds) and a mini-documentary teaser (5 minutes) soon. I have the footage, I have the computer… I will do this.

photos

The tent we stayed in for 3 days.



The fire station has been condemned for years, but is still in use.



The grade 8 portable, from here it looks ok. But wait until you see the closeups!



Me! Inside the tent house, note the tarp for a roof. Very hard to heat.



Alex Kataquapit showing us how to use the woodstove.



The shadow of our plane running ahead of us as we leave.

Attawapisket visit: day 2

Day 2:

We didn’t sleep well. Between the yelling, the barking dogs, the skidoos, and Rosie’s whole family being terrified for our safety, my subconscious stayed on watch all night. They emphasized time after time that were not to open the door to anyone, they even gave us a 2X3 to bar the door. They may have been joking, but my subconscious didn't know that.

About 3am, howling dogs and/or wolves woke us,, and Angela got up to remake the fire. She was scared to step out of the tent into the covered area to pee.

We taped a bit of video-blog about our experiences so far. The tarp roof makes the light too blue for the camera to compensate. The overall effect was kind of “Blair witch project, the documentary”. But hopefully we can correct the colour in post.
Not sure when we'll post it, we still have to tape days 2 & 3.

Today we’re hoping to get Rosie, Greg Shisheesh and Jackie Hookimaw-Witt on tape. Greg works for the IBA office (Impact Benefit Agreement) and Jackie works for the nurse’s station. They should be very helpful.

There was just a fistfight at the neighbour’s. We could see it through one of the windows in the tent (a hole cut into the tent, with clear plastic sheets stapled to the tarp). The argument was in Cree, so we don’t know what it was about, but it ended in both guys going into the house arm in arm. That’s the second fight they’ve had today. We’re keeping the door barred. A lot of people know we’re here, with camera gear & computers.


It’s noon, no sign of Rosie yet, though her dad did drop by to check on us. Apparently her sister in NC called to make him come out. It’s decidedly unnerving that they’re all so worried.

I’m thinking that with how excited the kids were, it might be a good idea to do a 3 week “how to make films” workshop with each grade, then each grade makes a short film on their lives. We could even do a doc on the making of the films, and show them all together.

Day 2: night
Rosie came by around 330, after dropping her husband off for the night shift. She had a couple errands to run for her dad, so we went with her. We filmed a truck on the ice road, which is still under construction and not yet open. We filmed a shot of the church and the old graveyard, white crosses tilted in the frost heaved ground.

We visited the homeless shelter (H House, Rosie called it because it's shaped like an H) which was donated and set up by Debeers. It looks like a line of industrial storage lockers. Stainless steel door frames, white metal walls, white tile floors, names on every door.

The rooms are 10X10, no exceptions; each is stuffed full with everything rescued from the flooded homes. If the family is large enough, the wall between 2 rooms is knocked out, leaving one large room, where the whole family sleeps.

60 people live here, with communal bathrooms, showers, laundry and a communal kitchen. There is 1 washing machine, no dryer. 6 showers are shared by all the people living there. 2 cooks feed everyone in shifts, one doing breakfast & lunch, the other doing early & late suppers. Some people who stay or work there are on night schedules and eat late.

Today was Ginette’s birthday (one of the kids), and the kids at the shelter were celebrating with a turkey dinner and cake. The sparse birthday decorations were painful in the frigid white expanse of the trailer sized kitchen. Like they were trying so hard to be festive and failing so badly, that it hurt to look at them. There were no presents.

The turkey dinner was thin, no gravy, slices of canned cranberry jelly, boxed stuffing, no butter for the potatoes.

The kids were excited. And one loved the camera. At 4 or 5 years old, he managed to figure out how to turn it on, check the battery level & turn on the night shot function within minutes.

We weren't able to find Greg, not at the shelter, not at his residence. Hoping for better luck tomorrow.

We have appointments to talk with Jackie @ 9am, and Chief Hall @ noon tomorrow. A resident at the homeless shelter also wants to be interviewed.
After we get back to the tent, Alex has stoked the stove and the place is warm. He tells Rosie that he, too, wants to be taped. This poses a couple of problems, mostly that he speaks almost no English. His understanding of the words: skidoo, phone, bingo andtea won't be terribly useful. The interview will be in Cree, with Rosie translating.

Attawapiskat visit: day 1

Attawapiskat: Day 1

We arrived @ Attawapiskat airport around 2pm. Peacekeepers (not related to Customs or Nishnabe Aski Police) checked every bag including purses for alcohol & drugs.
Rosie Kootstachin met us @ the airport in a weathered blue truck. The gearshift had been broken, and wouldn’t shift out of park without 10 minutes cajoling.
She took us to her father (Alex Kootstachin) where we would be staying. They showed us the damaged rooms, as the house is still condemned, but they couldn’t remain in the tent over the winter and there was nowhere else for them to go. Elder Sophie Spence has also left her tent to return home, after the death of her husband.
We are staying in the tent!
If you ignore the 10” windows cut into the fake wood paneling, and the cheap tarp ceiling, it’s quite cozy. The plywood floor has a couple of 4X7’ sections of cut out wall-to-wall carpet, the mattresses are on the floor, but are clean and covered with colourful sheets.
The woodstove appears made from an old oil barrel, with the chimney going out a hole in the tent side. The wall is fireproofed with a sheet of re-used tin behind the stove. The tent is either too hot or too cold. The lack of insulation makes it impossible to maintain a comfortable temp.
We are both hoping that we’re sleepy by 6pm because of the travel and the heat of the tent, rather than carbon monoxide.
Then Rosie drove us around the reserve as she ran a few errands. We saw the portables the elementary/ middle school are in (10 years old). We drove past the preschool and the high school. We saw the abandoned houses, the empty lot where the diesel fuel spill forced the closing and eventual demolition of the elementary/ middle school.
We visited the grade 8 portable, and spoke to the teacher and several of the students. The bright drawings and enthusiasm of the kids disguised the poverty of the classroom. There was one computer, shared by about 20 students. The 2 halves of the portable were shifting creating a widening crack through the floor. The shifting also affected how the doors and windows worked, leaving the girls bathroom with a door that doesn’t latch. The girls go in pairs, one to hold the door shut. The teacher says that the under floor of the portable is covered with mould. The men who maintain the school refuse to go under there to fix things.
The students (incl Rosie’s daughter) are eager to show off their artwork and their studies. They’re eager to learn, but to what point? School here ends grade 12, further learning involves leaving their isolated reserve, where they’re related to almost everyone, and go to a university bigger than their whole reserve. Let's not even think about the size and traffic and pace of the 'southern' centres like Toronto or Ottawa.
Rosie was just here, telling us that a member of the reserve (45), working as a security guard at the homeless shelter, has been taken to hospital after a heart attack. He had been to the nurse’s station yesterday complaining of chest pains but was released. The nearest hospitals are in Timmins & Moosenee, and both require helicopter ambulances to get to. Many don’t survive the journey.

One woman had a heart attack and survived but later died when the nurse’s station waited 3 days to fly her to Timmins. 2000 ppl, 3-4 nurses, 0 doctors, 0 dentists.
At night we hear the yelling from a ‘sniffer’ (gas) next door. We’re warned to bar the door at night and let no-one in but Rosie and those she tells us to trust. So far, only her father, husband & brother have made the cut.
Rosie’s mom sent us some wool blankets and stuff. One is identical to the red wool fireman blankets Jim has. Another is a ‘friendship’ blanket; a blaze orange blanket as backing to a simple geometric quilt. She also gave Rosie a red wool toque she’s made; with instructions to make sure I wear it.

The NAP just called saying that someone from this number just called to report a disturbance. I told them to call back and we’d let Alec answer, but we heard no disturbance. They haven’t called back…..