nîpawistamâsowin documentary film a ‘must see’ by all Canadians

Indigenous filmmaker Tasha Hubbard directed, produced and wrote the documentary film nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, which will be screened on CBC Docs POV and CBC Gem Feb. 23 at 9 p.m. ET. – Photo by George Hupka

By Rick Garrick

EDMONTON — Indigenous filmmaker Tasha Hubbard is looking forward to the screening of her documentary film nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up on CBC Docs POV and CBC Gem Feb. 23 at 9 p.m. ET.

“Sometimes with films, not everyone is able to get to the theatre and it is a bit of a wait until the films are available online so it’s great to have the film on a national network that people can see,” says Hubbard, director, producer and writer of nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, associate professor at the University of Alberta and Peepeekisis First Nation citizen in Saskatchewan. “One of the most gratifying comments we receive from juries and reviewers is that this is a film that should be seen by all Canadians. The story of injustice in the Canadian legal system is on-going, but I hope that opening up this particular story beyond the headlines will bring understanding and inspire action.”

Hubbard raises the issue of Colten Boushie’s death from a gunshot to the back of his head after entering a farmer’s property in Saskatchewan in the film, which is a co-production between Downstream Documentary Productions and the National Film Board of Canada. A trailer for the film is posted online.

Colten Boushie’s family, who are featured in Indigenous filmmaker Tasha Hubbard’s documentary film nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, stand with their legal counsel in a Parliamentary press conference. – Photo by George Hupka

“We followed Colten’s family right from the beginning as they started to go through the legal process as victims and quickly we saw that they weren’t being treated that way,” Hubbard says. “They were being treated as though they had done something wrong and Colten had done something wrong.”

Hubbard says she also weaves in the history of the area, the long history of colonial violence on the prairies and the story of her own family in the film.

“It’s a challenging film I think to watch, but we worked really hard to make it something that people can get some understanding over why things are the way they are,” Hubbard says. “And also exposing what can never be forgotten is mere days after they lost their loved one there were elected officials in Saskatchewan saying on their social media that [the farmer who killed Colten] was a hero and people were saying things like, ‘He shouldn’t have left witnesses, that was his only mistake’. So I think those things have to be talked about, and sometimes it is painful but it is necessary and audiences have been open to that.”

The film has been recognized with many awards, including two awards, the Audience Choice Award – Feature Film and the Sun Jury Award, from the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival; the Discovery Award from the Directors Guild of Canada; and the Best Canadian Feature Documentary Award from the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

“It was a hard film,” Hubbard says. “It’s tough for our people to go into these situations and they are being told by all involved: ‘Just trust the system.’ And very quickly that became apparent that they could not so it is difficult to witness that. They just wanted to see that there be consequences for this loss of life.”

Hubbard says Colten’s family wanted his story to be told.

“They wanted to have that opportunity to share the kind of person Colten was,” Hubbard says. “I also learned a lot from them in seeing how they continued to push for better for themselves but in effect better for all Indigenous people. They were aware really early on that Colten’s death had affected many and they took steps to try and support people.”