All language subtitles for The.Road.Forward.2017.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.GG - YTS.BZ]ENG

[♪♪♪]

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[♪♪♪]

[man sings]

[drumbeat]

[water runs]

♪ Ho cha

[drum beats with keystrokes]

♪ La cha e'ah ha

♪ Ho he low

♪ La cha e'ah ha

♪ Ho he low

♪ La cha e'ah ha

♪ Ho he low

♪ La cha e'ah ha

♪ Ho he low

♪ La cha e'ah ha

♪ Ho he low

♪ La cha e'ah ha

♪ Ho he low

♪ La cha e'ah ha

♪ Ho he low

♪ La cha e'ah ha

♪ Ho he low

♪ We yo'n Hey chey
ya na hey...Lo ♪

♪ We yo'n
Hey chey ya na hey...Lo ♪

♪ We yo'n Hey chey
ya na hey...Lo ♪

♪ We yo'n
Hey chey ya na hey...Lo ♪

♪ We yo'n Hey chey
ya na hey...Lo ♪

♪ We yo'n
Hey chey ya na hey...Lo ♪

♪ We yo'n Hey chey
ya na hey...Lo ♪

♪ We yo'n
Hey chey ya na hey...Lo ♪

♪ We yo'n Hey chey
ya na hey...Lo ♪

[♪♪♪]

♪ You've got a sky above you

♪ That calls you by name

♪ You've got an earth
below you ♪

♪ That understands your pain

♪ You're an Indian Man

♪ A Crazy Horse

♪ You're an Indian Man

♪ You're a Chief Dan George

♪ A red man's man

♪ Indian Man

♪ You've got your brothers
beside you ♪

♪ That have no shame

♪ You've got your ancestors
inside you ♪

♪ That are yours to claim

♪ You're an Indian Man

♪ A Crazy Horse

♪ You're an Indian Man

♪ You're a Chief Dan George

♪ A red man's man

♪ Indian Man

♪ You've got no sin
from the start ♪

♪ Spirits inside your bones
move through your heart ♪

♪ You've got no sin
from the start ♪

♪ Spirits inside your bones
move through your heart, yeah ♪

♪ You're an Indian Man

♪ A Crazy Horse

♪ You're an Indian Man

♪ You're a Chief Dan George

♪ You're an Indian Man

♪ A Crazy Horse

♪ You're an Indian Man

♪ You're a Chief Dan George

♪ Red man's man

♪ Indian Man

♪ Red man's man

♪ Indian Man

[drumbeats]

[typewriter writing]

♪ Ho cha

♪ Ho he lay

♪ Ho he low

I was looking

at the first edition
of The Native Voice.

I felt a little bit sad

because all the people
in the picture with me

are gone now,

and I'm the only one left,

and it just brings back
good memories

of involvement
with the Native Brotherhood.

["Onward, Christian Soldiers"
plays on an organ]

The Native Brotherhood
first begun in the 1930s,

but at that time,

it was illegal for
Aboriginal people to meet,

so the people
created the Native Brotherhood

to try to find a way
to get around that law

and to find a way
to fight the...

fight the issues,

and they did that by going under
the umbrella of the church,

and the anthem for
the Brotherhood at that time

was "Onward, Christian
Soldiers."

My name is Edwin Newman,
and I'm from Bella Bella.

I was the president of the
Native Brotherhood for 11 years.

I remember the first convention
I went to in Bella Bella,

many people from the Interior
couldn't speak English,

so a lot of the business
was done in Chinook,

the trade language.

Henry and I do a little Chinook
this morning.

I'm Henry Clifton
from Hartley Bay, fisherman.

One of the founders, I guess,

was my great grandfather,
Heber Clifton,

and two of my uncles
were president,

both named Robert Clifton.

My uncle Edward Nahanee

was the business agent
for the Native Brotherhood

for around 27 years.

[speaking in Skwxwu7mesh]

The name that I carry
is Latash-Maurice Nahanee.

I'm from the village of Eslahan.

I live in North Vancouver,
from the Squamish nation.

♪ Ho cha

[Edwin]:
The Native Brotherhood

was a very powerful organization
on the coast,

because it brought
the bands together

to work together.

There was that sense
of belonging,

that we were all
in the same cause,

we're all on the same page
working together.

Listening to the leaders speak
with such passion

about their rights,

because they were fighting,
really, for their families.

For some reason
in the province of BC,

the court system refused

to recognize Aboriginal rights
and title.

They wanted to sweep it aside
and ignore it,

but the Brotherhood
was really strong

in putting those rights forward
and being strong voices for us.

[Edwin]:
It battled for many things

for the Aboriginal people,

better education
and better health services,

better housing.

Very difficult at that time
for our native people

to get a good education,

like a residential school
could only go as far as grade 8.

[Henry]: They started
with the hunting, the fishing,

and trying to get a union
to help the fishermen.

The Brotherhood
created programs

like Indian Fishermen's
Assistance Program,

and they used that to help
Aboriginal people

buy boats and licences

so they could become
entrepreneurs in the fishery.

At that time, I guess
they were the only organization

that was trying to do
those things for Indian people.

We lost a lot of land,
our rights were pushed aside,

but it's the leadership
of the Brotherhood

that really...
really had to fight for us,

and they put their lives
on the line,

they put their reputations
on the line.

[Edwin]:
They got the government

to take the restrictions
off the potlatch.

We were able to practice
our customs again.

[Henry]: When it came time
to conventions,

or if there was a cause that
the old guys had to go and do,

the bosses, the women,

started up basket socials,
coffee cake-sandwich sales,

and had meetings
about what was going on,

what they had
to raise money for,

so this happened
in all the locals,

the Native Brotherhood locals.

We were the ones
that raised the funds

to keep the Native Brotherhood
going,

because they didn't have
any government funds.

We didn't want government funds,

because we wanted
to fight our own battle,

without any restrictions
put on us,

and that's the way it was
with our people, you know,

we didn't wait
for somebody to do something.

We made things happen.

That's what I remember
of the Native Brotherhood.

[♪♪♪]

♪ Oh hee lay

♪ Hey lo

[drumming]

[♪♪♪]

My name is William Lavallee.

My name is Richard Brown.

My name is Russell Wallace.

I come from the Lil'wat nation.

I grew up in America

from African-American
and Cherokee descendants.

I am from the Metis nation,
from St. Laurent, Manitoba.

My name is JJ Lavallee.

My name is Ronnie Dean Harris.

My ancestral names
are Kwala, Malohalech,

and my people come
from Yale, Coquitlam,

the Lil'wat/St'at'imc nations,
and also the Sto:lo region.

I am originally
from St. Ambroise, Manitoba,

a small Metis community
of about 300 people.

My name is Murray Porter.

My name is Corey Payette.

I'm Oji-Cree First Nations

from the Mattagami nation
in Northern Ontario.

I'm Mohawk, Turtle clan,

from the Six Nations
of the Grand River territory.

I am a singer-songwriter,
composer, guitar player.

I am a drummer.

I am a hip-hop artist.

A singer, a composer...

I'm a Metis fiddler.

I am a traditional singer
and a composer.

And what I do, sing the blues.

I write songs, I play the piano,

and I sing about
the struggle of our people.

[♪♪♪]

[woman sings]

[clock ticking]

[clock ticking]

[paper tearing]

[taking a deep breath]

[gasping]

[clock ticking]

[♪♪♪]

♪ This is how it goes

♪ 'Cause this is
how it's always been ♪

♪ Heels diggin'
inside the earth ♪

♪ One foot
in front of the other ♪

♪ Leaving a small hole
to plant a large dream ♪

♪ Leaving a small hole

♪ To plant a large dream

♪ One seed, one dream

♪ One dream, one step

♪ One step steppin'

♪ Leaving my blues behind

♪ One seed, one dream

♪ One dream, one step

♪ One step steppin'

♪ Leaving my blues behind

♪ The man's got a long back

♪ Crawled up there in my hose

♪ My mother said nobody knows

♪ This is how it goes

♪ So you have to stand up

♪ To put your foot down

♪ You've got to find
something somehow ♪

♪ You've got to hold on
to someone, some way ♪

♪ You've got
to get to something ♪

♪ Something you can keep

♪ One seed, one dream

♪ One dream, one step

♪ One step steppin'

♪ With my own mind

♪ One seed, one dream

♪ One dream, one step

♪ One step steppin'

♪ With my own mind

♪ This is how it goes

♪ 'Cause this is how
it's always been ♪

♪ Dig your heels
into the earth ♪

♪ One foot in front
of the other ♪

♪ Leaving a small hole
to plant a large dream ♪

♪ Leaving a small hole

♪ To plant a large dream

♪ A large dream

♪ A large hope

♪ A large dream

♪ Growin', growin'
right under your feet ♪

[woman singing]

[speaking in language]

My English name is Vera Newman.

I come from the 'Namgis,

and the Mamalilikala tribe,

and the Kwak'wala people,

from Alert Bay.

I always knew
about the Brotherhood

because my dad was a fisherman,
my grandparents, and my uncles,

they all fished
from Alert Bay area,

and we always heard about
the fight of the Brotherhood,

and it was quite natural
to be a part of it,

something that we were
very proud of,

to be part
of a Native Sisterhood.

The Native Sisterhood
was started way before my time.

My grandmother was part of it
back in the '40s.

I got involved in 1973

when a man called George Jeffrey
came to Alert Bay,

and we all got elected

to be part of the Native
Brotherhood branch of Alert Bay,

and I was elected
to be a president

of a Native Sisterhood
at the time,

and then we got involved.

We started to go
to Brotherhood conventions

and did fundraising
to support our fishermen.

My name is Karen Jeffrey.

I'm from the Ganhada tribe.

I'm Tsimshian,
from the North Coast.

My grandfather was one
of the original founding members

before the Native Brotherhood
was established.

Him and my grandmother
would travel together

to the various villages
to form the Native Brotherhood.

My grandmother
was alongside him.

You know, the women were

the backbone
of the Native Brotherhood

to help them establish and fight
for the native rights.

When I started working
for the Native Brotherhood,

my job
was to recruit membership,

to liaison
with all the various communities

up and down the coast.

I was 19. 19 years old.

At the time,
back in the mid-'70s,

vessels
were more family oriented,

so basically what I would do
is go to the docks

during fishing season

and talk with the fishermen
and the women, the families,

and get them to sign up
with the Native Brotherhood,

and people were willing
to support the cause

because we were a long way
from our struggles to be gone.

[Vera]: Our women were dedicated
to support our men.

The ladies in the...
way before my time,

got together to do
all kinds of fundraising events

to help out the struggle,

so when we came along,

we did
our own way of fundraising

through different events,
raffles and bingo and dances.

[Karen]: It wasn't like
a woman's movement,

do you know what I mean?

We didn't play that role.

No.

It was to make sure
that the families,

that we had adequate rights.

We learned things by visiting
different communities,

what worked there,

and what we could do
to make things better

in our village, for our people.

My name is Delhia Nahanee,
I'm from the Nisga'a nation.

We grew up in the canneries,

running back and forth
on the wharves

while our parents
were out fishing

or they were working
in the canneries.

I remember when I was 15

and my dad bought me
my first pair of rubber boots,

you know, and then he just
pointed me towards the office,

and said "Sign up.
You're going to go to work,"

and then my Auntie Norma Morgan
pulled out a fish,

and she showed me what to do.

She said,
"The most important thing

is to sign up
for the native union."

We had really good wages
and overtime hours,

and, unfortunately,
I had a bit of a mishap,

and I ended up in the hospital,

and the union paid for the days
that I was in the hospital.

Aboriginal people
worked together.

Everyone had a little part.

It's the common goal theory,
you know,

and that's just part of being
a union as Aboriginal people.

[Vera]: I guess the real special
thing for us

is the lifetime friendships
we made along the coast,

that we learned
to respect each other,

and learned to work together
for the betterment of all of us.

[Karen]: The Native Brotherhood
stood for unity,

and unity throughout the coast,

and we all stood together
proudly.

You would see our flags,
the Native Brotherhood flags,

flying high and proud

on the boats
throughout the BC coast.

♪ Ho cha

[speaking in Skwxwu7mesh]

My ancestral name
is Maykw Cha7em.

My English name
is Marissa Nahanee.

I come from the Squamish
and Nisga'a peoples,

and I am proud of who I am.

[speaking in Mohawk]

My name is Cheri Maracle.

I'm from Six Nations,
Ontario.

I'm Mohawk and Irish,

and I am an actor,

and I am a singer,

and I'm a songwriter.

My name is Shakti Hayes.

I'm from the Cree nation,

George Gordon band
in Saskatchewan.

My name is Michelle St. John.

I'm a musician, a vocalist,
an artist.

I am an actor, singer, writer.

I'm Wampanoag, African-American,
Jewish,

and I grew up in Toronto.

My name is Jennifer Kreisberg.

I'm Tuscarora
from North Carolina.

[speaking in language]

I'm a mother, singer,
composer, activist.

I've always been encouraged
to publicly speak,

to share culture,
to be a teacher.

My ancestral name is Shamantsut.

I come from the village
of Eslahan and Gitwinksilhkw.

I come from the Squamish
and Nisga'a nation.

I'm Tom Berger
from Vancouver.

I'm a lawyer.

In the early 1960s,

I worked with an older lawyer
named Tom Hurley,

and the law office
that Tom occupied

was also used by Maisie,
his wife,

to get out The Native Voice.

My name is Moira Movanna,
granddaughter of Maisie Hurley.

My grandmother started
The Native Voice in 1946,

and she worked with the members
of the Native Brotherhood.

The Toronto Star said it was

the most unusual paper
in North America,

what they did
and how they did it.

[Tom]: The Native Voice

was the voice
of the Native Brotherhood

and the native people
on the coast.

Mrs. Hurley actually produced
The Native Voice in her office.

I still remember her office

with these stacks
of The Native Voice,

and the place was crowded,

she had artifacts, portraits,

and she stomped around
with her cane

giving orders.

[Moira]:
What made her so passionate?

Well, her lineage,
her life experiences,

and who she was.

She was a rebel.

She broke wild horses
when she was a teenager.

[Tom]: She was entirely
devoted to the cause.

A remarkable woman.

[Henry]: When you talk
about The Native Voice

and how much it meant
to the people in the villages,

that there was no other
way of contact.

In the old days, there wasn't
a kind of communication system

that you have in place today,
like phones.

The only way we could know
what other people were doing

was with a newspaper.

It was really important
to know what...

what our struggles were,

and all up and down the coast,

and that was one vessel
that we used

to get the information across.

I know in Bella Bella,

we would all look forward

to the next edition
of The Native Voice

to find out what was going on.

It always felt good

when something good
was happening

for some of our people,

even if they didn't come
from our community.

It was quite a thrill
when we saw our pictures in it.

I come from
this tiny little village.

I think the only thing we had
was, like, radio,

and it was so exciting
to get The Native Voice.

I was just in grade school,

but I knew it was
something special, you know,

my parents read it,

and it was always
around the house,

and it wasn't used
for anything else.

It was just used for reading,
and...

[laughter]

When I first read it,
I thought it was hilarious,

because they wrote
of everything:

weddings, birthdays,
what functions are coming,

and...

it was...

it was so...

worldly before its time.

Maisie Hurley
did us a big favour

when she helped us

to get The Native Voice
of British Columbia.

You know, it was the paper
of the Native Brotherhood,

you know?

So thank you for that,
granddaughter of Maisie.

[Tom]: When I had gone
to law school in the 1950s,

nobody taught anything

about Aboriginal rights,
Aboriginal title.

Nobody told us in law school
in those days

that the native people
of British Columbia

had any rights.

I know it sounds...

it sounds very odd today,
but that was the case.

Tom Hurley died suddenly,

he was in his late 70s,

and Maisie said to me

that I would have to represent
the native causes

that she had used to arrange
for Tom to represent.

She could be imperious,
I guess is the word,

but that's how
she got me involved.

She just said "This is what
you're going to do now."

Within a month, she had come in
with the case of two young men,

Clifford White and David Bob
of the Nanaimo band,

who had been charged
with hunting out of season,

and Guy Williams,

who was the president
of the Native Brotherhood

in those days,

spoke to me about the case,

and he said
that they had treaties

that protected
their hunting rights,

so we went to court.

I remember it all very well

because this was really
the first case that I had done,

or that anybody had done,

and I remember
at the trial in Nanaimo,

in an old courtroom there,

Maisie Hurley, of course,
with her cane,

was standing right behind me,

and native people
from Nanaimo and elsewhere

occupied all the seats,

and we argued
that there was a treaty,

the government said
no, there's no treaty,

it's just a piece of paper,
doesn't mean anything,

and we said "well, um,
then if there's no treaty,

we stand on our Aboriginal
rights of hunting and fishing."

In the end, that case went
to the Supreme Court of Canada,

we were successful
in upholding the treaty,

and it was backed by the Native
Brotherhood throughout,

which was important to enable it

to proceed
through each stage of appeal,

and it was really the first shot
in the legal battle

to establish Aboriginal rights
and Aboriginal title

for First Nations in BC.

After we had won that case,

the four chiefs

of the Nishga nation
in the Nass Valley

came to see me,

and that led to the Calder case.

The Nisga'a tribal council went
to the Supreme Court of Canada

and established
that Aboriginal title

was a living, breathing
part of Canadian law.

Today, Section 35
explicitly acknowledges

the Aboriginal rights
and treaty rights

of the Aboriginal peoples
of Canada.

When I started out in this area,

there was no Section 35,

there was no acknowledgement

of Aboriginal rights
or Aboriginal title.

The legal profession
was essentially ignorant

of the true history
of their own province.

[Edwin]: In the days when
the Brotherhood was powerful,

we had one common enemy.

That was
the Government of Canada.

We pulled out
of the treaty process

because they were trying

to extinguish
our title and rights,

'cause without
our title and rights,

we got nothing,

and the Haisla people
would never allow anybody

to extinguish the title
and rights

to the ocean and to the land.

That's what the Brotherhood
stood for to begin with.

They wanted to do away
with our system,

with who we were
as First Nations people,

take away our language
and take away our culture.

Canada has one of the worst

human rights records
in the world,

yet they go around
preaching to other people

about how they should
treat their people, you know?

Why don't they
clean up their own house

before they go out and do that?

This is a big issue here
they need to deal with,

and that's
the First Nations people.

I know when I hear people
talk about forgiveness,

I find it very hard

to forgive
the Government of Canada

and the Christian church

for what they did to...

to my... to us.

[♪♪♪]

♪ God is on, on my side

♪ And I am on, on his

♪ It doesn't matter
if I'm an Indian ♪

♪ I still look good, mm-mm

♪ Good God, I was a sinner

♪ Good God, I was doomed

♪ Now I am a little lamb
a pretty lamb ♪

♪ None too soon, mm-mm
Mm-mm ♪

♪ God is on, on my side

♪ And I am on, on his

♪ I can see him smile
up above the heavenly miles ♪

♪ I still look good, mm-mm

♪ Good God, I was a sinner

♪ Good God, I was doomed

♪ Now I am a little lamb
a pretty lamb ♪

♪ None too soon, mm-mm
Mm-mm ♪

♪ God is on, on my side

♪ And I am on, on his

♪ I'm an Indian
God's brown child ♪

♪ But I still look good, mm-mm

♪ Good God, I was a sinner

♪ Good God, I was doomed

♪ Now I am little lamb
a pretty lamb ♪

[crying]

♪ God's little brown child

♪ Oh, so pretty

♪ Mm-mm

♪ Ooh

[♪♪♪]

[Michelle]: I could've chosen
a different profession,

but I chose to be a performer,

and I chose to, um, use who I am
to say something.

I am a musician,
a blues singer,

a songwriter, all that,

but first and foremost,
I'm First Nations, I'm Mohawk,

so I write about things

in a way that entertains
but also educates.

If I observe something
in the world

that hurts my spirit
or hurts my feelings,

and I really feel
like that is not cool

and that's got to change,

um, at the age I'm at now
and where I'm at in my life now,

it's like "okay, I want
to do this in a good way,

in a way that encourages people

to come together
to make things better,"

so how can I do that?

Well, for me,
that's with harmonies.

I feel that music is kind of
an ethereal voice,

um, in both cultures,
in all cultures,

and so the sound of the drum
is...

is god-like, if you will.

I never approach a show

or I never approach a speech
with a script,

'cause I was told that
you can speak to people's ears,

it goes in and out.

You speak to people's hearts,
and it stays there forever.

[loud, clear voice]
The longhouse voice that we use,

it's a loud voice
that speaks to your spirits,

so that your spirit reverberates
with every word,

the tones and the language
and the sounds that we use,

the vibrations that interconnect
with your spirit

are important energies,

so this storytelling
that we use,

the stories and the tone
from our ancestors,

the frustrations
of our matriarchs,

might seem like a tax
on non-Indigenous people,

but it's how we convey
the urgency.

It's how we convey the power
that we need to grow forward,

and so
the sounds might be harsh,

and it might sound like
we're yelling at you,

but this is how we speak
to your spirit and your heart,

and hope that we can meet
on common grounds of values,

so we can move forward

as a collaborative
global community,

and hoping
that Indigenous people

will have our say
in that global conversation,

even if it sounds mean
sometimes.

♪ He was on borrowed time

♪ Because of
the colour of his skin ♪

♪ 33 years goes fast

♪ When you were born to last

♪ But up that slanted hill

♪ Up that side still

♪ The white people are feeding

♪ Away from my skinny joy

♪ My best boy

[band begins to play]

♪ It's 1965

♪ There is no sun today
I know that ♪

♪ But the light
it keeps on shining ♪

♪ On those
that take bit by fat ♪

♪ Everything is fine

♪ Stuff one more dumpling
in your hole ♪

♪ One more serving
is a fine line ♪

♪ Away from my skinny joy

♪ My best boy

♪ It's 1975

♪ My boy

♪ It's 1975

♪ My boy is dead

♪ He's gone

♪ I said, my boy is dead

♪ He's gone

♪ But the light
it keeps on shining ♪

♪ On those
that take bit by fat ♪

♪ Everything is fine

♪ You got lies
as deep as your pockets ♪

♪ You got more than you need

♪ You got and you get

♪ While we keep the bleed

♪ 1985

♪ Keep the bleed

♪ 1985

♪ Someone call me a doctor

♪ Someone get me a gun

♪ Someone call my ancestors

♪ Someone help me some

♪ It's 1965

♪ It's 1975

♪ It's 1985

♪ Oh, yeah

♪ Oh, oh, yeah, yeah

♪ Whoa, yeah, yeah

♪ Whoa, yeah

♪ Oh, yeah, oh, yeah

♪ Oh, yeah

♪ There is no sun today

♪ I know that

♪ But the light
it keeps on shining ♪

♪ On those
that take bit by fat ♪

♪ Everything is fine

[♪♪♪]

[woman sings]

[Jennifer]: My family's history
on both sides

has informed who I am
as an artist today.

We come from four generations
of seven girls who all sang.

My mom had six sisters,
and they all used to sing,

and then our grandma,
their mother,

had six sisters,
there were seven girls,

and they used to sing,

and it goes back
two more generations.

I just grew up
in a family with music.

That's one of the last things
that was left of our culture,

and happily,
our family held on to that.

[Michelle]: I am always
asking myself questions

around where do I belong
and how do I fit in this place?

In that mixed-blood identity,

that's something
kind of liberating

about not being afraid
of all of those ancestors,

all of those folks

who've had many, many
different experiences,

and somehow
they thread their way

and work their way down into me.

It's important to understand

the complex
multi-dimensional history

that is not necessarily written,

that's not necessarily
documented

in a way that is, you know,
easy to access,

that you have to find other ways
into that history,

into the stories,
into the people.

There's a song that came to me,

the melody came to me, um,

as I sat on my
great-grandmother's grave,

so I call it
the Grandmother's Song,

because I figure
she gave it to me.

[singing vocables]

♪ Grandmother
sing your songs to me ♪

♪ Sing your songs of love
and freedom ♪

♪ Teach us
who we are to be ♪

[singing vocables]

I know my grandmother
raised 12 children on her own

in a white town,

and they dealt
with a lot of racism.

My father dealt
with a lot of racism.

He fought his whole life.

Because he fought,
I am who I am.

♪ Ancestors
pray for my children ♪

♪ Pray your songs
of truth and freedom ♪

♪ We are here to honour you

[singing vocables]

♪ Wee wee wee

[Shakti]: I didn't really
know my native culture.

My parents
never talked about it.

My mom was a Cree speaker,

but she never spoke around us
because of her upbringing,

and, um, I kind of
had to seek it elsewhere,

but, um, it was an important
part of my history

that I felt
a right to reclaim,

and so I went about that
as an adult

and kind of sought it out

through just meeting people,
musicians and artists

that were in touch
with that side of my culture,

and just wanting to learn more

about who I was as a native
woman from the prairies.

[William]: I didn't meet my mom
until I was about 16,

so there was always
that kind of wondering who I am,

you know, what kind of
shaped me,

and, you know, where did I get
this passion for music?

I knew I was native,

but I didn't know
what that meant to me.

When I was about 20 years old,

I started learning
about my family history

and why me
and my brothers and sisters

got put in foster homes,

and then rediscovering

that my family had
a big musical history,

and learning that my grandfather
used to play fiddle at parties,

like, standing on his...
on his head and stuff like that,

and now I know
through my musical journey

and learning about who I am
as a native man,

and still trying to figure
what that is,

'cause I still keep meeting
my family all the time.

[Corey]:
I didn't grow up on reserve,

and I didn't grow up

with a family
that celebrated their culture,

so when I got old enough
to start asking those questions,

there was a lot of feeling
from my family

that "Why are you
asking these questions?

We don't... don't tell people
you're First Nations.

Don't talk about who you are.

Just say
you're French-Canadian,"

and then in finding out more

about my culture
and the history,

I then realized
that was my role as an artist,

was to hold up
what I hadn't been taught,

and to spark that dialogue
in the community.

Here you are.

So what I'll do

is I'll just take this
out of the bag for you.

We've got your
accessories here.

There you go.

[women singing]

[JJ]: I've been around music
since the day I was born.

21 aunts and uncles,
somebody plays fiddle,

somebody sings,
and it was highly influential.

I remember being a kid,

and I remember falling asleep
on my uncle's guitar.

There would be fresh bread
baked in the kitchen.

This was at night.

We had a local station
called the Polka Party,

and they would play
fiddle music,

and my grandmother
would grab me,

and we would dance,

and she had sort of like
mukluk-type slippers,

leather,

and they would
hit the floor,

tss tss tss tss,

and it's like that engraved
the beat into my soul somehow.

If you can make
that crash cymbal sit,

like, right here,

that would be
fantastic.

[Richard]: From the beginning
of my interest in playing music,

I always wanted it
to be meaningful.

The nature of social politics
has definitely impacted my life

on every level,
and especially as an artist.

[tuning, conversations]

[Murray]: My great grandfather
was a tuba player

in the Pentecostal church.

My grandfather played the drums,

and my grandmother
played the piano.

They left the world too early
for them to teach me anything,

but somehow, that blood
runs through my veins,

and the things
that they stood for

come through me as well.

Both sides of my family went
through residential school,

therefore, I didn't have
my language or my culture.

I had to learn these things
afterwards.

So they influenced me to be
a good, strong, respectful man,

and that's what I try to be;

respect your elders,
respect the children,

respect women,
and respect yourself.

In that order.

♪ I feel your breath
I know your pain ♪

♪ I hear you cry

♪ We carry the load together
you and I ♪

[Russell]: A long history

is at the heart
of the music that I do.

My mom was a traditional singer,

and she learned a lot of music
and songs from her family,

from her aunties and such.

She told me to carry that on,
and so I do carry that on.

I'm really thankful

that I had a mother
who kept the music alive

in spite of having to be

forcefully
removed from her community

and having the language
beaten out of her.

The Salish languages
are very consonant-heavy,

so, like, if I write something
in the language,

it's hard to sing,

and that's why we have vocables.

Vocables are primarily made up
of vowel sounds,

and so that's what carries
a lot of the melody forward.

[singing vocables]

[Jennifer]:
Vocables convey an emotion,

or something
you're trying to say

without a specific language.

When languages
were outlawed everywhere,

because for some reason

they were a threat to, uh,
to assimilation,

um, after the language
was outlawed,

I guess the vocables came in

as ways to sort of
keep culture alive,

keep songs,
keep writing new songs,

but if they didn't
have language,

I guess you wouldn't
get in as much trouble.

[singing]

If you want to write songs

that can go into
different communities,

everybody can sing them
and share those songs,

because they're not specific
lingually,

so there's just sort of a way
of uniting the people these days

through song.

[singing]

[Marissa]:
Our family has always had

a past history
of creating effective changes,

all the way
from my first protest,

when I was in grade 4,

and we were supposed
to learn French

and go un, deux, trois, quatre,

and it just didn't
make sense to me.

I was sitting there,
and "This isn't my language.

Why am I
learning this language?"

and every single hair on my body
just said this is wrong,

and I asked if I could learn
my language, Skwxwu7mesh,

and they said no,

because there's no one there
to teach it,

and so I refused
to learn French,

and they said "Well,
you can sit at the office,"

so I went to the office
for two weeks, every single day,

and sure enough, after that,

we ended up
having a language program,

and I'm very grateful
for that opportunity.

[Amanda]: In high school,

I was labelled
an "at-risk youth."

When I was growing up,

I was always told
to be proud of who I am

and where I come from.

I knew I was Squamish,
I knew I was Nisga'a,

I grew up
with the songs and dances

and had this immense pride
of who I am,

and in high school,

the curriculum and the teachers

didn't really know
how to acknowledge our truth

and who we are
and where we come from,

and so I felt
very resistant to that.

I started learning more
about the residential schools,

about the Indian Act,

different Canadian policies
that have segregated us,

and that made me really mad.

I tried to utilize my culture
in my English writings,

submitting essays,
and my teachers would say

"Well, where did you
get that information from?

What book did you get that from?

What reference do you have?"

And I'd say
"Well, my grandparents.

My grandmother told me that,"

and, like, "Well, that's not,
you know, something factual

that you can hand in,"

so you get a D,

and so that kept happening

in different courses

and different projects
that I would submit,

and I just dropped out.

I was really tired of being
called an at-risk youth.

Today what I call at-risk youth
are culturally deprived youth,

because growing up
and learning more about society,

about the economy,
about the government

and different policies
that impact our people,

I'm finding that it was
deliberate what they were doing,

deliberately teaching us
not to be Squamish

and not to be Nisga'a.

[Ronnie Dean]: My seven-times
great grandfather

was Chief Emmitt Liquitum,

and he was our last grand chief

here in the Sto:lo region
in the Fraser Canyon,

and was instrumental

in a resistance
against gold miners

and militias who came up

to destroy and pillage
our lands for gold

in the 1850s Canyon Gold War,

and so it is inherent
for me as a young man

stepping into my manhood

that activism
and doing my part

is a part of who I am,

and I could feel the ancestors
with me as I research,

and as I navigate
this new contemporary world

that we live in.

[train approaches]

"A Canadian Constitution
with Indian law,

Indian territory
into Confederation,

an Indian boundary
territory authority,

and an Indian
provisional government

that will be elected
and controlled

by the Indian nations."

That's powerful.

Like, he thought
so far out of the box.

He just didn't compromise.

He didn't ever
compromise on anything.

That's what he says
about himself,

and that's what all the
people closest to him

always say about him.

[train whistle blows]

I was thinking about
the Constitution Express

and how, like,
these train tracks

are kind of like the spinal
cord of colonization

that came through,

and then ended here
on the west coast,

and a couple generations
and decades later,

your father
and those delegates

rode the train back.

It was kind of like
a returning of a wave

of this energy going
to say "no,"

and, like, I really think

of what the audacity
of those...

to just go.

What was, like,
the turning point, like...

was there a point in time

when he just mentioned

"This is what
we're going to do?"

You mean for the
Constitution Express?

Yeah.

Well, in our history,
the government attacks us

with some crazy policy
they're trying to bring in,

and we fight back.

It was like the
white paper policy,

and eventually,
it was this constitution

that they wanted
to bring to Canada

that didn't include us,

and at first
they were fighting

all across Canada,

different bands,
different tribal groups,

you know, it wasn't all
just coming from one place.

It wasn't unified.

And so he's in
British Columbia,

and he can't help
thinking big,

and between him
and his staff,

they came up with this idea
of forming this huge lobby,

this big united front

that would go to
Ottawa and lobby.

It amazes me to be able

to unify a country of people
without the Internet.

Mm.

'Cause we got
the Internet now,

and we can barely do it.

I think even if
he had the Internet,

he wouldn't have used it.

He was a firm believer

of you go knock
on somebody's door.

You gotta go look
a person in the eye,

and you have to educate
them one on one

about what the urgency is,

and he'd go from community
to community like that.

[♪♪♪]

[drum beats]

♪ Hey lo

If you really believe
we are the first people

If you really believe
we have our own nations

If you really believe
we have our own Indian law

If you really believe
we have been here forever

If you really believe

You don't ask for it

You take it

My message to you

You don't ask for it

You take it

This is the road
you are forcing us to

by not cooperating,

by expropriating our rights,

by taking away our rights
in terms of fishing,

in terms of wildlife,

taking away our rights
towards sovereignty,

I think you are
compelling our people.

[♪♪♪]

[train approaching]

[Vicki-Lynne George]:
I remember that time

in 1980 and 1981

when the Trudeau government
was trying to leave out

the Aboriginal rights and title
in Canada.

I just saw my parents just...

this was the focus,

because we were going to be
directly affected.

[♪♪♪]

It was very community-oriented,
and, you know, very grassroots,

and making sure that everybody
was involved,

elders, young kids,

you know, families,

and the women and their babies
going on the train and so forth,

and, you know,
that was a big deal,

and everybody was on board,

no pun intended,
but they were on board.

[♪♪♪]

[Doreen]: This Indian
Government flag design

was thought of,

and everybody had input
about what it meant,

you know, the four directions,
and our heart,

and it just took off
like wildfire.

Everybody wanted to wear it,

and so I started whipping up
these shirts really fast,

and selling them right away

and stacking up the money
for the Constitution Express.

Yeah. I remember Dad
wearing that too,

and talking about raising money
for the Constitution Express,

it was so expensive

to have those people
from Vancouver to go to Ottawa,

and people sold their furniture

and they did whatever they could
to raise money...

That's what your
dad did, right?

He did.
He sold his furniture.

I remember thinking
about his apartment

and everything
that was going to go,

and he was just...

I said, "So you're just
going to sell your furniture

and you're just going to go?"

And he said "Yeah."

My dad, Ron George,

was one of the organizers

for the Constitution Express
train to Ottawa,

and then on to Europe later,

and what I remember

is him saying how this movement
was so spiritual

and different than anything
he's ever experienced.

There was a code of conduct,

people treated each other
with respect and honour,

and there was no dissension
between people at all.

It was just they had a goal,
they were following your father,

your father's vision,
George Manuel,

and, you know, they...

they were following
his leadership.

I was listening
to a speech of his

just the other day,

and he's talking
to a big crowd of people,

and he's saying "You know,

we've got to have
at least a thousand people

going on the European
Constitution Express.

Can we do it? Can we do it?"

and you just hear
this roar of people, just "yes!"

Just, it made me cry,
listening to it,

listening to the power
of our people.

[♪♪♪]

If you really believe

our children
deserve an education

If you really believe
our children deserve to eat

If you really believe

our children deserve
to drink clean water

If you really believe
our children deserve a home

If you really believe

You don't ask for it

You take it

My message to you

You don't ask for it

You take it

The control
of our hunting, fishing,

the control
of our Indian children,

the control of our Indian lands,

the recovery of our right
to govern ourselves,

the right to determine
our own future,

and we've been denied all those
rights and all those resources.

The shift at that time

was to see ourselves
as a larger collective,

a larger group of people

trying to pressure governments
and the media

to change the way
that they treated us,

to change the way
that people viewed us.

[Doreen]: One of the things

that Dad
really talked a lot about

is that there was a legal action
moving forward,

and there always needed
to be a political action,

and the Constitution Express
was the political action,

and they fed each other.

They supported each other.

And then also part of that
was winning over the media,

'cause when you
won over the media,

you won over the public.

[Lorna]:
You know, I think that

that was the beauty
of what your dad did.

Canadians at that time
were so ignorant,

they still are,
about our situation.

You know, wherever we went,

when we'd finish
doing our presentations,

they'd get up and they'd say

"I'm Canadian.

Why don't I know this?

Why did I go through school

and I didn't know these stories
that you're telling us,"

and it was the voice

of the people
from the communities

that I think really helped.

[♪♪♪]

If you really believe
in your own voice

If you really believe
in your own past

If you really believe
in your own future

If you really believe

You don't ask for it

My message to you is

You don't ask for it

My message to you is

You don't ask for it

If you really believe

You take it

Implementation
of Indian Government

means taking
with or without the cooperation

of the provincial government
or the federal government.

We as Indians
in British Columbia,

through the World Council
of Indigenous People,

is going to be compelled

to take a case
to the United Nations.

We're going to be compelled

to take our case
to the world community.

We're going to be compelled
to take our case

to any country
who has got the commitment

towards the United Nations

Universal Declaration
on Human Rights.

[cheering, applause]

I think about your dad,
and, you know, to me,

I think about
who our heroes are,

and maybe in my, uh...

borderline worship
of him,

you know, he's
a deity in my world,

an elder states...

you know, this archetype
of the elder...

who were his elders?

Who did he go to when
he needed assistance?

Who did he talk to
when he was...

needed to... get advice?

He went to communities.

It was important to him

not to stay
in fancy hotels,

not to waste the
people's money that way.

He liked to sleep
on people's couches.

He liked to go
and talk to...

like, if he were alive,

he'd want to just sit
here and talk to you,

and learn from you,

'cause that's what
fuelled him,

is looking into the
eyes of young people

who wanted a better
life for themselves,

who had dreams and
ambitions and hope.

"What is it you want?"

[♪♪♪]

What I'd like to see
for Aboriginal people in Canada

is for all Canadians to identify

and see the value
in Indigenous culture.

I would like to see my children
speaking their language,

knowing who they are
and where they come from,

and looking anybody in the eye

and saying
"I am proud I am Squamish.

I am proud I am Nisga'a.

I am proud I am Ojibwe."

I would like for us to be seen,

and heard, and acknowledged.

This is not one thing.

It's all intertwined.

Um, I would like

for the truth
of how this country came to be

to be fully understood

by every single person
who lives here,

and I think if that happens,

we have a shot
of getting something right.

And if it doesn't happen,

then things continue
the way they are.

It just doesn't make sense
in today's world

why we still have
the issues we had 50 years ago.

It... in today's world,
it shouldn't happen,

and it doesn't make sense to me,
and it makes me angry.

I would like to see our people

be given the same justice
as other people in Canada,

as white people in Canada.

I would like
to see our children

become proud
of their heritage again,

to learn their language again,

to learn
from the elders again,

to get their land back,

to not be murdered and missing.

To walk proud,
with your chin high,

and not be afraid to go out.

Not be afraid
to be hunted like animals,

as native women are.

Not to be afraid of predators,
as native women have become.

[♪♪♪]

[truck approaches]

[♪♪♪]

[woman sings vocables]

♪ I wanted
to look for you tonight ♪

♪ Because I thought
you would be cold ♪

♪ There's no trail left
but these tears ♪

♪ No road but this highway

♪ No way to know

♪ Just this black crow
inside my chest ♪

♪ With nowhere to go

♪ Nowhere to go

♪ Momma, don't cry
Sing my song ♪

♪ Momma, don't cry
Sing my wrongs ♪

♪ No goodbyes

♪ I wanted
to look for you tonight ♪

♪ Because I thought

♪ You would be
scared of the dark ♪

♪ I wanted to wrap you
in my light ♪

♪ And say I'm here

♪ Even in this nowhere

♪ Why?

♪ Momma, don't cry
Sing my song ♪

♪ Momma, don't cry
Sing my wrongs ♪

♪ No goodbyes

♪ I wanted
to tell you tonight ♪

♪ Your love is buried in me

♪ It keeps me warm
when I am cold ♪

♪ I wanted to tell you tonight

♪ There is no darkness
I can see ♪

♪ No tears, no crows

♪ No lies, no years

♪ You are my mother
I will hear your song ♪

♪ You are my girl
I will hear your song ♪

♪ I will hear your song

♪ And you will hear mine

♪ I will hear your song

♪ And you will hear mine

♪ Our love is longer

♪ Our song stronger

♪ Than our tears

♪ Our love longer

♪ Our hearts stronger

♪ Than our fears

♪ It doesn't matter
what they do ♪

♪ Say it

♪ It doesn't matter
what they say ♪

♪ Say it

♪ Our song
will always be our song ♪

♪ Our love longer

♪ Than all, all the lies

♪ All the lies

♪ All the lies
of any man's highway ♪

[truck approaches]

[whispering voices]

[woman singing]

[singing vocables]

[singing vocables]

[singing vocables]

[singing vocables]

♪ Oh

[singing vocables]

[singing vocables]

One heart one mind
with our spirits combined

When opposites become as one
a saviour will emerge

One heart one mind
as light and dark converge

Surge in the ether
as our spirits connect

Walk together in the future
with our love we protect

On the back of this turtle
stand together here in strength

In the flow of our creator
that takes us the whole length

Of this road forward

In to the essence of creation

Becomes the medicine
of this turtle island nation

All my relations

All my relations

All my relations

All my relations

♪ I feel you beside me

♪ I know your name

♪ I hear your voice
becoming ours ♪

♪ It is the same

[men sing vocables]

♪ On the road forward

♪ There are no tears

♪ On the road forward

♪ There is no fear

♪ You are inside me, brother

♪ Asking us to stand

♪ We will not leave you behind

♪ We will not leave this land

♪ I feel your breath

♪ I know your pain

♪ I hear you cry

♪ We carry the load together
You and I ♪

♪ On the road forward

♪ Your hands in ours

♪ On the road forward

♪ We lift our hearts

[singing vocables]

♪ You are inside me, sisters

♪ Your voices shall be heard

♪ We will not leave you behind

♪ When we leave this earth

♪ I feel your breath

♪ I know your pain

♪ I hear you cry

♪ We carry the load together

♪ You and I

[singing vocables]

♪ I feel your breath

♪ I know your pain

♪ I hear you cry

♪ We carry the load together

♪ You and I

[singing vocables]

[♪♪♪]

[♪♪♪]

[man singing vocables]

[second voice joins in]

[voices sing together]