I plowed the sacred soil (documentary) and Q&A with Cheyanne Desnomie

Overview

Delivery method

Virtual classroom

Duration

2 h

Audience

All staff

Description

I Plowed the Sacred Soil is a feature-length documentary about the File Hills Farm Colony Experiment on the Peepeekisis Cree Nation. Descendants of the Saskatchewan Treaty Four reserve talk about their families’ struggle to maintain a farming community under the original treaty agreement of 1874. The story focuses on William Morris Graham, a government-appointed Indian Agent and his 1898 “failed” attempt to solve the “Indian problem.” The documentary speaks of a time when Indian Agents governed First Nation communities with an iron-fist and the disastrous outcomes that followed. Despite the failed result of William Graham’s farm colony experiment, Peepeekisis Cree Nation remains a strong and resilient community to this day.

Guest speaker is Cheyanne Desnomie, lead researcher for the documentary and a faculty member at the First Nations University of Canada. Cheyanne will be available for a Q & A after the documentary.