Alanis Obomsawin (Photo: Brigitte Bouvier)

By Martha Attridge Bufton

“Our own ways and spirituality were not respected,” says Alanis Obomsawin. “We lost so much.”

Obomsawin, a celebrated First Nations filmmaker with the National Film Board of Canada, was the guest lecturer at this year’s Sun Life Financial Public Lecture held in the new Azrieli Theatre at Carleton. On November 4, 130 students, faculty and members of the public listened attentively as she described the life of the Abenaki Nation in Quebec under the control of the Christian churches.

“Our traditions all but disappeared and we were forced to worship in either the Catholic or Protestant faith,” she explained. “I did not like this. When I would sit next to my mother on the bus, I would look the other way as she said her rosary. My mother was more Catholic than the Pope.”

Obomsawin has been making films since 1967 on subjects that include native fishing rights and the 1990 Oka crisis. Allan Ryan, Carleton’s New Sun Chair in Aboriginal Studies, pays tribute to her reasoned approach to difficult topics. “She uses the tools of filmmaking for her own ends and her work is very political,” he reflects. “But she is not a radical and has inspired a generation of aboriginal filmmakers to use film for self-empowerment.”

Although Obomsawin described a life of great suffering, she has hope for the future. “Some communities are now trying to bring together the best of both worlds,” she reflects. “I won’t see the results in my lifetime but I believe that this will make a better life.”

John Medicine Horse Kelly, director of the Centre for Aboriginal Education, Research and Culture at Carleton, agrees. “Healers like Alanis know that we need rage and love to move forward,” he says. “With grace and dignity, she has done much to build the bridges we need for this to happen.”

The Sun Life Financial Public Lecture series runs until 2006.