To mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day, join Concordia University for a special screening of Honour to Senator Murray Sinclair. 

Special guest and acclaimed filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin will be present for a discussion moderated by Kahérakwas Donna Goodleaf  and Monika Kin Gagnon. The discussion will delve into the film’s context and offer additional resources for those interested in learning more about this vital topic.

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Honour To Senator Murray Sinclair  (directed by Alanis Obomsawin | 2021 | 29 min)  

As the Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Senator Murray Sinclair was a key figure in raising global awareness of the atrocities of Canada’s residential school system. With determination, wisdom and kindness, Senator Sinclair remains steadfast in his belief that the path to actual reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people requires understanding and accepting often difficult truths about Canada’s past and present. Alanis Obomsawin shares the powerful speech the Senator gave when he accepted the WFM-Canada World Peace Award, interspersing the heartbreaking testimonies of former students imprisoned at residential schools.

One of the most acclaimed Indigenous directors in the world, Alanis Obomsawin came to cinema from performance and storytelling. Hired by the NFB as a consultant in 1967, she has created an extraordinary body of work—50 films and counting—including landmark documentaries like Incident at Restigouche (1984) and Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993). The Abenaki director has received numerous international honours and her work was showcased in a 2008 retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. “My main interest all my life has been education,” says Obomsawin, “because that’s where you develop yourself, where you learn to hate, or to love.”

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Don’t miss this opportunity to engage in a meaningful dialogue and gain insight into the film’s creation, as well as its importance in the broader conversation.

Presented by the Office of Decolonizing and Indigenizing Curriculum and Pedagogy and the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia.