Feature Image: Chief Willie Sellars digs a grave for community member Stan Wycotte who took his life on the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. (Credit: Emily Kassie/Sugarcane Film LLC)
Spanish is a small town on the north shore of Lake Huron, approximately 120 kilometres west of Sudbury, Ont. It holds historical significance as the site of St. Peter Claver Residential School for boys and St. Joseph’s (St. Anne’s) Residential School for girls. Initially operating on Wiikwemkoong First Nation, the schools relocated to Spanish at different times after fire damaged the original buildings.
Author Basil Johnston details his experiences at St. Peter Claver in his autobiography Indian School Days, recounting how he was taken by the Indian agent and placed at the school. The late Wilmer Nadjiwon, former Chief of Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, shared his experience of physical and sexual abuse at St. Peter Claver.
As survivors share their stories of violence and abuse, the conversation also includes the impacts of intergenerational trauma. First Nations communities surrounding the Spanish schools grapple with youth suicide, drug and alcohol addiction and mental health struggles, in large part linked to the lasting effects of residential schools.
These issues resonate throughout Sugarcane, the debut documentary by Julian Brave NoiseCat (Secwepemc/St’at’imc) and Emily Kassie, which focuses on the horrific legacy of St. Joseph’s Mission in British Columbia.
Operated by the Catholic Oblates from 1886 to 1981, St. Joseph’s Mission was part of Canada’s residential school system. In July 2021, the Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN) began investigating the missing and deceased children from the school.
Investigators Charlene Belleau and Whitney Spearing uncover evidence and testimonies from survivors, revealing systemic abuse and neglect. The RCMP ignored reports of abuse while the church shielded its priests. Such experiences are shared amongst survivors who attended one of Canada’s 139 residential schools and residences.
Even if a family did not want their child to attend one of these schools, by 1920, amendments to Canada’s Indian Act made attendance mandatory for status Indigenous children ages seven to 15.
In the film, we learn that children endured brutal punishments, including being tied up and lashed. Children were stripped of their Indigenous identities and referred to by their assigned numbers instead of names. When they reported abuse to their family, the Indian agent, the church or the RCMP, they would be ignored or beaten for speaking out. Children died or went missing trying to escape.
As investigators explore the school barn, they find names, dates and messages like “73 days until home time” inscribed into the wood.
At the film’s core is evidence of sexual abuse, forced adoption and infanticide.
The late Rick Gilbert, former Chief of WLFN, is forced to confront his mother’s past, which led to his birth. During a visit to the Vatican for Pope Francis’ 2022 apology, Gilbert meets with a bishop of the Oblate House, the Catholic order that established St. Joseph’s Mission in 1886.
Gilbert reveals that he was born because a priest at the school sexually abused and impregnated his mother. Gilbert later attended the same school where he, too, suffered abuse.
Co-director NoiseCat and his father, Ed Archie NoiseCat, are also part of this legacy. Ed was born at St. Joseph’s Mission and was found in an ice cream box destined for the school’s furnace.
The trauma that Ed and his mother endured for decades ultimately affected Julian. In one of the film’s final scenes, Ed finds the courage to return home and asks his mother about their dark past. She insists that the trauma of what happened to her at St. Joseph’s Mission remains deeply painful.
Sugarcane is a reminder that it takes seven generations to heal from this trauma, but by opening ourselves up to family and community, we do not have to endure the journey alone.
Sugarcane premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival at the beginning of the year and won the Directing Award. It is playing at select theatres in Canada and the United States.
Opens Friday, September 27
Montreal, QC – Cinéma du Parc
Powell River, BC – Patricia Theatre
Opens Saturday, September 28
Chester, NS – Chester Playhouse
Opens Sunday, September 29
Victoria, BC – Cinecenta
Opens Monday, September 30
Wolfville, NS – Acadia Cinema’s Al Whittle Theatre
Toronto, ON – Revue Cinema
Upcoming theatrical showings, including screenings on reserve, can be found at https://Sugarcanefilm.com/
