These Are My People...
Released in 1969, These Are My People… was the first NFB film made entirely by an Indigenous crew. It was co-directed by Roy Daniels, Willie Dunn, Michael Kanentakeron Mitchell and Barbara Wilson—members of the Indian Film Crew (IFC), an all-Indigenous unit established in 1968 as part of Challenge for Change, a broader organizational initiative to use media to effect social change. One of the first Canadian documentaries to foreground an Indigenous perspective on the history of Indigenous–settler relations, it features Standing Arrow and Tom Porter, from the Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) community of Akwesasne, who discuss longhouse religion, culture, government and the …
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Released in 1969, These Are My People… was the first NFB film made entirely by an Indigenous crew. It was co-directed by Roy Daniels, Willie Dunn, Michael Kanentakeron Mitchell and Barbara Wilson—members of the Indian Film Crew (IFC), an all-Indigenous unit established in 1968 as part of Challenge for Change, a broader organizational initiative to use media to effect social change. One of the first Canadian documentaries to foreground an Indigenous perspective on the history of Indigenous–settler relations, it features Standing Arrow and Tom Porter, from the Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) community of Akwesasne, who discuss longhouse religion, culture, government and the impacts of settler arrival on their way of life.
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directorMichael Kanentakeron MitchellWillie DunnBarbara WilsonRoy Daniels
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cameraMichael Kanentakeron MitchellWillie DunnBarbara WilsonRoy Daniels
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soundMichael Kanentakeron MitchellWillie DunnBarbara WilsonRoy Daniels
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producerGeorge C. Stoney
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editingNoel StarBlanket
Ideal for introducing students to the history of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, “people of the longhouse,” or more commonly known as the Iroquois or Six Nations. Research what Canadian laws and policies contributed to the “loss of the Indian way of life,” as mentioned in the film. How did the attitudes of settlers and the Indian Act contribute to the severing of matrilineal societies, and does this correlate with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women? How did the Haudenosaunee Confederacy influence the United Nations and Canadian government structures? Although this film was created in 1969, how is the message evoked in the film still significant today? Why do racism, prejudice and discrimination against Indigenous people persist in Canada? This is the first NFB film made entirely by an Indigenous crew; why is it important for Indigenous Peoples to tell their own stories by being behind the camera as well as in front of the camera?
