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Prairie Provinces (3)

  • Nonoonse Anishinabe Ishichekewin Ka Kanawentank
    Nonoonse Anishinabe Ishichekewin Ka Kanawentank
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    1980 10 min
    Western pioneers knew that sugar could be made from the sap of the Manitoba maple. But the trees were small, the sap was thin, and the tastier product of Québec and Ontario was cheap and easy to get. The settler soon turned away from the arduous annual harvest and the Manitoba maple became just another tree. But not for Nonoonse. Forty years ago her grandmother brought her to Sugar Island. Since then she has returned every spring to gather the sweet sap. Filmed on Lake Manitoba, near the Ebb'n'Flow Reserve, Nonoonse is both a clear description of sugar-making and a quiet statement on the importance of the tradition to the Saultaux of the region. (Bilingual: English and Saulteaux.)
  • Water for the Prairies
    Water for the Prairies
    Lawrence Cherry 1951 18 min
    This 1950s' film looks at the measures to preserve water flow from the Rocky Mountains. With the steady falling of the water table, the exploitation of timber stands and the recession of glaciers, water conservation was an urgent concern of the Alberta and federal governments.
  • Windbreaks on the Prairies
    Windbreaks on the Prairies
    Evelyn Cherry 1943 21 min
    This short film serves as a cautionary tale to farmers who recklessly cut down trees on their land. When prairie farmers engaged in this practice to facilitate plowing, they discovered that the trees had served as windbreaks protecting top soil from erosion. The Dominion Department of Agriculture's experimental station at Indian Head, Saskatchewan, cultivated acres of young trees for distribution to farmers.