National Truth and Reconciliation Day event an opportunity for learning together

On National Truth and Reconciliation Day Jasper will have the opportunity to learn the Truth about what transpired a century ago when the Indigenous People practicing a traditional lifestyle here were evicted from the area to make way for Jasper National Park. 

On September 30 the Jasper Film Club will bring the film Resilient: The Aseniwuche Winewak Story to the community for a free outdoor screening.

Grande Prairie-based Indigenous filmmaker, Len Morissette, directed Resilient. Morissette said the challenge of telling the story of the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation (AWN) was condensing a century’s worth of history into a feature length documentary. 

“We said ‘let’s tell the truth,’” Morissette said. “Let’s stick to the facts.”

Those facts include how Indigenous People were lied to, then evicted from what is now known as Jasper National Park, by government officials, and that after relocating to the area now known as Grande Cache, the AWN was further oppressed and marginalized when the coal mine and town were developed there. 

However, as well as revealing the hardships the AWN have faced, Resilient also showcases the healing and hope that have come out of the community in spite of them. 

“A lot of our history has been told by other people,” said the AWN’s past-president, Tom McDonald. “This is our first attempt to tell it ourselves.”

And now Jasper will have its first look at the film as a community. The documentary will be screened on the Edith Cavell Memorial Tower of the St. Mary and St. George Anglican Church, a powerful statement of reconciliation that Anglican Reverend Andreas Sigrist hopes will resonate not only with parishioners but the entire Jasper community. 

“So much of what the church did in the past was along colonizing lines,” Sigrist said. “Hopefully having the documentary here is about truth and reconciliation, acknowledging the past and being committed to learning a better way to moving forward together.”

Sigrist knows that for many, church has become irrelevant. He also knows that the church may not be a place that everyone—particularly those of Indigenous heritage—feels comfortable in which to walk a path of reconciliation. By approaching these conversations with integrity and humility, however, Sigrist thinks we can do something with the tension we feel.

“If we focus on integrity and humility it seems to me all of the tension can actually be productive, fruitful and lead to growth, rather than conflict,” he said. 

There was plenty of conflict in the early days of Jasper National Park, and Resilient is an eye-opening reminder of the recency of Canadian history’s darkest chapters. In weaving its narrative, the film shows that the displacement and degradation of Indigenous communities was not a historical event, but a campaign sustained over decades and even centuries. Furthermore, the recent discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves have forced Canadians to reckon with the legacy of Indian Residential Schools. Morissette, who is also president of the Grande Prairie Friendship Centre, suggests that there is an awakening taking place. 

“What’s happening now is our conscience is evolving through education,” Morissette said. 

Sigrist, who at 34-years-old is one of the youngest reverends in the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton, has been himself evolving his education. Recently, at a candlelight vigil for victims of Canada’s residential schools, he, along with other non-Indigenous participants, was welcomed into the space by Indigenous leaders. Similarly, opening the Anglican church for an event honouring National Truth and Reconciliation Day is a way for him to learn what it means to live on this land together and to use institutions like Canada’s churches in new, different ways.  

“With integrity and humility, I hope this event can be an invitation to learn and figure this out together,” he said.

Resilient screens September 30, 2021 at 7 p.m at the Jasper Anglican Church, on the corner of Miette Avenue and Geikie Street in downtown Jasper, AB.

Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com