Cultural Interdependence and 

Continuing the Journey

Koneline (Our Land Beautiful): Nettie Wild

The purpose of this film is to bring us back to a current and relevant issue that intersects land with culture, identity, privilege, stereotypes, colonization, Residential School System, and resilience. It encourages us to think about the subtle nuances and complexities of blending modern living with tradition and we return to connecting with these topics from a personal place to engage with what the journey of truth, healing, and reconciliation might look like or feel like to us now.

Synopsis

“KONELĪNE: our land beautiful is a sensual, cinematic celebration of northwestern British Columbia, and all the dreamers who move across it. Some hunt on the land. Some mine it. They all love it. Set deep in the traditional territory of the Tahltan First Nation, KONELĪNE captures beauty and complexity as one of Canada’s vast wildernesses undergoes irrevocable change. An art film with politics, drama, and humour, KONELĪNE: our land beautiful explores different ways of seeing—and being. A guide outfitter swims her horses across the vast Stikine River. The world’s biggest chopper flies 16,000-pound transmission towers over mountaintops. KONELĪNE‘s characters delight while smashing stereotypes: white hunters carry bows and arrows; members of the Tahltan First Nation hunt out of a pickup with high-powered rifles. There are diamond drillers—both Native and white—and elders who blockade them. There’s a Tahltan son struggling to preserve a dying language, and a white guy who sings “North to Alaska ” to his stuffed moose.”

Supplementary Guide: 8th Fire Episode 4 - At the Crossroads

The purpose of this guide is to celebrate the future and to learn where new relationships can be built. 

Synopsis

“How the Aboriginal community's feisty and self-confident youth; the "Seventh Generation" who are taking new pride in their heritage and pointing the way forward to a new relationship.”

“The final installment in the 8th Fire series is a focus on the young generation – known as the “Seventh Generation” – who have experienced less cultural trauma and are better equipped than some who have come before them to create a new relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canada. This particularly hopeful episode requires an understanding of the 8th Fire Prophecy and some historical knowledge for students who are viewing it. The main elements to focus on for this episode are: Aboriginal media such as visual art and television productions, the future of the Indian Act, educational opportunities and challenges for some Aboriginal youth, and the lure of economic development.

Please note: In this episode, there are excerpts from the Blackstone television series, which include swearing, flashes of nudity and sexuality, and drug and alcohol consumption. In some communities, the suggestion that the Indian Act should be repealed may be a touchy issue, as well as the construction of the proposed Enbridge oil pipeline.”

Relevant Enduring Understandings

● Colonization has been an intentional, systemic undertaking to assimilate Indigenous peoples into a European way of life in order to gain control of their traditional lands and resources. This process is ongoing and complex.

● Reconciliation requires affirming each person’s worth and dignity and better understanding ourselves and others.

● Uncovering implicit bias and privilege is essential when developing meaningful relationships and partnerships.

● Our strength lies in appreciating and learning from the similarities and differences between Indigenous and non­-Indigenous worldviews which contribute to fair, inclusive and healthy communities for all people.

● As Unitarian Universalists, we commit to this journey with open hearts, minds, spirits and hands.

• To purchase KONELĪNE: our land beautiful, click here.

• To watch At the Crossroads, click here.