OTTAWA – The Royal Canadian Geographical Society announced today Returning Home, Canadian Geographic’s first feature-length documentary, is now available through Crave and other Bell Media properties.
“Returning Home follows Orange Shirt Day founder Phyllis Jack Webstad on a cathartic, nationwide educational tour while, back home in Secwepemc territory, her family struggles to deal with the multigenerational trauma of Canada’s residential school system,” a press release says.
“The documentary, shot during the pandemic amid one of the lowest salmon runs in recorded history, masterfully connects Canada’s colonial history with the plight of Pacific wild salmon in B.C.’s Fraser River.”
Returning Home can be streamed on Crave, CTV.ca and the CTV app. It will debut on Crave’s linear channel tonight (Sept. 30) at 9 p.m. ET.
The documentary can also be viewed at special screenings across the country on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (today). This includes in Toronto, where the film will be available for free to Hot Docs members at the festival’s Ted Rogers Hot Docs Cinema on Bloor Street, as well as at Trent University and at a community event held by the Orange Shirt Society.
Returning Home is funded by the Canadian Government as part of its Paths to Reconciliation program.
“I encourage people to take a moment to recognize the ongoing and intergenerational effects of residential schools in Canada and to reflect on the role each of us must play in the healing process,” said Pablo Rodriguez, minister of Canadian Heritage, in the release.
“We should remain steadfast in our support for Indigenous partners, Survivors, and their families. We must learn from history and continue the conversation so that the atrocities of the past are never repeated. The documentary Returning Home gives us the opportunity to begin or continue our learning journey on the path to reconciliation.”
Returning Home was named Best Canadian Documentary at Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver international film festivals and was awarded Best Living with Wildlife Program at the International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. Furthermore, this past spring the documentary was voted among the Audience Top 20 at Hot Docs in Toronto. Returning Home will continue to be screened at festivals in Canada and the U.S this fall.
Filmmaker Sean Stiller is hopeful the release of Returning Home “will help to uplift the critical work of survivor societies including the Orange Shirt Society,” the press release says. (Stiller is a member of the William’s Lake First Nation (Secwépemc). He first met Webstad years ago in Williams Lake.)
“Bringing Returning Home to Crave and CTV will help to amplify the important work that Phyllis does,” said Stiller, in the release. “The stories shared in this film are not unique to British Columbia: the plight of wild salmon — like the ongoing impact of multigenerational trauma of Indigenous people — are felt throughout Turtle Island.”
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Photo of Phyllis Jack Webstad speaking to students at Vanier Collegiate in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan provided by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Photo credit: Sean Stiller/Canadian Geographic.
