Treading Water: Plight of the 2011 Manitoba First Nation Flood Evacuees

par Janelle Wookey & Jeremie Wookey

A journey to the Lake St. Martin First Nation that explores the political spider web that has entangled this community and prevents them from going home.

2014 · 48m · Canada

(sous-titres)

À propos du film

In 2011, 2000 First Nation people were forced from their homes after artificially diverted flood water swamped their communities to save the city of Winnipeg and other major urban centers. Most of the evacuees, the majority from Lake St.Martin and Little Saskatchewan First Nations, checked into Winnipeg hotels, assuming they would return to their homes within a couple of weeks. Fast forward almost three years later. Evacuees are still stranded and still drowning as the powerless pawns in a political firestorm between the First Nation bands, the Manitoba Association of Native Firefighters, hotel owners and the federal and provincial governments. Today, the evacuees continue to live away from home and away from their way of life on the reserve. Some, unable to bear the harsh realities of poverty in the city, have chosen to return to their condemned homes on contaminated reserves. Families have been disrupted and weakened by separation, a rise in substance abuse, and suicide. Public support of these displaced families is almost nonexistent. Plans for rebuilding seem to be at a standstill. All the while, the only thing people can do is wait… “Treading Water” is a deeply intimate look at the unexpected, untold story of the real-life evacuees behind the national headlines of the 2011 Manitoba flood.

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Festivals et prix

2014

imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts festival, Best Short Documentary

Soundtrack Composer

Cris Derksen

À propos du cinéaste

Janelle Wookey

Janelle and Jérémie Wookey are a Franco-Métis brother-sister filmmaking team born and raised on the Canadian prairies. The two have been creating film projects together since the ages of 7 and 9. After years of play led them to professional careers, their first independent documentary, Mémére Métisse garnered national attention, premiering on opening night of the 2008 ImagineNATIVE Film Festival and airing on CBC, Radio-Canada and APTN. After accruing a combined 7 years of experience working in news and production series with CBC/Radio-Canada, the two launched their own production company, Wookey Films Inc. In 2013 they co-produced, directed, shot, wrote and edited Treading Water; Plight of the 2011 Manitoba First Nation Flood Evacuees. The film aired nationally on APTN, regionally on CBC and earned the award for Best Short Documentary at the 2014 ImagineNATIVE Film Festival in Toronto.
In 2014 they went on to produce two more projects including La Légende de la cloche, a half-hour documentary for Radio-Canada and A Right to Eat, which focused on food security issues in Northern Manitoba’s First Nation communities. A Right to Eat aired nationally on CBC in October 2015.
In 2015 they delivered three major French-language productions including the one-hour documentary Les boys du ballet for Unis as well as two web series projects for TV5 and APTN. In 2016, they will be delivering three more one-off documentaries including a follow-up to their first film Mémére Métisse, currently entitled Le souhait d’Augustine as well as a short English-language piece for BRAVO Canada on another brother-sister duo, Ron and Natalie Pollock.

Jeremie Wookey

Janelle and Jérémie Wookey are a Franco-Métis brother-sister filmmaking team born and raised on the Canadian prairies. The two have been creating film projects together since the ages of 7 and 9. After years of play led them to professional careers, their first independent documentary, Mémére Métisse garnered national attention, premiering on opening night of the 2008 ImagineNATIVE Film Festival and airing on CBC, Radio-Canada and APTN. After accruing a combined 7 years of experience working in news and production series with CBC/Radio-Canada, the two launched their own production company, Wookey Films Inc. In 2013 they co-produced, directed, shot, wrote and edited Treading Water; Plight of the 2011 Manitoba First Nation Flood Evacuees. The film aired nationally on APTN, regionally on CBC and earned the award for Best Short Documentary at the 2014 ImagineNATIVE Film Festival in Toronto.
In 2014 they went on to produce two more projects including La Légende de la cloche, a half-hour documentary for Radio-Canada and A Right to Eat, which focused on food security issues in Northern Manitoba’s First Nation communities. A Right to Eat aired nationally on CBC in October 2015.
In 2015 they delivered three major French-language productions including the one-hour documentary Les boys du ballet for Unis as well as two web series projects for TV5 and APTN. In 2016, they will be delivering three more one-off documentaries including a follow-up to their first film Mémére Métisse, currently entitled Le souhait d’Augustine as well as a short English-language piece for BRAVO Canada on another brother-sister duo, Ron and Natalie Pollock.