Reaching agreement on the meaning and ‘spirit’ of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document, has led to fierce debate and violent conflict between European settlers and Maoris since its signing in 1840 until the present day. This program examines the events leading up the signing, consequences of the signing, the key points of difference in the two versions of the treaty, the treaty in the twentieth century, and the founding of the Waitangi Tribunal. This program is an excellent resource for students of New Zealand history, culture related and indigenous rights studies.
Subjects: History
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Maori Land Protests
The 1970s was a period of great social and political upheaval around the world, including the push for indigenous equality and land rights. The Maori protest movement was the result of a culmination of grievances dating back to the signing of the treaty of Waitangi in 1840. This documentary style program explores the reasons for the 1970s Maori protest movement, the 1975 Hikoi protest march, the Occupation of Bastion Point in 1977, and how Aotearoa-New Zealand has changed since the protests. Interviews with New Zealand historians Claudia Orange, Dr Benjamin Pittman and Mark Derby provide a great overview of the key protests and their enduring significance.
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Labour Pains
The documentary tells the history of the birth of the labour movement in Canada with an emphasis on the 1937 General Motors strike in Oshawa and the 1945 Ford of Canada strike in Windsor. Both of these strikes are highlighted as seminal forces in the creation of the United Auto Workers (now the Canadian Auto Workers) and throughout the hour we meet all of the key players involved, which include the politicians of the time as well as strike organizers and other union members. The program concludes with the famous Rand Formula, which eventually became the prescription for the modern day union.
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Talking Union
Writer/producer Richard Nielsen recollects his experiences in the union movement from the 1946 Stelco strike to the role of unions in contemporary society.
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Canada’s Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks
Donald Britain directs and co-writes with Richard Nielsen this docu-drama of an American gangster brought in to Canada to destroy the Canadian Seaman’s Union. A co-production with the National Film Board. Winner of the 1987 Annick Award.
WARNING: This program contains language that may be offensive to some people. Please review before use in the classroom.
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A Heaven on Earth
A Heaven on Earth is the story of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, a uniquely Canadian social and political movement spanning years from the Great Depression to the early years of the 1960’s. The film looks at the personalities involved their visions of a “heaven on earth” – a world characterized by co-operation, peace, equity and social justice – and brings to life the dramatic social and political upheavals which shaped the period. Highlighting the movement’s contributions to social programs currently under attack, A Heaven on Earth contains a crucially important message for contemporary audiences.
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Defying the Law
On July 14, 1946, a group of steelworkers poured out of Hamilton’s Playhouse Theater and set up pickets around the country’s largest steel mill. Their action sparked one of the most important strikes in Canada’s history – a strike which many believe to mark the birth of the modern Canadian labour movement. On the previous Friday, the steel industry had been put under government control, and all employees threatened with imprisonment were they to strike. Defying the Law, an account of that long summer, charts the historic struggle for union recognition against both government and an historically powerful industry.
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Forty Shades of Grey
The aim of this project was to create an experimental, feature-length, non-narrative film piece, shot on location in Israel and Palestine. Some very black and white ideas and opinions exist, particularly in Europe, when people think of this notorious hot-spot. This project aims to explore the forty shades of grey and the many stories that exist in between the definite black and white opinions that we are presented with daily in our western news media.
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Empires: The Midici: Godfathers of the Renaissance – Public Performance
From a base in 15th-century Florence, the Medici family used charm, patronage, duplicity, and ruthlessness to amass wealth and power. The Medicis also ignited Western history’s most important cultural and artistic revolution, the Renaissance, but doomed their own ordered world. This epic drama in the courts, cathedrals, and palaces of Europe traces a family’s powerful ambition and a continent’s tortured struggle to emerge from the Dark Ages.
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Civil Reforms
Discover the key events, terms, and policies that effected and changed the United States’ ideals of human rights. Topics touch upon, the Emancipation Proclamation, Manifest Destiny and Native American’s struggle, Jim Crow laws and segregation, and the 15th Amendment.