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Where the Spirit Lives (1990)

Where the Spirit Lives (1990)

Drama

A moving tribute to a young girl's courage and indomitable spirit...

Release Date: 1990, June 6
Directors: Bruce Pittman
Countries: Canada
Production: Atlantis Films, CBC, Amazing Spirit Productions Ltd.
Cast: Graham Greene, Ron White, Chapelle Jaffe, Michelle St. John, David Hemblen, Sam Malkin, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Tina Louise Bomberry, Patricia Collins, John Friesen, Doris Petrie, Marianne Jones

Overview:

In 1937, a young First Nations (Canadian native) girl named Ashtecome is kidnapped along with several other children from a village as part of a deliberate Canadian policy to force First Nations children to abandon their culture in order to be assimilated into white Canadian/British society. She is taken to a boarding school where she is forced to adopt Western Euro-centric ways and learn English, often under brutal treatment. Only one sympathetic white teacher who is more and more repelled by this bigotry offers her any help from among the staff. That, with her force of will, Ashtecome (forced to take the name Amelia) is determined to hold on to her identity and that of her siblings, who were also abducted.

Keywords:

native american boarding school canada