'Mi'kma'ki' is a new series about the Indigenous experience in communities across Newfoundland and Labrador
A community that's reviving the tradition of birchbark canoe-building.
Indigenous researchers who study how plastic pollution threatens traditional Inuit food sources.
How knowledge about traditional Mi'kmaw medicine will be carried on to the next generation.
These three stories are told in the documentary series Mi'kma'ki, now streaming on CBC Gem.
How to build a canoe, using birchbark and materials harvested from the land
Mi'sel Joe, Chief of Miawpukek First Nation, has spent decades working to bring the tradition of birchbark canoe–building back to his community.
With the help of his brother Billy Joe and Derek Stride, Chief Joe is reviving a tradition that was almost lost. By building canoes using only materials harvested from the land, they are connecting to the past and ensuring their culture survives.
Decolonizing science: "takes a lot of conversations, takes a lot of signage, takes a lot of work"
Liz Pijogge lives in Nain, Labrador, where pollution threatens the traditional Inuit food supply. Pijogge is a Northern Contaminants Researcher, and she's working with Ocean Scientist Max Liboiron to collect data about the effects of plastic pollution so they can show just how clear the threat is.
Their community-based project is part of Liboiron's Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR), a feminist, anti-colonial lab space at Memorial University in St. John's.
For three friends, sharing language, medicine and food is a form of celebrating their Mi'kmaw identity
For Indigenous people, the word "medicine" has many manifestations and meanings. For three people with First Nations ancestry on the west coast of Newfoundland, the practice of medicine comes in various forms.
Knowledge keeper Kenneth "Mutchie" Bennet has studied traditional Mi'kmaw medicine for many years. Dean Simon is a Mi'kmaw language keeper. Now, they're passing their knowledge on to Bobby White, the Flat Bay Ward Councilor for Qalipu First Nation, to make sure it's carried to the next generation.
"Medicines help us along in our journey, in our daily life," White says in the documentary.
Mi'kma'ki was directed and producer by Wendell G. Collier, who is originally from the south coast of Newfoundland. The series was an opportunity for him to highlight stories and traditions that resonate with the Indigenous communities in the province.
"Being asked to create these pieces inside of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, where I was born and where a large part of my family still live, was an incredible honour and a privilege," he says. "There was such tremendous support for the project all around, in every community we went to for filming. It was almost overwhelming. It was a true testament to the hospitable nature of Newfoundlanders, and it felt truly like coming home."
