COLONIZATION ROAD Broadcast Premiere on CBC's "Firsthand"

After a successful world premiere at the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival in October 2016, Michelle St. John’s documentary Colonization Road will air across Canada on CBC’s weekly point-of-view documentary series Firsthand, Thursday, January 26, 2017 at 9pm (9:30 NL). Colonization Road will then be available to stream at cbc.ca/firsthand/episodes/colonization-road.

Colonization Road is an eye-opening documentary that examines First Nations and settler relations through Ontario’s first roadways. Anishinaabe comedian and activist Ryan McMahon takes viewers down Colonization Road, the main drag of his hometown of Fort Frances, Ontario. McMahon speaks with historians, lawyers, and community leaders to reveal how treaties are the foundation of Canadian law and how they articulate the relationship between Indigenous peoples and settlers.

Across Ontario there are at least ten roads that still bear the name Colonization Road or Street. Countless others have been changed over time. Many streets in Ontario that were built through the Public Lands Act of 1853, were named for settlers and are considered Colonization Roads. These roads and their remnants are stark reminders of the severe impact on First Nations in the name of “Canadian settlement.” Throughout Colonization Road, Michelle St. John explores the history of these roads and raises significant questions about “reconciliation” and what it means to “decolonize” in her directorial debut.