8th Fire

At the Crossroads (1x4)

: 27, 2012

At the close of the series, we meet young Aboriginals preparing to change the future, determined to light the 8th Fire and build a new relationship with Canada. A fascinating range of artists, activists and business people take us through ways to shed the colonial past, build new pathways in education and economic development. This is all in pursuit of a new relationship to replace 500 years of conflict and injustices. In a forest in Quebec, Huron Wendat Artist Teharihulen Michel Savard picks up a rifle and fires. His target: the 143 year-old Indian Act, colonial legislation that to this day governs the lives of most First Nations people. In Wendake, Michèle Taina Audette speaks about the Indian Act's discrimination towards Aboriginal women. Angela Sterritt tells us about her work Children Of the Crown which is a reminder that in Aboriginal culture, women are the guardians of culture and the land. On a TV set in Edmonton Ron E. Scott, a young Métis producer has the Aboriginal world abuzz with debate over Blackstone, his gritty drama series about reserve politics, band corruption and the addictions that threaten the progress of Aboriginal people. On a wide stretch of land 20 km outside of Natashquan, Stanley Vollant, Quebec's first Aboriginal surgeon, tells us how cultural pride and modern education are essential to the health of Aboriginal people. He knows this only too well. He's been through his own dark times and is now walking 4000 km on his people's land in a mission to bring home to Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals, the message that hope is possible and the moment for a new relationship is upon us. On Cape Breton Island Chief Terry Paul explains how the Micmacs of Membertou have been successful in attracting multinationals and in creating sustainable development; thanks to political transparency and the support of their educated youth, who have returned home to work. In a motivational workshop in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, Inuk singing star Elisa