In the Beginning was Water and Sky

Beginning in the seventeenth century, Christian missionaries set forth across Canada in order to bring their religion – impose perhaps is a  better word, on the indigenous peoples of the country.  As time progressed and it appeared that “the locals” were not converting quickly enough residential schools were set up in order to strip children of their language and cultural heritage in order to “civilise” then.

Written and directed by Ryan Ward, In the Beginning was Water and Sky tells the story of two First Nations children whose lives were irrevocably impacted by the coming of European settlers to their lands. 

The boy possibly refers to Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Anishinaabe boy who died in 1966 after fleeing a residential school in Canada. Attempting to walk more than 600 kilometres home, he succumbed to starvation and exposure near a railway line.  The girl’s story seems to be set centuries before but the two are connected by shared experiences.

Watch In the Beginning was Water and Sky below: