Over a decade of front-line Indigenous land defence is featured in the documentary film Yintah which will be screening in Williams Lake on Friday, Nov. 29.
Yintah, meaning land, follows two women of the Wet’suwet’en Nation who have been prominent in the battle against pipeline development on their traditional, unceded territory which spans 22,000 square kilometers in the western part of central British Columbia.
“A film like Yintah can speak to all of us,” the event’s organizer, Venta Rutkauskas, told the Tribune.
The film’s screening in Williams Lake is part of a ComeUnity event, organized by the Community Arts Council of Williams Lake and Area (CACWL) in partnership with Cariboo Chilcotin CARE and Awakenings Anti-Racism & Reconciliation.
ComeUnity events aim to build reconciliation through arts and culture, bringing together settlers and Indigenous peoples to learn and share the path towards reconciliation.
The screening starts at 6 p.m. at the Central Cariboo Arts Centre and is open to anyone upon donation, refreshments provided. Award-winning author and former chief of Xatśūll First Nation Bev Sellars will be speaking at the event along with Blaine Grinder, a Tsilhqot'in Indigenous educator, leader and land defender.
Rutkauskas said ComeUnity events are intended provide “tools to take action for a just and caring community,” adding the work towards reconciliation should not be the onus of Indigenous people alone.
The film Yintah is a result of a collaboration between filmmakers and Wet’suwet’en leaders. Camera operators were present during key moments of the decade-long resistance, filming and facing arrests. As people of the Wet’suwet’en nation defend the land and their sovereignty by reoccupying and standing ground, people such as Howilhkat Freda Huson and Sleydo’ Molly Wickham have come face-to-face with Canadian police, as captured in Yintah.
Wickham led a 55-day blockade of the Coastal GasLink pipeline, and Huson is known internationally for her work on Indigenous sovereignty, having returned to occupy her ancestral territory in 2011. She is also known for her work to help others heal from violent colonialism and in 2019 spoke at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
The ComeUnity event will continue Saturday, Nov. 30 where visitors will be able to “work with their hands,” creating red-dress themed pins and earrings with the guidance of Gerri Grinder. This part of the event will be $40, with materials, snacks and lunch provided. Rutkauskas said those who may not be able to pay the full amount can reach out to CACWL to explore more options.
Read more about Yintah and learn how to help by visiting the film’s website.
