Coming to the Indigenous network, this fall, are three stories of survival, resilience and the journey towards reconciliation
When it launched in 1999, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) was the first national Indigenous broadcaster in the world. Since then, the network has created an image for itself as a world leader in Indigenous programming that celebrates diversity. The non-profit broadcaster shares stories in English, French and a variety of Indigenous languages. Nearly 10 million Canadian households engage with the network’s content, and APTN features predominantly Canadian content.
This fall, APTN aims to shine light on Indigenous resilience with three stories of survival that delve deeply into the journey towards reconciliation. The selected programs illustrate many of the historical and contemporary issues faced by Indigenous communities across Turtle Island.
Two new titles that will be featured are Little Bird, a six-part series co-produced by APTN and Crave that follows Bezhig Little Bird as she pieces together what happened during her childhood when she and her siblings were apprehended and separated during the Sixties Scoop; and Bones of Crows, a five-part series that follows Cree matriarch Aline Spears, as she confronts her past and present as a Survivor of Canada’s residential school system. Aline and her descendants fight against the ongoing impacts of systemic racism, encouraging us to work together towards a brighter and more just future. Bones of Crows expands on the feature film of the same name also launching on APTN and its Indigenous-focused streaming service, APTN lumi, this fall.
“Both of those shows are interesting to talk about together,” said APTN Director of TV Content and Special Events, Adam Garnet Jones. “They’re both really important stories for Indigenous people and Canadians, in general. They’re huge historical stories inspired by true-life events that impact all Indigenous families in Canada.”
On September 30, in recognition of the third annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR), APTN and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation will come together to produce Remembering the Children, a 90-minute commemorative gathering. The gathering will be broadcast live from Parliament Hill on the territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation. The multilingual broadcast will serve as an opportunity for viewers to honour residential school survivors, their families, their communities and all the children who never made it home.
According to Jones, part of what APTN does is to find opportunities and ways to talk about difficult things, showing heavy subject matter in an informative light.
“It’s really bringing Indigenous stories together from all over the country, with everything from news to really localized Indigenous programming, to now big-budget stories that have a global audience and global reach,” he explained of APTN’s programming and growth.
APTN will be announcing full broadcast details later this summer. To stay up to date and learn more about the network, visit aptn.ca. “APTN has been the home of, I think, the best Indigenous content in the country since 1999,” said Jones.
