First interaction: address your prejudices by meeting Aboriginal people

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With rapper and actor Samian as guide, six people from Quebec went to confront their anti-Indigenous prejudices by living an 18-day immersion in various communities in the province. Their adventure is told in the documentary series First contactbroadcast from Wednesday night on Canal D.

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This is a concept modeled on the Australian series First Contactbroadcast in 2014 and repeated in an English-language program in 2018 and 2019. The three women and three men selected for First contact among others, met with the Atikamekw, Abenaki people and Anishinabe communities of Abitibi and Haute-Gatineau, as well as with members of Montreal’s urban Aboriginal population.

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The man explained a situation with his hands, in an outdoor parking lot.

Stereotypes anchored in some minds

As we see in the trailer, some of the biases expressed by the participants before their adventure could be shocking in 2022, when Canada engages in a First Nations reconciliation process for several years.

When I think of a Native today, it is the feathers and the tepeesays one of the participants in the video, while another launches: I thought we got rid of them all, honestly.

But according to Jean-François Martel, director of the series, such initial ideas are common among the Quebec population. I may not agree with what they say, but they had the courage to say it during a time in history that we know there are things that are not said.he explains at the end of the line.

These are people who aren’t afraid to talk about certain biases floating around them, even if they’re not biases they firmly believe. They have honest questions, like about taxes or the negotiation of territories, questions that, I’m sure, many Quebecers ask themselves.

Six women and a man sat in a semicircle in front of the man sitting in the cooler in a pavilion.

Making bridges without falling into voyeurism

Jean-François Martel affirms that the film’s crew and the six volunteers were well received by the natives, despite the risk that their approach would not be understood or perceived as a form of unhealthy voyeurism.

We don’t want to do a show reality show, we want to make a real documentary, with people experiencing real things. Everything we did in pre-production aimed to ensure that, despite having cameras, we could bring about real encounters between people.he explains.

The fact that Nish Media, which produces the series, is an Aboriginal company has certainly helped in facilitating contacts, according to the director. Nish Media enjoys a certain amount of trust in Aboriginal communities. I think everyone saw that the project was in good hands.

Ang [peuples autochtones] is very warm and sociable. They are willing to listen to prejudices that are sometimes loud and respond to them.

A quote from Jean-François Martel, director of First contact

Mr. Martel said he was touched by the change he observed in participants at their meetings. The three 45 minute stages of First contact will be broadcast from Wednesday at 7 pm on Canal D.

Source: Radio-Canada

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