''Colonization Road'' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by

Michelle St. John Michelle St. John (born August 26, 1967) is a Canadians, Canadian actress, singer, producer and director who has been involved in creative projects in theatre, film, television and music since the 1980s. Her directorial debut, ''Colonization Road ...

and released in 2016. Hosted by comedian and activist Ryan McMahon and starting in his own hometown of

Fort Frances Fort Frances is a town in, and the seat of, Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The population as of the 2016 census was 7,739. Fort Frances is a popular fishing destination. It hosts the annual Fort Frances Canadian Bass Cham ...

, Ontario, the film explores the impact of Ontario's historic

colonization road The colonization roads were created during the 1840s and 1850s to open up or provide access to areas in Central and Eastern Ontario for settlement and agricultural development. The colonization roads were used by settlers to lead them toward areas ...

system, which formed the basis of the province's contemporary highway system, on First Nations people."Film explores dark legacy of colonization roads in Muskoka and beyond"
MuskokaRegion.com, January 18, 2017. Some towns and cities in the province still to this day have a street named Colonization Road, and the film led some of them to debate changing their road's name. The film had a theatrical premiere in October 2016 at the

imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, held annually in Toronto in the month of October. The festival focuses on the film, video, radio, and new media work of Indigenous, Abori ...

, before airing on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

's documentary series ''

Firsthand Firsthand (sometimes first hand or first-hand) means obtained directly from the primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, ...

'' on January 26, 2017. At the

6th Canadian Screen Awards The 6th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 11, 2018, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2017.

in 2018, it received a nomination for the Donald Brittain Award for Best Social or Political Documentary Program."Canadian Screen Awards 2018: Anne has leading 13 nominations"
CBC News, January 16, 2018.

References

External links

* 2016 films Canadian documentary films Documentary films about First Nations Documentary films about road transport 2010s Canadian films {{2010s-Canada-documentary-film-stub