''Farewell Oak Street'' is a Canadian docudrama

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, directed by Grant McLean and released in 1953."Film Tells Story of Housing Project". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', February 19, 1954. Narrated by

Lorne Greene Lorne Hyman Greene (born Lyon Himan Green; 12 February 1915 – 11 September 1987) was a Canadian actor, musician, singer and radio personality. His notable television roles include Ben Cartwright on the Western ''Bonanza'' and Commander Ad ...

as part of the ''

Canada Carries On ''Canada Carries On'' (French: ''En avant Canada'') was a series of short films by the National Film Board of Canada which ran from 1940 to 1959. The series was initially created as morale-boosting propaganda films during the Second World War. Wit ...

'' series, the film centres on

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

's late-1940s demolition of the run-down Oak Street neighbourhood in Cabbagetown in favour of the new

Regent Park Regent Park is a neighbourhood located in downtown Toronto, Ontario built in the late 1940s as a public housing project managed by Toronto Community Housing. It sits on what used to be a significant part of the Cabbagetown neighbourhood and ...

housing development, through a mixture of documentary footage of the reconstruction with a dramatization of the story of a family whose lives are transformed for the better by the project. The cast of the dramatic segments includes Roxanna Bond, Bonnie Brooks, Gerald Campbell,

Eric Clavering Eric Clavering (1901–1989) was a British-born actor who spent much of his career in Canada. He played supporting roles in a number of British films during the Second World War. He later moved to Canada, and had a recurring role on the Canadian ...

, Andy Halmay, Cosie Lee, Edgar Marshall, Douglas Masters, Jim McRae and

Kate Reid Daphne Katherine Reid (4 November 1930 – 27 March 1993) was an English-born Canadian stage, film, and television actress. She played more than one thousand roles, most notably onstage in '' Death of a Salesman'', in the 1980 film ''Atlantic C ...

. The film was controversial with residents of the Oak Street/Regent Park area, several of whom filed complaints objecting to being characterized as

slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...

dwellers, and alleged that the film vastly overstated the dangers of life in the old neighbourhood prior to the redevelopment. Charles Henry, the area's Member of Parliament, spoke against the film in the

Canadian House of Commons The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Commons is ...

, calling it offensive to the dignity of the residents and demanding that citizenship minister

Walter Edward Harris Walter Edward Harris, (January 14, 1904 – January 10, 1999) was a Canadian politician and lawyer. Harris was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada as the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ontario riding of Grey-Bruce ...

restrict the film's distribution. Harris declined to restrict the film. More recently, the film received some renewed attention in the early 2010s when Regent Park was again redeveloped, as the continued social problems in the community were contrasted against the film's overly optimistic thesis that the original post-war redevelopment was certain to solve them. The film won the

Canadian Film Award The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually, except in 1974 when a number of Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation. In the 1970s ...

for Best Theatrical Short Film at the 6th Canadian Film Awards in 1954.Maria Topalovich, ''And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards''. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. . pp. 25-28.

References

External links

* * Watc
''Farewell Oak Street''
at the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

1953 films Canadian short documentary films Best Theatrical Short Film Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners National Film Board of Canada short films 1953 short films Canadian black-and-white films 1953 documentary films Regent Park Documentary films about poverty in Canada 1950s English-language films Film controversies in Canada 1950s Canadian films {{1950s-Canada-film-stub