God's Lake Narrows is a community located in northeastern
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
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, coordinates =
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in Canada. The community is located on the shores of
Gods Lake
Gods Lake is a lake in northeastern Manitoba in Canada. The lake covers an area of with a net (water surface) area of , making it the 7th largest lake in the province. It lies north of Island Lake at an elevation of , approximately east of Th ...
, which is the 7th largest lake in the province. God's Lake has a maximum depth of 75 meters.
Located 550 km northeast of
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
, the community is accessible by air, boat,
and b
winter roads(see map)
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population
The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...
conducted by
Statistics Canada, Gods Lake Narrows had a population of 141 living in 57 of its 69 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 89. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Website
The community is the subject of an interactive documentary, ''
God's Lake Narrows'', by artist and filmmaker
Kevin Lee Burton, who was born in the community, co-created by NFB producer Alicia Smith. ''God's Lake Narrows'' utilizes photos of the community by
Scott Benesiinaabandan
Scott may refer to:
Places Canada
* Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec
* Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380
* Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Saskat ...
, a Manitoba-based
Anishinabe
The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi ...
artist. Benesiinaabandan's photos had originally been displayed in a Winnipeg gallery.
Christine Fellows
Christine Fellows (born 1968) is a Canadian folk-pop singer-songwriter from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
History
Born in Windsor, Ontario and raised in France and Kelowna, British Columbia, Fellows lived in Toronto, Vancouver, Guelph and Montreal befor ...
did sound design for the project, which was produced in Winnipeg by 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 ...
.
The website consists of 26 slides which alternate between photographs and text. Viewers can navigate the website by clicking on arrows embedded on each page. In May 2012, ''God's Lake Narrows'' received the Webby Award
The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...
for best use of photography. It was also nominated for individual episode in the online film and video category.
The website project grew out of Burton and Caroline Monnet's installation piece RESERVE(d) which was shown in Winnipeg at the Shaman Urban Gallery in 2010. The installation included sound, film, photography, and archival images of Burton's grandmother. It was designed to create an intimate community that mirrored a "reserve reality." Alicia Smith, a producer at the National Film Board, was one of the guests invited to the installation at the gallery. She worked together with Burton to write and create the online version after her experience.
The website builds Indigenous guest protocol into its structure. It follows the principle of hospitality, the Cree miyo-wîcêhtowin, "the principle of getting along well with others, good relations, expanding the circle," and hospitality, "the act or practice of being hospitable; the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers, with liberality and goodwill". The God's Lake Narrows website begins by allowing viewers to see the exterior of the homes; it then invites them inside. However, before viewers are allowed inside of the homes and lives of these Indigenous families, they must learn about their community.
References
External links
''God’s Lake Narrows''
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 ...
*Welcome to God's Lake Narrow
*Screen Sovereignty: Understanding God's Lake Narrows as an Indigenous-Controlled Space
*
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Designated places in Manitoba
Northern communities in Manitoba
Unincorporated communities in Northern Region, Manitoba