''Tribal'' is a Canadian television crime drama series, which premiered February 20, 2020 on APTN. The series stars Jessica Matten as Sam Woodburn, the newly appointed chief of an indigenous police force in the Nêhiyawak

First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, and

Brian Markinson Brian Markinson (born September 1, 1961) is an American-Canadian actor who has appeared in a wide variety of films and television shows. Some of Markinson's best known roles include a U.S. Attorney General in ''Shooter'', an unscrupulous industr ...

as Chuck “Buke” Bukansky, a racist and sexist white cop from

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

whom she is paired with to solve crimes.Sabrina Furminger
"Vancouver actor tackles ugly role in APTN police procedural Tribal"
''Vancouver Courier'', February 12, 2020. The cast also includes

Adam MacDonald Adam MacDonald (born May 16, 1977) is a Canadian actor, writer, and director. He is known for portraying Josh MacIntosh on the CBC show ''Being Erica'', Peter McGregor on '' Wild Roses'', and Detective Steve Peck on ''Rookie Blue'', and for hi ...

, Ryan Northcott, Julian Black Antelope,

Garry Chalk Garry Chalk is a British-born Canadian actor. He has provided the voices for Optimus Primal of '' Beast Wars: Transformers'' and '' Beast Machines'', as well as Optimus Prime in the anime English dubs of '' Transformers: Armada'', '' Transform ...

Justin Rain Justin Rain (born October 27, 1981) is a Canadian First Nations actor. He is of Plains Cree descent. Biography Justin Rain was raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, where he attended St. Mary's High School. Justin began abusing drugs in his y ...

Michelle Thrush Michelle Thrush (born February 6, 1967) is a Canadian actress and First Nations activist for Aboriginal Canadians and the other Indigenous peoples of the Americas. She is best known for her leading role as Gail Stoney in '' Blackstone'', for which ...

Glen Gould Glen Gould (born June 6, 1971) is an Indigenous Canadian actor, director and producer of Miꞌkmaq and Italian descent. Between 2016 and 2020, he played the role of detective Jerry Commanda on the television series ''Cardinal''. Career Gould ...

John Cassini John Cassini (born in Toronto) is a Canadian actor. Career Cassini appeared in the 1995 Brad Pitt film ''Seven''. He starred in the 2005 film ''Cool Money''. Cassini starred as Ronnie Delmarco on the CBC series ''Intelligence'', which was canc ...

Joel Oulette Joel Oulette is a Canadian actor, most noted for his lead role as Jared in the television drama series ''Trickster''.Aruna Dutt"How this young Canadian star went straight from high school to 'making history' on TV" CBC News, October 14, 2020. A mem ...

Marika Sila Marika Sila (born March 18, 1992) is a Canadian Inuvialuk actress, content creator, and social activist. Born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, her family (originally from Tuktoyaktuk) moved to Canmore, Alberta when she was five years old. ...

, and

Georgina Lightning Georgina Lightning is a First Nations film director, screenwriter, and actress. Biography Born in Edmonton, Alberta, she is an enrolled member of the Samson Cree Nation. She was raised off-reserve, near the Samson community in Edmonton, Alberta ...

. The first season consists of eight episodes directed by Ron E. Scott. In advance of the series premiere, APTN announced that the show will have a second season. The second season of ten episodes premiered on October 21, 2021 and was directed by Ron E. Scott and Asaf Benny. The series was filmed in

Premise

Following her predecessor's suspension due to allegations of corruption, Officer Sam Woodburn is appointed as the new interim Chief of the Justice Department's newly integrated Tribal Police Force. She is forced to partner up with Detective Chuck 'Buke' Bukansky who has a reputation for racism. Despite their conflicting views together they investigate crimes that involve or have direct links to the First Nations.

Cast

Jessica Matten Jessica Matten is a Canadian actress and producer. Career In 2018, Matten appeared in Season 3 of Discovery Canada and Netflix's TV show ''Frontier'' starring Jason Momoa. Also in 2018, she began appearing in the CW Network and CBC drama '' B ...

as Chief Samantha "Sam" Woodburn *

as Detective Chuck “Buke” Bukansky *

as Detective Lucas Fielding * Ryan Northcott as Detective Mitch Wheeler * Julian Black Antelope as Daniel Crowchild *

as Constance "Connie" Edwin Harris *

as Ryan Streit-(Season 1) *

as Jackie Woodburn-(Season 1) *

as Gordon Thundercloud-(Season 1) *

as Jimmy Ganz-(Season 1-Season 2) * Ana Rice as Officer Tara Whitetail-(Season 1)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2020)

Season 2 (2021)

Reception

In his year-end review of television in 2020, critic John Doyle of ''

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 ...

'' singled out both Markinson and Matten as having given two of the year's best performances in Canadian television. John Doyle, "Great Canadian TV performances of 2020". ''

'', December 15, 2020.

References

External links

* 2020 Canadian television series debuts 2020s Canadian crime drama television series Aboriginal Peoples Television Network original programming Television shows filmed in Calgary First Nations television series {{Canada-drama-tv-prog-stub