Tasha Hubbard is a Canadian
First Nations/
Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations.
In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree or ...
filmmaker and educator based in
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Hubbard's credits include three
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 ...
documentaries exploring Indigenous rights in Canada: ''
Two Worlds Colliding'', a 2004
Canada Award The Diversity Award is presented by Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to honour excellence in English-language television programming that "reflects the racial and cultural diversity of Canada." It was introduced in 1988 as the Multicultural ...
-winning short film about the
Saskatoon freezing deaths,
''
Birth of a Family
''Birth of a Family'' is a 2017 First Nations Canadian documentary directed by Tasha Hubbard and co-written by Hubbard and Betty Ann Adams. It follows three sisters and a brother, adopted as infants into separate families across North America ...
'', a 2017 feature-length documentary about four siblings separated during Canada's
Sixties Scoop
The Sixties Scoop was a period in which a series of policies were enacted in Canada that enabled child welfare authorities to take, or "scoop up," Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement in foster homes, from which t ...
, and ''
nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up'', a 2019
Hot Docs
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...
and
DOXA Documentary award-winning documentary which examines the
death of Colten Boushie, a young Cree man, and the subsequent trial and acquittal of the man who shot him.
["‘We Will Stand Up,’ ‘Hope Frozen’ Take Top Prizes at Hot Docs"](_blank)
'' Variety'', May 4, 2019.
Family
Born in 1973, Hubbard's birth name was Carrie Alaine Pinay. Her biological mother was a young single
Saulteaux
The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations band government in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan ...
/
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derive ...
/
Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations.
In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree or ...
woman whose parents and grandparents, as well as Hubbard's
Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations.
In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree or ...
/
Nakota
Nakota (or Nakoda or Nakona) is the endonym used by those ''Assiniboine'' Indigenous people in the US, and by the Stoney People, in Canada.
The Assiniboine branched off from the Great Sioux Nation (aka the ''Oceti Sakowin'') long ago and moved ...
father, were placed into the
Canadian Indian residential school system
In Canada, the Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school s ...
. With limited support from family and social services, Hubbard's mother gave her to a social worker whom she trusted, putting her up for adoption through the ''Saskatchewan Adopt Indian Metis (AIM)'' pilot project, part of the
Sixties Scoop
The Sixties Scoop was a period in which a series of policies were enacted in Canada that enabled child welfare authorities to take, or "scoop up," Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement in foster homes, from which t ...
.
Raised on a farm near
Avonlea, Saskatchewan
Avonlea ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the RM of Elmsthorpe No. 100 and Census Division No. 2. The village is approximately south-west of the City of Regina. The Southern Rails Cooperat ...
, Hubbard's adoptive parents were supportive of her search; it was her adoptive mother who first asked Hubbard, at the age of 14, if she wanted to find her biological family. Their search yielded nothing for almost two years until they hired a Cree lawyer who located Hubbard's birth mother in just two weeks; a woman who turned out to be a friend of her biological father. She met her birth mother three days after her sixteenth birthday, followed by her father, three weeks later. She would go on to reunite with all ten of her siblings, the last, a sister, at the age of twenty-two.
Filmography
Two Worlds Colliding (2004)
''Two Worlds Colliding'' is a 2004 documentary following the experience of Darrell Night, an Indigenous man dumped by police in a field on the outskirts of Saskatchewan in January 2000 in -20 °C temperature. Investigating the
"freezing deaths" of Indigenous peoples in the early 2000s and the cementing of distrust and fear of the Saskatchewan police, The film premiered at ImagineNATIVE in 2004, winning a
Gemini Canada Award. ''Two Worlds Colliding'' also won the
Golden Sheaf Award - Aboriginal at the 2005
Yorkton Film Festival
Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) is an annual film festival held in late May in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.
In 1947, the Yorkton Film Council (YFC) was founded and in 1950 the first international documentary film festival officially opened in w ...
.
7 Minutes (2016)
This short documentary won the
Golden Sheaf Award
Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) is an annual film festival held in late May in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.
In 1947, the Yorkton Film Council (YFC) was founded and in 1950 the first international documentary film festival officially opened in ...
-
Short Subject (Non-Fiction) at the 2016
Yorkton Film Festival
Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) is an annual film festival held in late May in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.
In 1947, the Yorkton Film Council (YFC) was founded and in 1950 the first international documentary film festival officially opened in w ...
.
Birth of a Family (2017)
Hubbard's own experiences helped influence her decision to make ''
Birth of a Family
''Birth of a Family'' is a 2017 First Nations Canadian documentary directed by Tasha Hubbard and co-written by Hubbard and Betty Ann Adams. It follows three sisters and a brother, adopted as infants into separate families across North America ...
'', about the reunion of four First Nations siblings separated as part of the Sixties Scoop. One of four reunited siblings is Betty Ann Adam, a journalist with the ''
Saskatoon Star Phoenix
''The StarPhoenix'' is a daily newspaper that serves Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a part of Postmedia Network. The ''StarPhoenix'' puts out six editions each week and publishes one weekly, ''Bridges''. It is also part of the canada ...
'', who also co-wrote the film. Adam, a
Dene, had been encouraged to document her reunion with siblings Esther, Rosalie and Ben by Marie Wilson, a commissioner with Canada's
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...
. Adam had known Hubbard for more than a decade and approached her with the idea of making the film.
The documentary was nominated for the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2017 and won the 2017 EIFF Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature and 2017 Special Jury Prize - Moon Jury at the 18th Annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.
nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up (2019)
''
nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up'' is a 2019 documentary that serves as Hubbard's personal reflection on the
death of Colten Boushie, a young Cree man, the subsequent trial and acquittal of the man who shot him, and the aftermath of the case, which caused shock and outrage across Canada. While following the trajectory of the case and the efforts of Boushie's family to seek justice, Hubbard draws attention to prejudices in the Canadian legal system, the history of colonialism on the Prairies, and anti-Indigenous racism in Canada.
The film received the Best Canadian Feature Documentary Award at Toronto's
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival,
and the Colin Low Award for Canadian Documentary at Vancouver's
DOXA Documentary Film Festival
The DOXA Documentary Film Festival is a documentary film festival
Documentary film festivals are film festivals devoted solely to documentary film, which is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or a ...
.
"‘Canadians should see this film’: Colten Boushie doc sets out on national tour"
Global News, May 22, 2019. Additionally, this film won the Golden Sheaf Award for Best Multicultural (Over 30 Minutes) at the 2020 Yorkton Film Festival
Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) is an annual film festival held in late May in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.
In 1947, the Yorkton Film Council (YFC) was founded and in 1950 the first international documentary film festival officially opened in w ...
.
References
External links
*
Films by Tasha Hubbard at NFB.ca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbard, Tasha
1973 births
Living people
21st-century First Nations people
Canadian adoptees
Canadian documentary film directors
Canadian women film directors
Cree people
Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Documentary Film
Film directors from Saskatchewan
First Nations filmmakers
Indigenous child displacement in Canada
Métis filmmakers
People from Saskatoon
People of Métis descent
Saulteaux people
University of Saskatchewan faculty
Canadian women documentary filmmakers
First Nations women