Tahltan Nation Featured at Vancouver International Film Festival

Press Release

DEASE LAKE, BRITISH COLUMBIA, October 12, 2022 – Representatives from the Tahltan Central Government (TCG) attended this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival for the world premiere of Unarchived. The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is known for celebrating the world’s cultures in its annual world- class exhibition of the year’s finest International and Canadian films. This feature-length documentary film directed by Hayley Gray and Elad Tzadok profiles the inspiring work of the diverse, underrepresented, and unarchived histories in British Columbia including that of the Tahltan Nation. The TCG will be working to share this film through screenings in Tahltan communities in the weeks ahead.

The film explores community archives across British Columbia in which local knowledge keepers are creating outside of the traditional colonialist narrative set forward by archives structured under the guidance of the Crown. The work of the TCG is profiled including the creation of our own archives and interviews with President Chad Norman Day and Sandra Marion, TCG’s Culture & Heritage Director. Unarchived follows Sandra and her team on a visit to the Royal BC Museum in Victoria where she views and comments on Tahltan belongings held in the museum’s collections. These Tahltan belongings, like many held within museums around the world belong to the Tahltan people and need to be returned home. Unarchived supports an important dialogue that the Nation is having with various museums around the world as it seeks to have Tahltan belongings returned home through dialogue and repatriation. This work is supported through the recognition of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples worldwide, including through adoption within the Province of British Columbia through B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

The TCG Archives will serve the Tahltan Nation by preserving cultural, linguistic, and historical documentary heritage. The TCG has been working to secure and organize its archives and to interview Elders and Tahltan knowledge holders to increase our understanding throughout the archival collection process. This work serves to protect Tahltan knowledge for current and future generations in support of Tahltan title and rights.

“I have been honoured to participate in this important film. The Tahltan Nation has been here since time immemorial, and it is crucial that we share our own story. Even today, many of the Tahltan belongings in museums exist as the result of theft and other unethical methods of collection despite our repeated requests for access and to bring these belongings home,” said Sandra Marion, TCG Culture & Heritage Director. “Decolonizing institutions involves bringing Indigenous perspectives to the forefront to replace Western interpretations of history. Unarchived sheds light on a contentious and not well-known topic and offers an opportunity for viewers to learn more and help our Nation as we seek to have belongings from our Nation rightfully returned to us. Mēduh to those involved in making this important film and for helping share our story.”

Unarchived offers a glimpse of some of the meaningful work being done by our Culture & Heritage Department. The TCG’s Archives will not only facilitate knowledge sharing but will also serve to reaffirm culture and identity across the Tahltan Nation. We as Tahltans are more familiar with our own story than anyone, including ethnographers, historians, archaeologists, and others who have worked to interpret our history. It is vital that we are leading how our story is told and shared with Tahltans and the outside world.

The Tahltan Nation was also highlighted in another film, The Klabona Keepers which speaks to the strength of our Nation and efforts to protect our Sacred Headwaters from commercial mining. The documentary, which premiered at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival this year, follows a group of Elders and their incredible resolve to protect our land. Through the Elders efforts on the ground, and political pressure from the TCG, our Nation worked together to complete the Klappan Plan to support protection of our land for future generations.

ABOUT THE TAHLTAN NATION

The Tahltan Central Government (TCG) is the administrative governing body of the Tahltan Nation. The TCG is the representative government of the Tahltan Nation with respect to the inherent and collective Aboriginal title and rights shared by all Tahltan people. The Tahltan Nation’s Territory spans 95,933 square km of Northwest British Columbia or the equivalent of 11 per cent of the province. For more information, visit: www.tahltan.org.

For further information, please contact:

Ombrielle Neria
Communications & External Relations Director
Tahltan Central Government
604-316-0478
communicationsdirector@tahltan.org

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