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Movies & TV

Water Docs 2019 celebrates the work of Indigenous water champions

Ever since Autumn Peltier was a little girl, she was taught about water rights by her mother and great aunt Josephine Mandamin. The latter was an Anishinaabe elder from Manitoulin Island, who started a series of long-distance walks around the Great Lakes in 2003 to raise awareness about water pollutants.   

Over the course of her life, she walked thousands of kilometres annually, and her story was even turned into a book entitled The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson in 2017. She passed away last month at the age of 77, but her 14-year-old niece has been carrying her torch in memory.

This year’s Water Docs Film Festival, taking place March 21 to 24 at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema and other venues across the city, will recognize both their tireless work by giving them their annual Water Warrior Award.  “It’s an honour,” says Peltier. “I feel really proud to be accepting this award for my Auntie Josephine. She is one of my main role models.”

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Not only has the grade-nine student at Manitoulin Secondary School travelled over 15,000 kilometres, but she’s spoken at over 200 engagements in Canada, the US and overseas about the importance of clean drinking water for Indigenous people in Ontario and Canada. Peltier is also a spokeswoman for the Treaty Alliance of Canada.

Whether she’s visiting classrooms, women’s circles, and even the United Nations Headquarters in New York for World Water Day last year, it’s important to her that she carry on the traditions of her ancestors. “My favourite memory from a water walk was walking across a bridge in Duluth, Minnesota,” she recalls. “It was really windy and very cold. I was with a lot of people and it was fun.”

Ecologos’ Water Warrior Award — designed by Toronto glass artist Aurora Darwin — is presented each year at the film festival to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to protecting and raising awareness about threats and issues facing water. The inaugural recipient in 2018 was Canadian activist, author and National Chairperson for the Council of Canadians, Maude Barlow.

This year’s family-friendly programming includes just shy of 40 short and feature films from around the world, many of which will be making their international or Canadian premieres. Guests will have the opportunity to take part in lively discussions with filmmakers and guest speakers, learn about water issues, and discover action possibilities from different community partners.

As for Peltier, she’s not planning on slowing down her advocacy any time soon.

“The most important thing I want people to know is that water is really just an important basic human right that everyone deserves. And to carry on the legacy of my Aunt.”

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