Independent Lens, True North: Canadian Myths and Black Power
PBS Western Reserve (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Sunday, July 12, at 11 PM
Fusion (WNEO 45.2/ WEAO 49.2):
Saturday, July 11, at noon
TRUE NORTH: CANADIAN MYTHS AND BLACK POWER reveals the largely untold history of anti-Black racism in Canada. Through historic archives and the voices of those who lived through 1960s Montreal, it explores pivotal events that impacted the global movement for Black liberation.
In 1968, the war in Vietnam was escalating, African nation-states were decolonizing, and revolutionary activity was increasing in the Caribbean. Civil unrest reverberated throughout the Western Hemisphere. In Montreal, protests were led by taxi drivers, teachers, and police officers. During this politically charged climate, a group of students converged, hailing from Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad, and elsewhere in Canada. Their anti-colonial ideas merged with Montreal's Black communities’ long-standing spirit of social change. As student protests ignited the Sir George Williams Affair at one of the city’s anglophone universities, Black youth faced violent repression, unfolding a powerful chapter of the global Black Power era.
Featuring never-before-seen footage and centering the voices of Black students and activists who lived through these events, TRUE NORTH weaves intimate personal accounts with historical analysis. The film illuminates a pivotal chapter in the Black Power movement and its lasting impact on the global struggle for Black liberation.
Poet and activist Ted Joans at the Congress of Black Writers in Montreal, Canada, 1968. Credit: La Presse.