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Title: Richard Cardinal: Cry from a diary of a Metis child Rating: 3.8 out of 4 Reference: Director & writer, Alanis Obomsawin. Library of Congress subjects: Cardinal, Richard Métis--Alberta—Biography Foster children--Alberta--Biography Sociology subjects: Aboriginal issues Identity Kids & youth Reviews and Numerical Ratings 4 Materials are presented in a clear, concise, creative, & educational way. Viewers will be emotionally touched by this tragic story. This video does a superb job in tackling the social problems that the First Nations Peoples of Canada have been facing since the beginning of Canadian history. One of the main problems was how First Nations Peoples were colonized & exploited by European settlers. The video also deals with other social problems that Aboriginal children, such as Richard Cardinal, face: racism, prejudice, family conflicts, and difficult teenage experiences. Not only will students’ knowledge of First Nations Peoples be further enhanced, but students will also be able to relate to this video & carry out discussions because they too will find that their own ethnic communities continue to face personal hardships due to the social inequalities in this over-glorified country we call Canada. For students at any level. Minh Hoang 4 A very emotional video, good for students to watch in order to see the persistent legacies of oppressive relations between First Nations peoples and Canada. It really puts a human face to the history of this country. Madelina Sunseri 4 Well done, a bit depressing. Good for lectures on social services (foster parent system), and on the state & social services in relation to minorities (aboriginal peoples). Very social services/social work oriented. Luin Goldring 3 Most graduate students attending the workshop thought that this video was good. However, there was some concern that this video did not properly pinpoint structural issues, though the results of these issues were displayed well. Graduate students wondered whether this video had the ability to individualize these cases rather than accurately seeing Cardinal’s case as an intricate part of a system of structural injustices. The highlighted bed-wetting of Richard Cardinal was never discussed as a ramification of his arduous experiences but instead minimized as being an individual problem-rather than a response to his environment(s). Because sexual and physical abuse was a focus of this video, it was strongly recommended that students be warned prior to showing it. Graduate students seemed to think it was unfair to show this video to students without such a warning. Graduate Workshop 4 Demonstrates how personal troubles are part of a systemic problem, how effects of colonization on First Nations persist, how social institutions - law, social work, the family, & education - intertwine. Emotionally gripping, unforgettable. Topics: social institutions, family, aboriginal studies. Kathy Bischoping & Riley Olstead 4 I’d give it a “5" if I could. Disturbing,
but needed. The picture of an adolescent aboriginal hanging lifeless
from a tree will be forever burnt into my mind after watching this incredible
video. Interference in aboriginal communities will strongly be questioned
after viewers see the suffering of this adolescent, whose life consisted
of being uprooted from his community & torn away from the comfort
of his siblings at a devastatingly young age, of being transferred from
one white, Canadian foster home to the next (to 28 homes in total) like
a piece of furniture, of abuse & neglect by his foster parents,
and of inattention by social workers. Suicide is Cardinal’s answer;
death is a better option in Cardinal’s world than life. “Help
me,” he writes in his own blood. How could this happen, viewers
may ask? But what is more horrific is that this story is not extraordinary
- it is a story that belongs to many aboriginal adolescents. It is absolutely
terrifying that his voice and cries for help are only heard when he
is dead. Absolutely terrifying, absolutely appalling, and it needs to
be exposed. For students at any level. Belinda Godwin
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