Alanis Obomsawin, a member of the Abenaki Nation, is one of Canada’s most distinguished documentary filmmakers. Her latest National Film Board production, Our Nationhood (2003), chronicles the determination and tenacity of the Listuguj Mi'gmaq people to use and manage the natural resources of their traditional lands. The Mi’gmaq of Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church), New Brunswick were the subject of her 2002 documentary, Is the Crown at war with us? (2002), a powerful and painstakingly researched look at the conflict over fishing rights.

Ms Obomsawin began her career as a singer, writer and storyteller, but dove into filmmaking in 1967 with Christmas at Moose Factory, which she wrote and directed. Since then, Obomsawin has made over 20 uncompromising documentaries on issues affecting Aboriginal people in Canada.  The 2000 NFB release Rocks at Whiskey Trench was Obomsawin's fourth film in her series about the 1990 Oka crisis. The first, Kanehsatake 270 Years of Resistance (1993), was a feature-length film documenting the 1990 Mohawk uprising in Kanehsatake and Oka, which has won 18 international awards. It was followed by My name is Kahentiiosta (1995), a film about a young Kahnawake Mohawk woman who was arrested after the 78-day armed standoff, and Spudwrench – Kahnawake Man (1997), profiling Randy Horne, a high-steel worker from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake. 

Alanis Obomsawin was born in New Hampshire on Abenaki Territory. When she was 6 months old, her mother returned to the Odanak reservation northeast of Montreal where Alanis lived until she was 9. As a child, Théophile Panadis, her mother’s cousin, initiated her into the history of the Abenaki nation and taught her many songs and legends. Obomsawin and her parents then left Odanak for Trois Rivières, where they were the only Native family. Cut off, speaking little French and no English, Obomsawin held fast to the songs and stories she had learned on the reservation.

In 1960, Obomsawin made her professional debut as a singer in New York City. In 1967, NFB producers Joe Koenig and Bob Verrall saw Obomsawin on TV. They invited the singer/storyteller to the Film Board to work as an advisor on a film about Aboriginal people. Obomsawin went on to direct films of her own, while continuing to perform and fight for justice for her people. For 31 years, Obomsawin has directed documentaries at the NFB with strong social content, inspired by the desire to let the voices of her people be heard. In 1983, she was made a member of the Order of Canada, in recognition of her dedication to the well-being of her people and the preservation of the First Nations’ heritage through her filmmaking and activism. Obomsawin’s films include: Incident at Restigouche (1984), a powerful depiction of the Quebec police raid of a Micmac reserve; Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Métis Child (1986), the disturbing examination of an adolescent suicide, and No Address (1988), a look at Montreal’s homeless.

As a singer/songwriter, Obomsawin has toured Canada, the United States and Europe performing for humanitarian causes in universities, museums, prisons and art centres, as well as at folk art festivals. Her 1988 album Bush Lady features traditional songs of the Abenaki people, as well as original compositions.

In March 2001, Obomsawin received the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. An Officer of the Order of Canada, Obomsawin’s many honours also include the Toronto Women in Film and Television’s (TWIFT) Outstanding Achievement Award in Direction, the Canadian Native Arts Foundation National Aboriginal Achievement Award, and the Outstanding Contributions Award from the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA). The latter marks the first time that the CSAA has honoured someone who is not an academic in the field of sociology and anthropology.

Obomsawin also received a fellowship from the Ontario College of Art, an Honorary Doctor of Letters from York University, an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Concordia University and an Honorary Doctor of Literature from Carleton University. She has taught at the Summer Institute of Film and Television in Ottawa.

Obomsawin formerly chaired the Board of Directors of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, and sat on the Canada Council’s First People’s Advisory Board. She was also a board member of Studio 1, the NFB’s Aboriginal studio, and a former advisor to the New Initiatives in Film, a Studio D program for women of colour and women of the First Nations. As a member of the Board of Aboriginal Voices, she was part of an initiative to obtain a radio licence for the organization. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) in Vermont.

Alanis Obomsawin's films have won dozens of major international awards, and have been seen on television and at festivals around the world. In 1983, she was named a member of the Order of Canada, the country's highest honour.

As a mark of affection, her people call her Ko-li-la-wato - "someone who makes us very happy".

*films.nfb.ca