Meet Randy Horne, high steel worker from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, near Montreal. As a defender of his people's culture and traditions, he was known as "Spudwrench" during the 1990 Oka crisis. Horne was behind the barricades, resisting the efforts of the municipality of Oka to expand a golf course onto sacred Mohawk land. Horne is one of many Mohawk high steel workers who have travelled the continent, working on some of the world's tallest buildings--but have never lost touch with their roots. Spudwrench - Kahnawake Man is both a portrait of Horne and the generations of daring Mohawk construction workers that have preceded him, and a unique look behind the barricades at one man's impassioned defence of sacred territory. The third film in Alanis Obomsawin's series on the events of 1990.

Yvonne M'Sadoques rocks forward in her chair. She's lived in the Abenaki community of Odanak for over a century - and has no shortage of stories to tell. "The priest would march into our home and order us to stop dancing. We were going to the devil, he said." She pauses, a humorous glint in her eye. "But you know - I don't really believe in the devil. Do you?" M'Sadoques is in conversation with Alanis Obomsawin, another of Odanak's proud daughters - and one of Canada's leading documentary filmmakers. Obomsawin's illustrious career comes full circle with Waban-Aki: People from Where the Sun Rises. Having dedicated nearly four decades to chronicling the lives of Canada's First Nations, she returns to the village where she was raised to craft a lyric account of her own people.

John Diabo was a cherished member of a tight-knit family in the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, near Montreal, Quebec. Nevertheless, John had been tortured by drug addiction for more than a decade. In 1998, he ended his own life at the age of thirty-one.

Eugene "Gene Boy" Benedict was raised by his Great Uncle and Aunt on the Odanak Indian Reserve an hour and a half east of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He left home at age 15 to work in construction in New York State. At 17, adrift and beginning to lose his way, he accepted a dare and enlisted in the US Marines. A few months later, he was on his way to the frontlines of the Vietnam War. This film is the harrowing and deeply moving story of his two years of service in Vietnam and his long journey back to Odanak afterwards.

Fourteen-year-old Shannen Koostachin launched a campaign to build a suitable school for the children of the Cree community of Attawapiskat in 2008. Two years later, tragedy struck when Shannen was killed in a car accident. Her campaign became a national movement, bringing people from all walks of life together to make Shannen's dream--the dream of fairness in education for First Nations children--a reality. Alanis Obomsawin brings together the voices of those who have taken Shannen's dream across Canada and all the way to the United Nations in Geneva, in a larger-than-life adventure. In February 2012, a motion on education for First Nations children passed unanimously in the House of Commons.

Fourteen-year-old Shannen Koostachin launched a campaign to build a suitable school for the children of the Cree community of Attawapiskat in 2008. Two years later, tragedy struck when Shannen was killed in a car accident. Her campaign became a national movement, bringing people from all walks of life together to make Shannen's dream--the dream of fairness in education for First Nations children--a reality. Alanis Obomsawin brings together the voices of those who have taken Shannen's dream across Canada and all the way to the United Nations in Geneva, in a larger-than-life adventure. In February 2012, a motion on education for First Nations children passed unanimously in the House of Commons.

It was the summer of 2000 and the country watched with disbelief as federal fishery officers appeared to wage war on the Mi'gmaq fishermen of Esgenoopetitj, or Burnt Church, New Brunswick. Why would officials of the Canadian government attack citizens for exercising rights that had been affirmed by the highest court in the land? What happened at Burnt Church? Alanis Obomsawin casts her cinematic and intellectual nets into history to provide a context for the events on Miramichi Bay. Delineating the complex roots of the conflict with passion and clarity, she builds a persuasive defence of the Mi'gmaq position.

On a hot July day in 1990, an historic confrontation propelled Native issues in Kanehsatake and the village of Oka, Québec, into the international spotlight and into the Canadian conscience. A powerful feature-documentary emerges that takes you right into the action of an age-old aboriginal struggle. The result is a portrait of the people behind the barricades, providing insight into the Mohawks' unyelding determination to protect their land.

In Our Nationhood, Aboriginal filmmaker and artist Alanis Obomsawin chronicles the determination and tenacity of the Listuguj Mi'gmaq people to use and manage the natural resources of their traditional lands. Our Nationhood provides a contemporary perspective on the Mi'gmaq people's ongoing struggle and ultimate success, culminating in the community receiving an award for Best Managed River from the same government that had denied their traditional rights.

A moving tribute to Richard Cardinal, a Métis adolescent who committed suicide in 1984. He had been taken from his home at the age of four because of family problems, and spent the rest of his seventeen short years moving in and out of twenty-eight foster homes, group homes and shelters in Alberta. A sensitive, articulate young man, Richard Cardinal left behind a diary upon which this film is based.

On August 28, 1990, a convoy of 75 cars left the Mohawk community of Kahnawake and crossed Montreal's Mercier Bridge--straight into an angry mob that pelted the vehicles with rocks. The targets of this violence were Mohawk women, children and elders leaving Kahnawake, in fear of a possible advance by the Canadian army. In Rocks at Whiskey Trench, Mohawks remember the terror as windows shattered around them. Police had orders not to arrest anyone--and though they stood by during the rock-throwing, they were able to prevent the mob from reaching the cars and attacking their occupants. The film looks back at the events surrounding the August 28 attack, and delves into the history of Kahnawake and the consequences of the appropriation of land that have shrunk its territory by more than two-thirds over the last 300 years.

As the only First Nations student in an all-white 1940s school, eight-year old Wato is keenly aware of the hostility towards her. She deeply misses the loving environment of the reserve she once called home, and her isolation is sharpened by her fatherʹs serious illness. When Watoʹs teacher reads from a history book describing First Nations peoples as ignorant and cruel, it aggravates her classmatesʹ prejudice. Shy and vulnerable Wato becomes the target of their bullying and abuse. Alone in her suffering, she finds solace and strength in the protective world of her magical dreams.

Explores the 1990 confrontation between the Mohawk Nation and the Canadian government at Mercier Bridge.