Family, community, healing: Documentaries highlight personal journeys in First Nations

Originally published on December 6, 2019. 

On a special episode of Unreserved this week, we share three documentaries — three personal journeys about family, community and the desire for healing.

Sally Hart's desire to find her birth family weighed heavily on her for years. The search brought her from Vancouver to the Penelakut Nation — CBC Victoria's Jean Paetkau brings us her story in her documentary "Searching For Home."

In what seems like a bit of a walking contradiction, Leo Friday is both the chief of Kashechewan First Nation in Ontario and a priest for the Anglican church. He's the leader of his First Nation, but also a leader for a colonial institution that has brought a lot of pain to his people. CBC Sudbury's Erik White helps tell his story.

Children of God is a musical that explores the legacy of residential schools through a fictitious story of one Oji-Cree family. It was written by Corey Payette, who spent hundreds of hours interviewing dozens of residential school survivors to ensure he did the story justice. Jennifer Chrumka shares Payette's story.