In the last forty years, Canada has seen a major population shift of Aboriginal peoples to the cities. Toronto has become home to the largest urban Native population in the country, with an estimated 65,000 Aboriginal people living there now. Today's urban Indians are developing an urban Native culture. They are discovering ways to integrate important expressions of traditional Native culture into city life, including the tradition of the Elder: a person of great wisdom who dispenses advice, settles disputes, and acts as a model and arbitrator of acceptable behavior in accordance with Native customs. Meet Vern Harper, Urban Elder, who walks the “Red Road” in a fast-paced, urban landscape. The film follows Vern as he leads a sweat lodge purification ceremony, watches his 11-year-old daughter Cody at a classical ballet rehearsal, conducts a private healing ceremony, participates in a political march of 150,000 people, and counsels Native prisoners at Warkworth Federal Prison. He tells how he reaches into the past for his people's traditions, blending those old ways into the present so that the future can be a time of personal growth and spiritual strength. "Urban Elder" is part of the "First Peoples' TV" series made possible by DreamCatchers, a non-profit organization working to bring Native films to a wider audience.
The Film is available from The National Film Board Of Canada
800 542 2164 (USA
800 267 7710 (Canada)
http://www.nfb.ca
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