Indigenous Plant Diva

Kamala Todd | 2008 | 9 min

T’Uy’Tanat, also known as Cease Wyss, is from the Squamish First Nation in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has grown up learning about the plant foods and medicines of her traditional territory. Living in the city, Cease is used to practising her culture in an urban habitat — she harvests, grows food, and teaches people about the indigenous plants of this rainforest ecosystem. This plant-rich film reminds us that everywhere we walk in North America, we are on indigenous land rich with history, knowledge, and deep roots. Listening to the stories of the land can help us all to connect more deeply with our urban environments, and learn the unique matrix of plants and other life that are indigenous to where we live. Indigenous knowledge is essential to rebuilding sustainable communities. Cease Wyss offers a beautiful vision of how to learn from the land and the plant teachers all around us.

Beautiful Lennard Island

Beverly Shaffer, 1977, 23 min 45 s

Distant Islands

Directed by Bettina Maylone (NFBC / 1981 / 6 min)