Instruction Hub

RCtv Indigenous Realities Livestream

Welcome! This Instruction Hub is your one-stop shop for all the links, resources, and instructions your class will need to participate in the livestream.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] or at 1‑888‑508‑0881 ext. 221

We hope you enjoy the programme!

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to how the livestream works for classes watching the recording:

1. Read through this Instruction Hub: Everything you need is on this page. You can get an overview now, and then come back any time you need.

If you registered any time after Jan. 2023, then you can skip to step 3. You’ve already ordered your films, and they should arrive in your inbox on the requested date.

2. Request film links: If you registered before the livestream first aired (Nov. 30, 2022), then the standard film links you originally received will have already expired. Please fill out the quick form below to renew the links for another date of your choosing.

Please plan to screen the films as close as possible to when you will screen the livestream recording, so they’re fresh in students’ minds.

3. Prepare your class: Use the lesson plan and support resources below get ready for your screening.

4. Show the films: Screen the first four short films for your students. The total runtime is 38 minutes, and they should be screened as close as possible before you screen the livestream itself, so they’re fresh in students’ minds.

Note: The last film, Savage, will be screened during the livestream itself.

5. Watch the livestream and engage: While watching the livestream recording, make sure your students use the interactive platform to engage in activities alongside the main event. They can answer polling and quiz questions, and contribute to an extensive, nationwide student discussion board.

5. Share your feedback: After watching, make sure each student completes our student feedback form. Their responses allow us to continue offering our programmes free of charge!

Ce Centre d’instructions est également disponible en français. Il suffit de cliquer sur la langue désirée dans le menu supérieur.

This page will be updated with French versions of each resource as they become available.

As a reminder, the livestream discussion will be recorded in English and then subtitled into French afterwards. If you requested French subtitles when you registered, you can expect an email with the subtitled livestream in February. Each short film will be made available with French subtitles.

Here’s how to participate:

1. RENEW YOUR FILMS
We want the films to be fresh in students’ minds when they watch the livestream, so we recommend waiting until you have everything before you screen the films for your class. Once you hear from us that the subtitled livestream is ready, please complete this Link Renewal Form to let us know when you’d like to screen the films. (Links will be valid for one calendar week, beginning on a Monday)

2. BEFORE THE LIVESTREAM
Use the French lesson plan (coming soon) and support resources to get ready for your screening. Watch the first four short films with your students in advance of the livestream. Please plan to screen the films as close as possible to when you will screen the livestream recording.

Note: The last film, Savage, will be screened during the livestream itself.

3. LIVESTREAM
While watching the recording, make sure your students use the interactive platform to engage in activities alongside the main event. They can answer polling and quiz questions, and contribute to an extensive, nationwide student discussion board.

4. AFTERWARDS
After watching, make sure each student completes our student feedback form. Their responses allow us to continue offering our programmes free of charge!

The following resources are designed to help you prepare your class for a supported and safe learning environment during the film and livestream viewings. These materials have been developed in collaboration with a diverse set of educators, including those who identify as Indigenous, and those who are Black and/or persons of colour.

For Teachers: Best Practices & Resources for Ensuring a Culturally Safe & Respectful Screening of Films with Sensitive Content

For Students: Classroom Agreements for Anti-Racism Conversations & Mental Health Support Resources

Image of Classroom Sensitivity Support Resources

This brand new lesson plan is designed to accompany your screening of the short film programme and this livestream. Like our support resources, this has been developed in consultation with diverse educators, including those who identify as Indigenous. You can use any or all of the activities to enrich your students’ learning experience before, during, and after the livestream.

The plan includes:

  • Resources for discussing race and racism in the classroom
  • Pre- and post-viewing activities
  • Guiding discussion questions
  • Suggested extensions & summative tasks
  • Student handouts
  • Comprehension and discussion questions for the films

A French version of the lesson plan will be available here soon, and will be delivered directly to those teachers who requested it.

We’ll have lots of opportunities for engagement in the livestream itself through our interactive platform, but your students can also get involved with hands-on activities leading up to the big event. Here are just a few ideas:

  • Print out this poster to put in your classroom or school to build excitement for the event
  • Get your students to design their own event poster
  • Build a creative activity around the films, like a visual art or music prompt
  • Share any student work based on our lesson plan activities with the email below
  • Students can help set up the big screen and sound equipment for your group to watch. You can even use the school auditorium or theatre.
  • Get students to hand out popcorn or other snacks for your film viewing

If your students do get involved, we’d love to hear about it – or even see photos! Write to us at [email protected] 

A personal link to stream the short films will be sent to your email on or just before the date you requested in our form.

That personal link will provide access to four films. Please plan for your class to watch these as close as possible to when you screen the livestream, so they’re still fresh in students’ minds. The last film, Savage, will be shown during the livestream itself, where we’ll discuss it with the film’s director.

For those of you teaching remotely, you may share this link directly with your students, but please make sure to communicate that it is a private link.

If you ordered a DVD of the short film programme, you will receive that in advance of the date you requested.

Should you need to provide additional information about the short films, including any mature content, to parents, teachers, or your administration, please feel free to share this synopsis and content advisory document with them.

*Please note: if you’ve requested to preview the films, we will send them to your inbox on the date specified in your registration form.

We’ve built an interactive platform to use while watching the livestream, so students can engage with our guest, as well as with their peers nationwide. How they do that is up to you:

OPTION 1: Students engage using their own devices at their seats.

OPTION 2: As a class or in small groups, choose a spokesperson — student(s) or you — to use the platform for the whole group. Everyone in the group can contribute their thoughts aloud as they watch the show while the spokesperson enters questions and comments contributed by the group members. You could even get a head start by coming up with some questions in advance.

TIP: Whichever method you choose, test out the online platform beforehand to make sure it’s not blocked by your school board, and so you’re prepared to guide students through the experience as needed.

Activities available on the platform include:

  • POLLS – Answer both opinion questions and factual quiz questions around racism, equality and the film.
  • QUIZZES – Answer educational questions centred around the themes of the films
  • DISCUSS – Share their reflections on our discussion prompts.
  • CHAT – Engage in conversation with their peers nationwide.

Don’t worry, we’ll be moderating everything to ensure nothing inappropriate slips through.

There are three different links to participate, depending on how you’d like to set things up on the day.

A. Watch the Livestream:
www.reelcanada.ca/Livestream2022

B. Use the Interactive Platform:
www.reelcanada.ca/Forum2022

C. Livestream & Interactive Platform side-by-side on one screen:
www.reelcanada.ca/Combo2022


Here are some examples of how to set up:

  • Display the livestream (Link A) at the front of the class while students use the platform (Link B) at their seats, either as individuals or as groups.
  • If you have one spokesperson in charge of the platform (see section above), display Link C at the front of the class, so all students can see both the platform activities and the livestream at the same time.
  • Students at home can take their pick, depending on whether they have access to one device or two.

We need student feedback! In order to keep offering this programming completely free-of-charge, our funders want to know how it went, especially for our young audiences. The feedback information is captured anonymously and shared with our funders.

  • Print them out
  • Have each student complete a form
  • Send them back by scanning and emailing them to [email protected] or sending via regular mail to:

REEL CANADA
720 Bathurst Street, suite 504
Toronto, ON
M5S 2R4

TEACHER FEEDBACK FORM

  • Check your inbox for your personalized feedback form
  • This one is online, so just complete the form and you’re done

Lisa Jackson

(Anishinaabe)

Lisa Jackson is an Anishinaabe filmmaker whose award-winning film and VR work has screened worldwide, including at Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, Berlinale and Hot Docs. She launched Door Number 3 Productions in 2020 and was awarded the 2021 Documentary Organization of Canada’s Vanguard Award. She has been featured on CBC radio, The Globe and Mail, NOW Magazine, and The Georgia Straight. Her film Savage, screening in this programme, won the Genie for Best Short Film.

Ronnie Dean Harris, moderator

(Stō:lo/St’át’imc/N’laka’pamux)

Ronnie Dean Harris, aka Ostwelve, is an artist with extensive experience facilitating dialogues between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists and youth around the concept of reconciliation. He is the Indigenous Cultural Development Director at Massey Theatre in New Westminster, BC, as well as an actor, performing in the PBS/WGBH series Molly Of Denali and various other projects.

Want to extend the discussion even further? This list of curated bonus films provides additional opportunities for conversation around the themes of racism, oppression, equity, and justice. These works cover a range of subjects, all from Indigenous perspectives. It’s your choice if, when, and how you’d like to incorporate them into the programme.

Note: For a personalized form prefilled with your information, please click on the “Order Films” button in any of our monthly newsletters, or write to [email protected]

Aboriginality

(5 Min)

A young boy is transported through his television set to the scene of a traditional Indigenous hoop dance, encountering his family's cultural heritage in a new way. Includes spoken word rap in English and in Cree.

The Blanketing

(8 Min)

In the mid-1800s, the Tsilhqot'in First Nation of British Columbia was nearly wiped out by a devastating smallpox outbreak. The Blanketing depicts a fictional confrontation before the epidemic.

Christmas at Moose Factory

(13 Min)

Legendary documentarian Alanis Obomsawin’s debut film is a first-hand look at the experience of children in a residential school during Christmastime.

Four Faces of the Moon

(13 Min)

This intricate stop-motion animation interlaces Canada’s colonial past with writer-director Amanda Strong’s personal family history — and illuminates Cree, Métis, and Anishinaabe reclamation of culture, language, and Nationhood.

Indian

(2 Min)

In this amusing and powerful short, the etymology of the world "Indian" is deconstructed at the Canadian National Spelling Bee.

Jordan Gordon’s Guide to Kuujjuaq

(4 Min)

Jordan Gordon is thrilled to show you around his hometown, taking you through the highlights with a wonderful mix of humour and charm.

Sisters and Brothers

(3 Min)

In a pounding critique of Canada’s colonial history, this short film draws parallels between the annihilation of the bison in the 1890s and the devastation inflicted on the Indigenous population by the residential school system. Part of the Souvenir series, it’s one of four films by First Nations filmmakers that remix archival footage to address Indigenous identity and representation, reframing Canadian history through a contemporary lens.

The Visit

(3 Min)

The charming "true" story of an encounter between extraterrestrials and a Cree family.

Zaasaakwe

(5 Min)

A powerful call to action to all Indigenous people to shout for joy and celebrate their identity.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write to [email protected]
Or give us a call toll-free at 1-888-508-0881 ext. 221