UNBC’s School of Education will be hosting a special screening event for the documentary DƏNE YI’INJETL – The Scattering of Man next week.
The documentary is told from the perspective of the Tsay Keh Dene Nation and its membership, detailing the devastating and lasting impacts of the construction of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam and the subsequent flooding of the Rocky Mountain Trench in northern B.C. and how it has affected the people and their way of life.
Between 1960 and 1961 the Province of British Columbia, then led by then Premier W.A.C. Bennett, underwent a series of nationalizations in order to create provincial crown corporations. This initiative included the creation of what is now known as BC Hydro.
In 1968, BC Hydro completed construction on the W.A.C Bennett Dam and began flooding the Rocky Mountain Trench in northern B.C. and the resulting flood greatly impacted the Tsay Keh Dene people who have inhabited the area since time immemorial.
The film details the events that took place before and after the flooding where more than 175,000 hectares of their territory was flooded including villages, graveyards, prime hunting, trapping, and fishing grounds, and other culturally significant sites.
The film argues the dam was viewed by many critics as a provincial vanity project and pushed ahead of schedule with little thought given to the resulting impacts on the natural environment that the Tsay Keh Dene people would soon face.
The documentary was also directed by Luke Gleeson who is also a member of the Tsay Keh Dene Nation. Gleeson has worked and played in northern ecosystems for most of his life and utilizes concepts of water, natural states and Tsay Keh Dene culture as metaphors in his music, art, and film.
Gleeson spent many years in lands and resource management, but has begun to shift back into the artistic world and is an emerging filmmaker, film score composer and consultant who culturally identifies as Glezhe Na’che and has written and performed music under this name.
“As a member of the Tsay Keh Dene Nation I was blessed to have full support from the people and our leadership. This film is unique as it is completely funded by the Tsay Keh Dene Nation and driven by one of its own members,” said Gleeson, in his director’s statement.
“Our goal was to find the beauty in the horror. We looked at the project not as a traditional documentary, but as an intimate and personal film that allows the poetry and grace of the story to unveil itself and linger throughout.”
Gleeson said he worked closely with film composer David James McLeod to create themes that would inhabit different spaces and represent different characters in the film.
“The resulting film is a story of strength, dignity, perseverance, and beauty as told by the survivors, witnesses and descendants of the Tsay Keh Dene people who were the unwilling participants in a wave of development that led to the creation of the largest hydroelectric project in the history of British Columbia.”
Gleeson will be attending the event and participating in a question-and-answer session following the film’s screening alongside UNBC First Nations Studies Associate Professor Dr. Daniel Sims.
The film will screen on Thursday, Oct. 27 in the Canfor Theatre (Room 6-123). Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. with the film starting at 7 p.m.
The event is free to all students, faculty staff and community members.
