Exciting New Film – ‘Seeking Netukulimk’ was Screened at the Atlantic Film Festival

Seeking Netukulimk, a short documentary on Mi’kmaw Treaty Rights, the Supreme Court Decision in R. v. Marshall, natural resource management and eels, was screened at the Atlantic Film Festival Friday, September 13th from 4:30-5:30. Film directors, Dr. Martha Stiegman (Dalhousie University), Kerry Prosper (Paqtnkek First Nation) and co-producer, Dr. L.Jane McMillan (Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable Communities) were in attendance.

Kerry Prosper is a passionate fisher and Mi’kmaq elder, who is teaching his grandchildren how to exercise their treaty rights by fishing eels. But those rights come with sacred responsibilities to care for the land and waters of Mi’kma’ki. Seeking Netukulimk is a lyrical exploration of the traditional laws that govern fishing in the Mi’kmaq world, and some of the political battles that have been fought to defend them. Dr. L. Jane McMillan was eel fishing with Donal Marshall Jr., the morning he was arrested on charges that would make it all the way to the Supreme Court and win recognition of Mi’kmaq Treaty Rights. Kerry Prosper was Chief of Paqtnkek First Nation at the time, and remembers giving Jr. permission to fish in his people’s district, as per Mi’kmaq customary

law. This film is a product of collaborative research at StFX and was funded by the SSHRC Aboriginal Research Grant and the Canada Research Chairs programs.

An excerpt of the film can be viewed here.

Click here to learn more about the project.

**Seeking Netukulimk was produced as part of the SSHRC-funded “Seeking Netukulimk: Mi’kmaq Knowledge, Culture, Capacity and Empowerment” Research Project**