Copyright © 2002 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Alanis Obomsawin's acclaimed National Film Board documentary 'Is the Crown at war with us?' will have its world television premiere on Tuesday Nov. 26 at 9:00pm (EST) on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), following a successful run at major Canadian film fesativals.

        Is the Crown at war with us? is a powerful and painstakingly researched look at the conflict over fishing rights between the Mi'gmaq people of Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church), New Brunswick and their non-Native neighbours. The Mi'gmaq had been fishing the waters of Miramichi Ban since time immemorial, and their right to do so had been upheld in a landmark 1999 Supreme Court decision. But when the people of Esgenoopetitj tried to exercise their long-standing treaty rights, they found themselves under attack by non-Native commerical fisherman, and harassed by officials from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Delineating the complex roots of the present-day conflict. Is the Crown at war with us? offers a presuasive defence of the Mi'gmaq position and a gripping portrait of a community under siege.