KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – This weekend’s documentary looks at the relationship between the indigenous community in urban Halifax and food. It’s about accessing traditional foods as a way to hold on to your culture, and how to do that if your main food source is the Superstore, or even a food bank.
In a larger sense, it is about hanging on to traditional knowledge in a very non-traditional environment. And doing that not as an individual, but as a community, because traditional knowledge and community are tightly interwoven.
I am posting both the three-minute trailer, and below, the 45 minute documentary, the full meal deal so to speak. 45 minutes is a lot of time, but it’s an investment you won’t regret it.
Elder Bernie Francis, Mi’kmaq linguist and co-author of the excellent The Language of This Land, Mi’kma’ki, explains the title of the documentary, Wi’kupaltimk as follows:
“There is sacredness about this concept in the form of ‘forgiveness.’ Wi’kupaltimk can be extended in meaning as in ‘feeding one another’s spirit’ since it’s the reciprocal form of the verb….It’s difficult to capture in three words—‘Forgiveness Feast while extending kindness and compassion’ is another way of expressing it.”
There are some wonderful scenes in the documentary. Especially memorable is a visit with a mother who took her kids back to the land, “a place where you can’t be poor.”
Also featured are Pamela Glode-Desrochers of the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, Kimm Kent, and archaeologist Roger Lewis, and many more.
The documentary is produced by Kent Martin and Salina Kemp, who also conducts the many interviews.
Check it out. It’s a wonderful film.
And if you can, please support the Nova Scotia Advocate so that it can continue to cover issues such as poverty, racism, exclusion, workers’ rights and the environment in Nova Scotia.
