The story of renowned photographer Tina Modotti, acclaimed for her innovative…
Picturing a People: George Johnston, Tlingit Photographer
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
At the age of 16, George Johnston left the Yukon community of Teslin and trekked hundreds of miles overland to coastal Alaska in search of the history of his people. Johnston met with elders, learning as much as he could about the Tlingit religion and the songs and dances of his people.
A few years later, Johnston did something else that was quite extraordinary: after ordering a camera from a mail-order catalogue, he taught himself to use it and to develop and print his own photographs. The images he recorded--of special moments and everyday occasions--became a beacon to the young and a testament to the golden times of the Tlingit people.
Johnston's photos lovingly portray a sense of history and a zest for life. His work as a photographer in the period from 1920 to 1945 has long been recognized in the Native community, predating a generation of Indian and Inuit photographers. Today, as his photographs gain international recognition, the National Film Board of Canada has released a documentary directed by Carol Geddes, a clan relative of Johnston's. Picturing a People: George Johnston, Tlingit Photographer is a unique portrait of a man who was himself a creator of portraits and a keeper of his culture. Johnston cared deeply about the traditions of the Tlingit people, and he recorded a critical period in the history of the Tlingit nation. As Geddes says, his legacy was 'to help us dream the future as much as to remember the past.'
Citation
Main credits
Geddes, Carol (film director)
Geddes, Carol (screenwriter)
Geddes, Carol (narrator)
Bochner, Sally (film producer)
Hargrave, George (film producer)
Smarch, Keith Wolf (actor)
Other credits
Cinematography, James Jeffrey, Joan Hutton; editor, Annie Ilkow; music, Charles Morrow with the Porter family.
Distributor subjects
Indigenous Peoples in Canada - Arctic Region, Indigenous Peoples in Canada - Portraits, Indigenous Peoples in Canada - Visual Arts and Architecture, Visual Arts - Indigenous Art, Visual Arts - Arctic Region, Visual Arts - Photography, DocumentaryKeywords
WEBVTT
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Listen. Are people believe
in reincarnation.
00:00:47.345 --> 00:00:50.689
We have no words for final death.
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No word for goodbye to Yea
egoistic teen we say I\'ll see you
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again these pictures tell
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the story of the inland
clean-cut people where they
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were and where they are going
and alpha man of my village.
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Who chose a camera to tell stories
Stories needed by those yet to be born
00:01:37.090 --> 00:01:41.718
as the 19th century was
turning into the 20th
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clean-cut dwellers of the rain forests
of Southwest Alaska began migrating to
00:01:47.960 --> 00:01:55.960
the interior in 1890 for a
for and moosehide bundle
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containing a small boy was carried over
00:02:00.380 --> 00:02:08.380
the trail When the boy
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was Amir and they call him George
johnston but his real name was cosh claw.
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Through his camera.
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He recorded the memories
of the golden times of
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His people
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look okay
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One winter george already to camera
and developing kid from the eaten
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his mail order catalog for distribution
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George breed like photography.
00:03:44.975 --> 00:03:51.438
Once he learned how to develop its own pictures
and I think that was almost like today\'s.
00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:55.909
Four alright you\'re going to see your
pictures right away and I think he
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realized that this had he
always had a camera with
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him no matter where you went with a reranking
or wherever he is Here are pictures
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I think like other people to see what what
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easy like
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all these pictures.
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All the photographs you see his.
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He developed all his own.
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He learned how to do that
00:04:35.500 --> 00:04:40.399
and Musaddeq quite something to a person
that never went to school or anything would
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still come out with photos like
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this
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Shoe
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to the clink
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its own laws George took a young
wife from another clam known
00:05:03.530 --> 00:05:11.530
as Lucy was co-locate con
crow clan they married in
00:05:13.490 --> 00:05:21.490
1929 born of high rank in the geneity clan
00:05:21.979 --> 00:05:25.249
George\'s symbol and his flag is
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the wolf
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It clean-cut people.
00:05:38.269 --> 00:05:42.528
Yarn Johnston and all those people
their grandmothers grandfathers
00:05:42.529 --> 00:05:48.258
mine came up into this
territory in this district.
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Through the tak who River to left and 2nel.
00:05:56.479 --> 00:06:01.369
And he came all the way up and they
did death before the flight plan even
00:06:01.370 --> 00:06:06.738
set foot here cosine
00:06:06.739 --> 00:06:11.588
get desperate they call us They come in
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land and they would stay August and they
had trample winter around the whole of
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the Yukon and the southern part in the
northern part is was there stomping
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grounds to take older furs and cool down to
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Juno and there were trading with
00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:37.680
the Russian people like
00:06:39.190 --> 00:06:42.759
most clean-cut women Lucy
Johnston was skilled at
00:06:42.760 --> 00:06:47.964
domestic work yet women were
equally at home out on the land.
00:06:47.965 --> 00:06:55.965
Showing confidence and strength in hunting
fishing and trapping For trapping at
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one time engaged almost all of the clink at
00:07:00.400 --> 00:07:06.999
people back in 1928 because
he had a pretty good trap and
00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:11.678
season and he was determined he
was going to buy a car and even
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though some of his friends and summaries
breasts certainty was crazy but he still.
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He was going to own the first
car intestine which he
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did he came into White Earth
to be called Charlie Taylor.
00:07:28.314 --> 00:07:30.920
This is how I want to buy a car.
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How to arrive at George know
always this but I\'ll learn.
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Okay get in and I\'ll show you And he went
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up behind white horse here and he showed
them which really shifted back and forth.
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Next thing renewal is on the barge coming
00:07:54.524 --> 00:08:01.563
Tessman far removed from the
world of roads and highways.
00:08:01.564 --> 00:08:04.098
The village was served only by boat in
00:08:04.099 --> 00:08:09.093
the summer months but George did not
consider the lack of erode in Teslin
00:08:09.094 --> 00:08:17.094
a handicap to owning a car George
and other men from the village
00:08:19.009 --> 00:08:23.688
cleared by hand Tesla first
rode in the summer of
00:08:23.689 --> 00:08:26.129
1928
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after
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cutting three miles
00:08:35.300 --> 00:08:40.429
of road from the underbrush
George offered taxi rides for $2
00:08:40.430 --> 00:08:48.430
a person in exchange for the fair George paid
people to help build and maintain his road
00:08:59.980 --> 00:09:04.729
I came to test learn and there was a
lot of people that never had seen
00:09:04.730 --> 00:09:10.169
a car before in their lives or
anything like that and I was excited.
00:09:23.350 --> 00:09:29.644
My dad used to play his camera around
to these to keep it in his toxic.
00:09:29.645 --> 00:09:34.048
So when he kill something or see
something he\'s got to picture
00:09:34.049 --> 00:09:39.048
it to my dad and all his brothers.
00:09:39.049 --> 00:09:47.049
Surely Johnson William Johnson gave Johnson
These two can gather here you know.
00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:55.840
That\'s way to call it Johnston tell they
would gather in here and just religious.
00:09:57.830 --> 00:10:05.830
Just enjoy each other\'s company holiday
alright from Christmas right to New Years.
00:10:07.685 --> 00:10:10.518
After New Year\'s able buddy
go back to the lines
00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:16.110
again there was one day good
times I remember both displace
00:10:17.500 --> 00:10:21.559
what he used to Tony\'s you say if you go
00:10:21.560 --> 00:10:25.159
fishing or anything like that just
because the patient is plentiful
00:10:25.160 --> 00:10:29.058
Don\'t take advantage of it
take what you need and leave
00:10:29.059 --> 00:10:35.333
the rest and never don\'t do any animals
00:10:35.334 --> 00:10:39.168
wrong or anything lived
at ease to tell me that
00:10:39.169 --> 00:10:43.069
way you will always be owed the
bush by yourself Dale never
00:10:43.070 --> 00:10:48.829
bother you they won\'t touch you they might
look at you and you might look at them
00:10:48.830 --> 00:10:55.519
but does it but if you abuse
them they\'ll come after you too.
00:10:55.520 --> 00:11:00.588
You say everything is looked
at and it seemed thing I
00:11:00.589 --> 00:11:05.970
teach my kids know what their
grandfather used to tell me
00:11:13.860 --> 00:11:17.619
The freezing over of Tesla lake provided
00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:22.430
an additional 90 miles of
road for George to drive on.
00:11:30.870 --> 00:11:37.879
True to his practical nature George
used the car to hunt game on the lake.
00:11:39.870 --> 00:11:46.460
For this he painted at quite in the
winter and dark again in the spring
00:11:49.720 --> 00:11:53.658
He named his car seat Kuijk meaning
00:11:53.659 --> 00:11:55.859
little slave
00:12:32.470 --> 00:12:33.799
George
00:12:33.800 --> 00:12:34.040
stood
00:12:34.041 --> 00:12:39.199
out as a photographer not only for a
natural eye but for his deep feeling for
00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:43.968
his subjects the photos
00:12:43.969 --> 00:12:49.979
seemed to be collaboration\'s People are
presented as they wish to be seen.
00:12:52.630 --> 00:12:56.928
Each person gazes at the
camera with a look of
00:12:56.929 --> 00:13:03.618
calm engagement or an open
enjoyment of a moment
00:13:03.619 --> 00:13:05.358
shared by the photographer and
00:13:05.359 --> 00:13:13.359
his subjects George recorded
00:13:14.690 --> 00:13:17.299
the important moments of his culture.
00:13:17.300 --> 00:13:20.779
Whether they were events of
day to day living such as
00:13:20.780 --> 00:13:27.364
hunting or the out of the ordinary
spoke of events more unusual.
00:13:27.365 --> 00:13:28.698
Like the placing of
00:13:28.699 --> 00:13:30.840
a grave fans
00:13:36.250 --> 00:13:41.883
George Johnson\'s Mongol
traditional blanket law
00:13:41.884 --> 00:13:44.279
you have to be erased up by your uncle.
00:13:44.280 --> 00:13:51.959
So I was mostly on the east
care on cultural heritage.
00:13:52.090 --> 00:13:56.359
Traditional loss And pay post-doc down to
00:13:56.360 --> 00:14:03.228
me live the five to pass
that on it\'ll pick mayor
00:14:03.229 --> 00:14:11.229
a book have to write a book but 1-8
and I\'d like to generator culture
00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:19.480
the hammered i right into me my dear
boy you gotta know you history.
00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:25.384
You\'ve gotta know who you
are where you come from
00:14:25.385 --> 00:14:31.414
and I\'ll put it up here I
remember I never use it
00:14:31.415 --> 00:14:37.579
I\'m told us by going a bargain
that\'s 700 and eighty\'s Start
00:14:37.580 --> 00:14:44.489
to realize that I need my
culture or my heritage.
00:14:45.280 --> 00:14:51.078
It was very rich with her in them days
in this country and the prices were
00:14:51.079 --> 00:14:55.968
good they come in in March
sailor furs and they
00:14:55.969 --> 00:15:00.259
would go hunting beaver then all the way
00:15:00.260 --> 00:15:04.878
in April and May and then
they all come down to we
00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:08.869
code at the Post Penciling post I still
00:15:08.870 --> 00:15:14.960
referred to that we were you going
up to the post peak could be fake.
00:15:15.070 --> 00:15:20.794
And before March came don\'t forget
there\'s known no finches again.
00:15:20.795 --> 00:15:27.150
So they would fish and stuff like that
and they\'d share it with everybody
00:15:52.540 --> 00:16:00.409
From the 1860s through the 1830s goods
from the white world were traded from
00:16:00.410 --> 00:16:05.673
hand-to-hand treasured items such as
00:16:05.674 --> 00:16:12.450
T flour and metal implements ease
the hard work of a life on the land
00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:39.513
But beneath it all clink at culture continued
to be kids steady rhythm rhythm of
00:16:39.514 --> 00:16:47.369
individual responsibility to clan and through
clan responsibility to the spirit world
00:17:03.940 --> 00:17:08.119
George\'s wisdom was a keen knowledge of
00:17:08.120 --> 00:17:12.019
the difference between a product
of the hand and a product of
00:17:12.020 --> 00:17:20.020
the heart By all accounts of people who were
there George was a keeper of his culture.
00:17:38.050 --> 00:17:43.999
Back then you had to have good dogs
but those dogs were big to make
00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:45.558
work dogs that weren\'t
00:17:45.559 --> 00:17:49.654
scleral slim little things like what
you see today like the reason dogs.
00:17:49.655 --> 00:17:53.239
These were dogs bread special for work in
00:17:53.240 --> 00:18:00.650
my garden Everything was based
drawing survival back in those days.
00:18:05.280 --> 00:18:08.438
While survival was the focus during
00:18:08.439 --> 00:18:14.108
the winter months the onset of long
summer days brought their promise of
00:18:14.109 --> 00:18:21.324
reunions Canada\'s national
holiday Dominion Day
00:18:21.325 --> 00:18:25.579
was the most anticipated
celebration of the Year.
00:18:35.160 --> 00:18:43.160
The first to July ever said All the
children and everybody took part here.
00:18:43.884 --> 00:18:46.740
Everybody was included.
00:18:47.500 --> 00:18:51.408
They treasured their young people and they
00:18:51.409 --> 00:18:55.410
treated their young people
equally to themselves
00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:08.418
in a culture where the
group was valued over
00:19:08.419 --> 00:19:15.510
the individual prizes were given to almost
everybody taking part in the sports day events
00:19:20.070 --> 00:19:28.070
Firstly July I got charged dollar along this
car for a trip Don who hawks Creek and back
00:19:32.670 --> 00:19:40.670
down with these core areas dances gone on
all the older people just enjoy themselves
00:19:43.690 --> 00:19:49.713
and ask kids they tell us who you
behave you can watch the dancing Do you
00:19:49.714 --> 00:19:56.509
get tired out to live for
but there was a good dance.
00:19:58.740 --> 00:20:03.734
Everybody went to the death and interests
00:20:03.735 --> 00:20:09.869
Really great dance till the sun
rays tend over English ranges
00:20:12.620 --> 00:20:15.768
and there\'s no big booze-up nothing it was
00:20:15.769 --> 00:20:23.338
just plain good old
cheerfulness get-together pays
00:20:23.339 --> 00:20:29.839
to be a musician to George is to play
the federal mainland insurance like
00:20:29.840 --> 00:20:37.840
an error
00:20:39.679 --> 00:20:40.070
but h
00:20:40.071 --> 00:20:45.840
to be rushed up Our Sunday best
where every every occasion.
00:20:45.910 --> 00:20:52.249
Given one day to go from that trap lines
in that basic Take care suits long.
00:20:52.250 --> 00:20:56.610
Quite sure tie novel were
way out in the bush.
00:20:56.830 --> 00:21:01.230
They feel like it when
they put on their best.
00:21:13.950 --> 00:21:21.950
My mother came this way when she was
Joan and that\'s how she met my dad
00:21:25.780 --> 00:21:30.619
I don\'t know nothing about her
that she was gone when I was
00:21:30.620 --> 00:21:36.378
11 months George his marriage to
00:21:36.379 --> 00:21:40.849
his beloved Lucy was to be cut
short on a winter\'s day in
00:21:40.850 --> 00:21:48.850
1935 while skiing and carrying her loaded
hunting gun Lucy suffered a fatal accident
00:22:14.260 --> 00:22:18.454
George never remarried after losing Lucy.
00:22:18.455 --> 00:22:24.180
He turned his devotion to his daughter
dolly and the rest of his family
00:22:59.290 --> 00:23:05.208
From there on I guess George delinquencies
half brother Frank and heatwave Jenny.
00:23:05.209 --> 00:23:09.690
Then they help them raise
time will girl Darwin
00:23:18.040 --> 00:23:24.183
but George was a good father
to dominate heat released.
00:23:24.184 --> 00:23:32.184
Her to the best that he can and it shows yet
everything Does age to go hunting with him
00:23:34.429 --> 00:23:38.209
to go fishing with him and I
just go with coupling what
00:23:38.210 --> 00:23:46.210
can you tell me how it\'s done
that\'s what he taught me
00:23:58.600 --> 00:24:05.279
George has to come down on the ice with
his car and theme among the 12 mile.
00:24:05.740 --> 00:24:13.740
Q that\'s Louis Fox and Andy Smith and his
wife and my two brothers Get us and Clifford
00:24:14.270 --> 00:24:21.258
getting mom made me
that\'s sweater and it was
00:24:21.259 --> 00:24:25.339
quite an orange color and
she knit that herself and
00:24:25.340 --> 00:24:27.408
soon as we used to see
people come in then used to
00:24:27.409 --> 00:24:29.974
run and pull on our best dress with public.
00:24:29.975 --> 00:24:33.018
Make sure our hair is old brushed
and everyone is a winner I best
00:24:33.019 --> 00:24:39.453
gear grout miles 12 miles
away out of out of
00:24:39.454 --> 00:24:47.454
Teslin we\'re isolated a little bit
we had a mink branch there and
00:24:48.470 --> 00:24:53.719
big garden for buyers who would
come in and did bid Dome
00:24:53.720 --> 00:24:59.719
there for And they just
sell to the highest bidder.
00:24:59.720 --> 00:25:04.039
So the natives people really
they just lived on trapping.
00:25:04.040 --> 00:25:10.909
They trapped all over the country and then
they\'d all come together in March they come
00:25:10.910 --> 00:25:14.719
in then the first boat from waitress would
00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:20.989
come fresh fruits and our
male realm the 15th of June.
00:25:20.990 --> 00:25:25.324
Oh my goodness I wish to be great and
people will be yellow on the boat
00:25:25.325 --> 00:25:30.540
coming in and everybody would
watch the bold era buddy wave
00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:49.908
Tails when was far removed
from other settlements.
00:25:49.909 --> 00:25:53.223
But the clink it themselves
were frequent travelers.
00:25:53.224 --> 00:25:57.360
Sometimes covering great distances on foot
00:26:04.180 --> 00:26:08.478
Uncle George traveled over
to Juneau to find out where
00:26:08.479 --> 00:26:13.199
himself more often clinking customers
in different things from over there
00:26:15.190 --> 00:26:20.148
Although a mere 16 years of age
at the time George brought
00:26:20.149 --> 00:26:24.198
back greater knowledge of the
songs dances and prayers of
00:26:24.199 --> 00:26:32.199
his people George or s1 that used to really
still believe in that old Indian beliefs.
00:26:33.154 --> 00:26:36.389
He was pretty strong badly.
00:26:36.700 --> 00:26:39.769
I think that\'s one of the reasons why.
00:26:39.770 --> 00:26:47.770
So many pictures of grave sites and headstones
and that gets you want people to know that
00:26:47.884 --> 00:26:53.089
headstones potlatches and that
kinda thing how sacred it is to
00:26:53.090 --> 00:26:58.109
the kink at Paypal Usually
the opposite lands
00:26:58.110 --> 00:27:01.308
on to do the digging and put the body away
00:27:01.309 --> 00:27:05.823
and around them gravestone as you\'d
see down here in our cemetery
00:27:05.824 --> 00:27:13.824
you\'d see these big white
fancies look like this is
00:27:16.145 --> 00:27:21.738
how cool William any Johnston that\'s
shortage wave uncle shortly array here
00:27:21.739 --> 00:27:25.398
Janet Johnston my mother
Rose who\'s still alive
00:27:25.399 --> 00:27:30.169
today all these other people that you
see in that picture there all gone.
00:27:30.170 --> 00:27:35.040
My dad. Except my mother
my mother\'s standing there
00:27:48.370 --> 00:27:53.389
The different p1 k that\'s
why your grandpa has
00:27:53.390 --> 00:27:57.903
people with different C or
gene they did not live just
00:27:57.904 --> 00:28:02.989
any old way and they
used to run things well
00:28:02.990 --> 00:28:09.108
see as clear you do Shuowen
man called guard duty.
00:28:09.109 --> 00:28:15.034
They call do true grandpa Greek Shu Ha.
00:28:15.035 --> 00:28:18.109
Was his younger brother no no God God.
00:28:18.110 --> 00:28:22.998
People in those days Lived
according to rules they were not
00:28:22.999 --> 00:28:29.339
careless genre Chicago
goo goo way you do new
00:28:29.340 --> 00:28:36.514
clawed my great grandfather is buried on an
island that is now considered to be sacred.
00:28:36.515 --> 00:28:41.778
Because of that when people
go there they do not act
00:28:41.779 --> 00:28:46.339
in a careless way and walk
around there in any old way
00:28:46.340 --> 00:28:54.340
si la polonaise generic name or their
parents used to teach the young.
00:28:56.164 --> 00:29:00.000
That they had to have respectful behavior
00:29:08.310 --> 00:29:13.539
Tell me again about what
ground per George said when
00:29:13.540 --> 00:29:18.129
someone brought him a copy
of the Indian Act or Dohan
00:29:18.130 --> 00:29:22.688
neutral to you written a Dre
who go behind Nuka Nadya
00:29:22.689 --> 00:29:29.573
again when the chief brought George a
copy of that paper the white man\'s law.
00:29:29.574 --> 00:29:37.574
He told him to take it away yawned and said
I have my own Indian Act I act a of xi
00:29:45.820 --> 00:29:50.283
Although there were many believers
in a clear-cut way of life
00:29:50.284 --> 00:29:54.889
the ancient ways began to lose ground in
00:29:54.890 --> 00:29:59.299
the 1939 missionaries moved in and found in
00:29:59.300 --> 00:30:04.429
the clink its obliging ways a
fertile ground for conversion.
00:30:04.430 --> 00:30:08.449
There began a struggle
for clean-cut souls that
00:30:08.450 --> 00:30:12.810
was to shake the very roots
of kinship and family
00:30:15.250 --> 00:30:19.328
that\'s a picture of Father dream and
00:30:19.329 --> 00:30:25.668
memory the priest never came into
total until 1938 and I can remember
00:30:25.669 --> 00:30:28.729
that bird plane Before
00:30:28.730 --> 00:30:32.748
that inertia Russian Orthodox and that\'s
when the people the biggest part of that
00:30:32.749 --> 00:30:36.648
people went to be Catholic Sam interests
00:30:36.649 --> 00:30:40.503
too bad because he worked up
split amongst the families then.
00:30:40.504 --> 00:30:44.298
Part of the Founders belong to the Anglican
Church part of their family belonged to
00:30:44.299 --> 00:30:50.839
Catholics confession and prayers to
00:30:50.840 --> 00:30:54.678
an almighty God began to replace
prayers to the other beings and
00:30:54.679 --> 00:30:58.758
creation but beneath it all pockets of
00:30:58.759 --> 00:31:06.759
resistance prevented total
conversion I student Minister.
00:31:06.845 --> 00:31:13.309
Mr. samplers name was and he would have
church on Sundays the Anglican church.
00:31:13.310 --> 00:31:19.503
All right brothers and sisters We\'d go up
down or we go to the dance on Saturday night.
00:31:19.504 --> 00:31:24.539
It\'s all the people were
gathered them at the post.
00:31:40.150 --> 00:31:43.998
So everybody gets them together and we have
00:31:43.999 --> 00:31:49.289
this Dance and was on a Saturday
night and we just have a ball
00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:58.640
and course we dance till daylight came in
and all of a sudden enlists Mr. sample that
00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:04.264
Vietnam the dance ditch
scream and of the people
00:32:04.265 --> 00:32:07.639
here were sitting and they were
dancing on Sunday and I can
00:32:07.640 --> 00:32:10.384
remember all his little
night turkey head on
00:32:10.385 --> 00:32:17.304
he preaches on and none
of us ever seen anybody
00:32:17.305 --> 00:32:20.599
a man especially the night shirt
like that And then he had this
00:32:20.600 --> 00:32:24.259
little 2k-1 is you know a tack on at
00:32:24.260 --> 00:32:27.919
flapped order n come over like that and
00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:32.628
nobody contradicted in holy smokes
you could tick you pin drop.
00:32:32.629 --> 00:32:35.898
I think it was William
Johnson and he came up to
00:32:35.899 --> 00:32:39.299
him and talked him and told him
he was sorry and everything in
00:32:39.300 --> 00:32:47.014
that wouldn\'t happen again they\'ve
took the gas late token that was yet.
00:32:47.015 --> 00:32:51.558
So there was no more dancing I\'m Saturday
night because we couldn\'t go on into
00:32:51.559 --> 00:32:55.699
some BC steady it is twisted over to
00:32:55.700 --> 00:32:57.390
Friday night
00:33:04.540 --> 00:33:06.408
Magazines and
00:33:06.409 --> 00:33:10.699
radio broadcasts had been providing
people in Teslin with news of
00:33:10.700 --> 00:33:18.700
the ongoing Second World War and by 1941
they knew of the chaos of a faraway war.
00:33:19.535 --> 00:33:24.869
One that was about to reach into the
very center of their peaceful world
00:34:01.990 --> 00:34:08.448
Following the bombing of Pearl
Harbor on December seventh 1941 fear
00:34:08.449 --> 00:34:14.374
of an attack on the coast of North America
crypt both Americans and Canadians.
00:34:14.375 --> 00:34:18.559
In a fever of urgency the US
government decided to build
00:34:18.560 --> 00:34:22.879
a military supply road from
British Columbia to Alaska.
00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:29.749
Before Canada had time to agree to the plans
The US sent out survey cuz to stake out
00:34:29.750 --> 00:34:31.470
the Highway
00:34:39.110 --> 00:34:42.438
1942 I
00:34:42.439 --> 00:34:47.734
was alone at home with mom and
dad and machine is here plane.
00:34:47.735 --> 00:34:49.519
Thank goodness sakes.
00:34:49.520 --> 00:34:54.379
That plane made three trips
and That says well the
00:34:54.380 --> 00:34:59.879
male sure must be in or something going
on and why did make three trips.
00:34:59.880 --> 00:35:04.924
As when yours you never see their plane
like that until June or whatever.
00:35:04.925 --> 00:35:09.003
So I took the dogs and I
walked up along the shore.
00:35:09.004 --> 00:35:13.189
Got up to Peltzman and I
asked I said what\'s going on
00:35:13.190 --> 00:35:17.778
in terms of welfare you
won\'t believe it Americans
00:35:17.779 --> 00:35:22.159
are in their loot surveyors building
00:35:22.160 --> 00:35:28.429
a road from then on it was just
people come in liquid form 01
00:35:28.430 --> 00:35:32.988
and they were heavy equipment
bulldozers and stuff like
00:35:32.989 --> 00:35:40.989
that And then they landed and
troupe coming in with hundreds.
00:35:41.149 --> 00:35:42.779
Hundreds.
00:35:49.900 --> 00:35:51.978
Only weeks after
00:35:51.979 --> 00:35:54.199
seeing the first surveyors close
00:35:54.200 --> 00:36:00.089
to 12 thousand soldiers were housed in
a temporary tent city in White Horse.
00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:06.048
Because the Americans were footing
most of the $41 million cost of
00:36:06.049 --> 00:36:13.019
the highway construction Canada allow
them to have sovereignty on Canadian soil
00:36:21.940 --> 00:36:25.968
When some people in George\'s
Community returned from there
00:36:25.969 --> 00:36:29.464
trap lines that year they
found themselves entering
00:36:29.465 --> 00:36:36.243
occupied territory from a tenth so that
you\'ll know Heart of the wilderness.
00:36:36.244 --> 00:36:39.303
The army wages a war against
nature and the elements
00:36:39.304 --> 00:36:42.709
in 30 below 0 temperature
there are blazing a trail if
00:36:42.710 --> 00:36:46.938
all the construction of a 1500 mile
military highway from the United States to
00:36:46.939 --> 00:36:54.939
Alaska giant tractor has crashed through
00:36:56.569 --> 00:37:00.289
the forests of Virgin Timber Then I
heard at a pace that will see the road
00:37:00.290 --> 00:37:00.889
open within
00:37:00.890 --> 00:37:02.460
a year
00:37:11.860 --> 00:37:12.978
to
00:37:12.979 --> 00:37:13.700
Alaska.
00:37:13.701 --> 00:37:19.019
For the nation that controls this
outpost holds the gateway to the world.
00:37:23.500 --> 00:37:27.799
Don\'t know what to think like I said
00:37:27.800 --> 00:37:32.374
to mostly scared of everything
because everything was new
00:37:32.375 --> 00:37:40.375
we don\'t see big trucks before you see
the big house Nose is commonly used.
00:37:42.109 --> 00:37:48.569
Watch it seemed him trees coming
down at keeping that bet.
00:37:49.390 --> 00:37:57.390
Everything was different in typical of the
time there was little if any regard for
00:37:58.940 --> 00:38:02.599
the natural environment rivers and
00:38:02.600 --> 00:38:07.279
forests that nurtured a way of life were
seen as little more than sources of
00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:14.628
raw material for construction off duty
soldiers were given the right to hunt for
00:38:14.629 --> 00:38:16.320
sport
00:38:23.700 --> 00:38:24.999
These
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:26.198
hibernating bears
00:38:26.199 --> 00:38:32.270
were awakened to meet the fate of hundreds
of animals used for target practice.
00:38:46.530 --> 00:38:54.170
Meanwhile soldiers wives made sport with
objects at Sacred Indian burial houses.
00:38:59.460 --> 00:39:03.758
Some of the behaviors of the
newcomers were very disturbing to
00:39:03.759 --> 00:39:09.199
the Yukon Indian people But
support for the highway remained
00:39:09.200 --> 00:39:11.778
strong because they
believed in cooperating for
00:39:11.779 --> 00:39:18.678
the war effort as
00:39:18.679 --> 00:39:23.548
tons of road building equipment tore
a path through their very backyards.
00:39:23.549 --> 00:39:28.349
That kind of bewildered acceptance
took the place of protest.
00:39:31.120 --> 00:39:34.069
Did Canadian Indians look like
00:39:34.070 --> 00:39:37.819
the Japanese American soldiers were
00:39:37.820 --> 00:39:41.598
concerned enough about the
possibility of confusion that they
00:39:41.599 --> 00:39:45.198
demanded identification papers
from Indians driving on
00:39:45.199 --> 00:39:51.499
the highway George and his people
were treated as strangers in
00:39:51.500 --> 00:39:54.618
their own land but they
kept their piece about
00:39:54.619 --> 00:40:01.293
it for in those days of change the
promise that a highway represented
00:40:01.294 --> 00:40:09.294
overrode out of concerns for a few
00:40:10.940 --> 00:40:14.778
the road meant employment
as guides or Packers but
00:40:14.779 --> 00:40:19.759
the majority of civilian construction
jobs went to white workers imported from
00:40:19.760 --> 00:40:27.760
the South in the meantime and
invasion of another sort was
00:40:28.699 --> 00:40:32.388
taking place Diseases such as
00:40:32.389 --> 00:40:38.730
measles influenza meningitis and
whooping cough came with the soldiers.
00:40:39.460 --> 00:40:44.988
Although Canadian and American officials
knew that indigenous people locked in
00:40:44.989 --> 00:40:51.689
immunity to the disease is nothing was
done to prevent the inevitable epidemics.
00:40:55.760 --> 00:41:00.589
Hello I know always pretty
sick myself in my dad
00:41:00.590 --> 00:41:07.290
too but dad was still most
epidemic Aki are remembered
00:41:08.740 --> 00:41:14.223
as we lost lot of people The only test that
00:41:14.224 --> 00:41:20.579
everywhere he kicked me souls
in chickenpox and stuff
00:41:21.760 --> 00:41:25.909
but before that we don\'t know
but anything selector density
00:41:25.910 --> 00:41:29.749
older people state torque motor TCD
Eastern knows he any sequence like
00:41:29.750 --> 00:41:31.690
that
00:41:38.560 --> 00:41:40.039
George
00:41:40.040 --> 00:41:41.448
and his extended family
00:41:41.449 --> 00:41:44.134
kept a distance from Tesla and proper.
00:41:44.135 --> 00:41:48.090
As a result they were spared the worst
00:42:00.880 --> 00:42:05.883
And there was a lot of people
that passed away because
00:42:05.884 --> 00:42:11.643
they never had no inoculations
there was no nurse or no doctor
00:42:11.644 --> 00:42:16.698
and they had the Army doctrine and
they were restricted to come in
00:42:16.699 --> 00:42:21.843
to help the people also and
there was only one doctor in
00:42:21.844 --> 00:42:29.844
white horse and he was actually the doctor
fruit car cross Tesla man white horse just one
00:42:31.870 --> 00:42:36.499
that\'s why it was really hard than there
was a lot of people that passed away at
00:42:36.500 --> 00:42:41.388
that time Serious illness and
00:42:41.389 --> 00:42:46.759
death were suddenly commonplace in
this photo children play funeral.
00:42:46.760 --> 00:42:49.249
Perhaps an event they knew to well from
00:42:49.250 --> 00:42:56.568
real life in early autumn as
the geese began to migrate
00:42:56.569 --> 00:43:04.569
overhead fully a 128 people out of a 135 were
too ill for measles to rise from their beds
00:43:07.090 --> 00:43:12.453
to protect soldiers against
illnesses official orders declared
00:43:12.454 --> 00:43:17.568
off-limits all houses tents or
shelters occupied by Indians are
00:43:17.569 --> 00:43:25.569
mixed breeds Completed in only 11 months
00:43:26.600 --> 00:43:29.568
the Alaska Highway was
acclaimed as a miracle of
00:43:29.569 --> 00:43:37.569
modern engineering the occupying Americans
maintained authority over it until 1945
00:43:46.690 --> 00:43:53.640
George johnston\'s three mile car road
was made a part of the final highway
00:43:57.430 --> 00:43:59.989
and the highway came through and may in
00:43:59.990 --> 00:44:05.643
1942 People never went back out
to their trapping goes that
00:44:05.644 --> 00:44:10.050
winter they got sick
00:44:12.730 --> 00:44:17.880
and that\'s when I changed.
00:44:18.910 --> 00:44:24.349
Following the end of the war the
bottom fell out of the firm market.
00:44:24.350 --> 00:44:30.179
Almost overnight the economy of the
indigenous people disappeared.
00:44:31.210 --> 00:44:34.878
The Canadian government
had recently mounted and
00:44:34.879 --> 00:44:41.809
extensive job creation program in other parts
of the country but no such program came to
00:44:41.810 --> 00:44:44.610
the aid of Yukon Indians
00:44:48.250 --> 00:44:53.359
George\'s natural resilience helped
them survive in spite of losing
00:44:53.360 --> 00:44:58.729
his income from firms as well
as being an outstanding hunter.
00:44:58.730 --> 00:45:03.269
His health remains strong
well into his later years.
00:45:06.490 --> 00:45:11.658
Physical illness among Indian
people began to be replaced by
00:45:11.659 --> 00:45:16.398
spiritual illness denied
jobs and hope and respect.
00:45:16.399 --> 00:45:21.479
Along period of despair took
over once vital community.
00:45:21.580 --> 00:45:25.759
Eventually like the government
commander through union department
00:45:25.760 --> 00:45:29.359
Turner Take the children away
in sending him to boarding
00:45:29.360 --> 00:45:33.213
schools church schools sweat the overdo it
00:45:33.214 --> 00:45:38.193
they had no say in that their
children were taken away.
00:45:38.194 --> 00:45:43.398
If a person muster really
question it sit down and think if
00:45:43.399 --> 00:45:48.259
you have a daughter or son and they\'re
six years old seven years old
00:45:48.260 --> 00:45:50.718
and somebody come into
your home and take them
00:45:50.719 --> 00:45:52.908
away and put them in a
boarding school and you don\'t
00:45:52.909 --> 00:45:58.669
see them know more about
00:45:58.670 --> 00:46:01.668
the same time that they took their children
00:46:01.669 --> 00:46:07.380
away they let the First Nations
people go into the bars
00:46:07.660 --> 00:46:15.540
And when they\'re children lock home the
conquered people have Teslin finally went down
00:46:20.170 --> 00:46:25.308
too much loss to fast took
a devastating toll on
00:46:25.309 --> 00:46:32.719
the people it was
00:46:32.720 --> 00:46:37.489
during the shadow of the war years
that George gave up photography.
00:46:37.490 --> 00:46:40.984
There is no agreement as to why he did so
00:46:40.985 --> 00:46:45.349
perhaps it was the loss
of his favorite camera or
00:46:45.350 --> 00:46:49.608
failing eyesight as he got older Or
00:46:49.609 --> 00:46:55.320
maybe the changes in his world were such
that he lost his desire to record them
00:47:10.930 --> 00:47:14.479
it was decades later
that the people began to
00:47:14.480 --> 00:47:18.419
renew their strength as
independent nations.
00:47:19.360 --> 00:47:26.539
By the early 19070s and new-generation
started along and successful campaign for
00:47:26.540 --> 00:47:32.748
self-government Nineteen seventy four
00:47:32.749 --> 00:47:39.779
as bright autumn turn to cold
winter George Johnston passed away.
00:47:41.680 --> 00:47:46.039
Having fallen during a long walk he slept
00:47:46.040 --> 00:47:51.149
blanketed in the white snow of the
land that had given him life.
00:47:52.360 --> 00:47:57.618
Although he did not live to see his
people regain their self-government.
00:47:57.619 --> 00:48:00.094
Whose photos provided to the Young.
00:48:00.095 --> 00:48:02.778
A much needed beacon of light for the path
00:48:02.779 --> 00:48:10.779
ahead Your
00:48:11.300 --> 00:48:13.323
legacy cash clock
00:48:13.324 --> 00:48:18.840
was to help us train the future
as much as to remember the past
00:48:46.360 --> 00:48:51.839
punish Jewish Sony Cornish geesh
00:49:19.240 --> 00:49:21.540
Okay
00:49:58.570 --> 00:50:00.970
Yes
Distributor: National Film Board of Canada
Length: 50 minutes
Date: 1998
Genre: Expository
Language: English
Closed Captioning: Available
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