Lac La Croix 1988

Directed by Judith Doyle

Lac La Croix First Nation is a small community located on the Canada-US boundary waters. It is surrounded by thousands of square miles of wilderness parkland - Quetico Park in Ontario and Superior National Forest in upstate Minnesota. The film is a self-portrait of a Northwestern Ontario First Nation, it's daily life and struggle for existence. When the parks were formed, ancestors were kicked out of their traditional lands within Quetico Park, enduring terrible hardships and upheaval. Elders speak of these treaty violations. The use of small motorboats to guide sports fishermen on a few isolated lakes is resisted by those who want an uninterrupted canoe-only wilderness park experience for tourists. The ironies are not lost on the guides, Elders and community members who tell Lac La Croix's story with grace, wit and lots of original music.