An acclaimed Cree writer, filmmaker and educator received an introduction to the Alberta legislature May 14, as her 2024 documentary Singing Back the Buffalo makes the rounds.
Dr. Tasha Hubbard’s past works have addressed issues like the Sixties Scoop and the death by gunshot of a young Cree man named Colten Boushie. Her current documentary follows Indigenous visionaries, scientists and communities as they reintroduce bison to the plains, to their ecological roles, and to their cultural and spiritual place in North America.
Filming locations include Banff and two other national parks in Alberta: Elk Island, east of Edmonton, and Waterton Lakes in southern Alberta. Grasslands National Park in southern Saskatchewan and Blackfeet territories in the U.S. also make appearances, according to the film website IMDb.
Hubbard is an associate professor at the University of Alberta in the Faculty of Native Studies. From Peepeekisis First Nation in Treaty 4 Territory, she also has ties to Thunderchild First Nation in Treaty 6 Territory.
Calling the work a “powerful and moving documentary” he’d watched the evening before, Rick Wilson introduced Hubbard to the assembly.
Wilson, who’s the minister of Indigenous relations and the member for Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin, also introduced the documentary’s impact producer, Jade Tootoosis. An impact producer collaborates with a film team to promote the work and give it context.
