Filmmaker returns to Walpole Island First Nation to explore his roots in CBC documentary

Taye Alvis says it was rewarding to return to Walpole Island First Nation where his family is from — and have a chance to chronicle his homecoming.

The Anishinaabe filmmaker grew up in London but his roots are in Bkejwanong: “where the waters divide.”

His documentary Giiwe — Returning Home is streaming on CBC Gem as part of the Absolutely Canadian series.

“It was really rewarding to get to go back home and see my family members and learn more about their history,” said Alvis.

Calling it an “emotional experience,” Alvis says he was grateful for the opportunity and found himself getting even closer to family members he’s known his whole life.

“I’ve never asked these kinds of questions. And so it was really great to just go back and get to talk with them and experience that all over again.”

Alvis spoke with Windsor Morning host Nav Nanwa about filming the project.

Here’s part of that conversation.

Why was it important for you to do this? 

My grandmother, I lived with her and she moved off pretty early on.

Walpole has always been a big part of my life, I used to go there especially a lot as a kid.

And as I’ve gotten older and I live in Toronto now, I don’t have as much time to go back.

So this was just a great way for me to go back and speak with family and, you know, just kind of get a new perspective on the place where my family, a lot of my family still is and where we’re from.

During this process of making this documentary and having those conversations with your family members, what did you learn? 

I learned a lot.

I knew a lot about my grandmother, especially growing up and hearing her stories. But I learned that for a lot of my other family members they’ve had their own unique struggles with being from the reserve and having to eventually leave it for whatever reason that might be.

I speak with my cousins and they talk about having to go away for school and when they were younger, having to leave for day school.

There’s a lot of generational trauma that comes from just being Indigenous people who have roots with residential schools.

You mentioned your grandmother. She’s a central personality in this documentary. Do you want to maybe just say more about her? 

Yeah, she’s great.

She’s always been so encouraging to me and what I’m doing. And she loves that I make movies.

When I was first approached to make the movie by the CBC they asked me if I had anything in mind to make a documentary — my mind immediately went to her.

She’s a great storyteller. She has a lot of stories to tell. And so I knew that no matter what we do — she’s the kind of central part of this documentary — we’re going to have a great movie there.

There’s a stigma around reservations.– Taye Alvis

It’s so interesting because there are many reserves in our province and especially within our listing area of Windsor-Essex Chatham-Kent and Sarnia-Lambton. Why do you think non-Indigenous people know so little about them? 

I think that’s honestly just because of the history with them. I think it’s not well educated in the schools. And even beyond that, there’s a stigma around reservations.

We talk about that in the doc as well with my grandmother about how I think a lot of non-Indigenous people might visit there once in a while to get gas or something or they have to pass through, but they don’t realize that you can visit and go and see what it is we have there.

We have museums, we have restaurants, we have a lot of things, and especially my reserve Walpole, we’re on the water of the St. Clair [River].

There’s a great biodiversity flourishing on Walpole.

I hope through the documentary people start to realize it’s its own unique place and it’s something that you can go visit and learn more about in it. There’s really a lot there to explore.

Do you see Walpole differently now that you’ve made this documentary? 

Yeah, I think I do. I grew up loving going to Walpole, visiting with my family members, playing in the bush and stuff like that.

But now that I’m older and I don’t get to go as much, and making the doc, I kind of got a new appreciation for it and kind of like the serenity it can bring for me and how calming it is to go and visit there.

I mean, it’s not just the nostalgia of it, but just the land itself. It’s beautiful. There’s a lot to explore. There’s a lot to see.

There’s even parts of the dock where we go visit, you know, parts of the island where my family doesn’t really live near and parts of the island that I’ve never been to myself that often.

What do you want non-Indigenous people to take away from your documentary? 

I hope they kind of take away the same stuff I took away.

I hope they find an appreciation for their families and their stories and their own history — even though it’s an Indigenous story, I think it’s still pretty relatable, even if you’re non-Indigenous.

Just that idea of going back and connecting to your roots and wanting to learn more about where you come from and where your people come from.