A National Film Board of Canada Production

An important figure in the history of Canadian Indigenous filmmaking, Gil Cardinal was born to a Métis mother but raised by a non-Indigenous foster family, and with this auto-biographical documentary, he charts his efforts to find his biological mother and to understand why he was removed from her. Considered a milestone in documentary cinema, it addressed the country’s internal colonialism in a profoundly personal manner, winning a Special Jury Prize at Banff and multiple international awards. “Foster Child” is one of the great docs to come out of Canada and nobody, but Gil could have made it,” says writer and broadcaster Jesse Wente, the former Director of Canada’s Indigenous Screen Office. “Gil made it possible for us to think about putting our own stories on the screen, and that was something new and important.”

It is difficult to quantify the monumental impact Gil Cardinal’s work has had on filmmakers, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, in Western Canada and beyond. The Indigenous language versioning process for this important film began with the intent of returning Indigenous NFB films back to the languages and communities they were from. The biggest question this versioning work raised was: What language and community should Foster Child return to?

After years of delicate and intentional research, it was decided that nêhiyawêwin was the most appropriate language to return Gils’ work to. We worked with Elders Jerry and Jo-Ann Saddleback to version the film into nêhiyawêwin syllabics. Jerry’s handwritten syllabics were digitized and arranged by Métis editor Conor McNally and used as the subtitles for the film. Given Gil’s connection to and support of the Indigenous film community in Edmonton, the newly supported version will have its premiere screening at the city’s Dreamspeakers International Indigenous Film Festival, in honour of Gil’s formative work.

Gil Cardinal

Born to a Métis mother and raised by a non-Indigenous foster family, the late Gil Cardinal was a groundbreaking filmmaker who embodied the complicated history of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples. His body of work includes NFB releases like The Spirit Within and David with F.A.S., along with big-budget TV projects like Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis. “Gil made it possible for us to think about putting our own stories on the screen—and that was something new and important,” says Jesse Wente, former Director of Canada’s Indigenous Screen Office. Cardinal’s autobiographical Foster Child (1987) is considered a landmark of Indigenous cinema.

The release of Gil Cardinal’s Foster Child in a new nêhiyawêwin (Cree) version reflects the NFB’s ongoing commitment to creating a space where Indigenous stories are told by Indigenous voices.

Over the years, the NFB has produced Indigenous-language versions—both dubbed and subtitled—of over 60 films, a growing collection that now includes such titles as Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (Kanyen’kéha-dubbed version), Nalujuk Unnunga (Inuktitut-subtitled version of Nalujuk Night), Waaydanaa (Haida-dubbed version of Now Is the Time) and Pigon Nisiet (Mi’kmaq-subtitled version of Feather Fall).

The addition of Foster Child to this expanding collection of Indigenous-language works is especially important, for the NFB wouldn’t be what it is today without Gil Cardinal’s guidance and influence. This landmark autobiographical documentary was a key step forward for the NFB in transforming how it works with Indigenous creators, and the NFB is forever grateful to have been his creative home.

Cree Translation :

Awa Gil Cardinal, kâkî nihtawikit apihtawkosisân iskwewah eki okâwiyit mâka  mônîyâwah eki ohpikîhikot. Espehtîhtâkosit awa Gil Cardinal nistam wîya kâkî osîhtât  cikâscepeyikana. Eki cikâstepayihsot kospî kânitonawât okâwiyah ekwa eki nohte  kiskeyitahk tanihki kâke otiniht, ekâ ka kî ohpihîkot okâwiya. Ewako ôma  cikâscepeyihcikanis kâ kî osîhtât mistahi eki tehtamihk ota kitaskînahk ekwa mina  misôwe akâmaskehk. Mistahi kîh kîspinatam ôma ohci kâmâmiskôtahk môniyaw  esehcikewin kamaskamiht nehiyaw ocawâsimisah, kih mîyâw Special Jury Prize at Banff  ekwa michet kotakah kispinacikewina. “Ohpikihâkan” ôma kâsehkâtek  ciskâscepeyihcikanis mistahi kisteyhtâkwan ôta ohci kâkânatahk. Namoya awîyak  piskwac kâhke osîhtaw katisk Gil Cardinal itwew writer ekwa broadcaster Jesse Wente, kospe Director of Canada’s Indigenous Screen Office. Wîya Gil kihiyinamâkonaw kanôkôhtâyahk kitâcimôwinananah cikâstepeyiwinihk, ewako oski ispihteyehtâkosôwin.

Cree Translation:

Awa Gil Cardinal, kâkî nihtawikit apihtawkosisân iskwewah eki okâwiyit mâka  mônîyâwah eki ohpikîhikot. Espehtîhtâkosit awa Gil Cardinal nistam wîya kâkî osîhtât  cikâscepeyikana, ohci iyiniw pimâtisiwin, ôta kakanatahk. ôhih atiht otatoskewina NFB  ohci, ‘The Spirit Within ekwa David with F.A.S.’ ekwa mîna kamistakeyihtekih  cikâscepeyikana, ‘Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis’. “Wîya Gil kihiyinanamâkonaw  kitâcimôwinanah cikâstepeyonihk kawâpahtamihk – ekwa ôma kospe eki kihcehtâkwan”  itwew Jesse Wente, kospe Director of Canada’s Indigenous Screen Office. Cardinal ocikâscepeyikan ‘Ohpikihâkan’ (1987) kihcehtâkwan misowe iyiniw  cikâstepehihkana.

FOSTER CHILD

A film by Gil Cardinal

Director
GIL CARDINAL

Cinematographer
JAMES JEFFREY

Location Sound
ALAN BIBBY

Editor
ALAN BIBBY

Sound Editor
GERALD K.WILSON C.F.E.

Re-recording Mixer
BARRY JONES

Studio Administrator
MARG SMITH

Producer
JERRY D. KREPAKEVICH

Executive Producers
TOM RADFORD
GRAYDON McCREA

National Film Board of Canada
1987