Born Christian and raised in the suburbs, Filmmaker Tyler Hagan was thrust into an examination of faith and identity when his father died – triggering a process that eventually led him to claim Métis citizenship.  In the interactive photo essay Similkameen Crossroads, Hagan turns to the land, the church, and the people of BC’s Upper Similkameen Reserve to help reconcile his upbringing with the Church’s blighted yet enduring relationship with First Nations people. What they offer Hagan is an invaluable working model for a ‘way of being’ that comfortably embraces multiplicity.

A National Film Board of Canada / Imaginative Digital Partnership

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In early summer of 2021, St. Ann’s Catholic Church, the building at the centre of Tyler Hagen’s 2013 interactive documentary Similkameen Crossroads, was burnt to the ground in response to the discovery of hundreds of unmarked children’s graves at the site of a nearby ex-residential school. Many other Catholic churches located on Indigenous land across Canada were also burned and vandalized. In this context of violent emotion, Hagen returns to the community and once again speaks with Carrie Allison, the church’s caretaker, to get her perspective on what happened.

At the intersection of place, faith, and identity – the people of BC’s Upper Similkameen Reserve help Métis filmmaker Tyler Hagan reconcile his Christian upbringing with the Church’s blighted yet enduring relationship with First Nations people.

A National Film Board of Canada / Imaginative Digital Partnership

Situated at an elbow of the Similkameen Valley, a tall mountain is marked by a distinctive striped rock face. The Nysilcen word for it is Snaza’Ist, meaning “Striped Rock Place.” The story goes that Bear scarred the mountain here when he took a swipe at Chipmunk, and missed.

 Similkameen Crossroads is the result of time spent in this remarkable setting.

A mere pit stop on the side of the highway to most travellers, this is where the Upper Similkameen Band calls home, and where generations of First Nations and Europeans have put down roots, establishing their cultural and spiritual traditions, and telling their stories.

Métis artist Tyler Hagan spent weeks here, gathering images and interviews, in search of a deeper understanding of the relationship between place, faith, and identity.

It is a highly personal undertaking for Hagan, who, since obtaining his Métis citizenship, has struggled to reconcile his suburban Christian upbringing with the realities of the Church’s role in subverting Indigenous culture.

The people of the Similkameen Valley were incredibly generous with their stories and their time. The beliefs and practices they describe simultaneously encompass complex, often contradictory, spiritual and cultural identities.  In the end, what they offer Hagan is an invaluable working model for a ‘way of being’ that comfortably embraces multiplicity.

A National Film Board of Canada / Imaginative Digital Partnership