A National Film Board of Canada Production

Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin’s deeply personal documentary WaaPaKe (Tomorrow) asks the difficult question: “Who are we without our pain?”

For generations, the suffering of residential school Survivors has radiated outward, impacting Indigenous families and communities. Children, parents and grandparents have contended with the unspoken trauma, manifested in the lingering effects of colonialism: addiction, emotional abuse and broken relationships.

In her efforts to help the children of Survivors, including herself and her family, Koostachin makes the difficult decision to step in front of the camera and participate in the circle of truth. She is joined in this courageous act of solidarity by members of her immediate family, as well as an array of voices from Indigenous communities across Turtle Island. Moving beyond burying intergenerational trauma, WaaPaKe (Tomorrow) is an invitation to unravel the tangled threads of silence and unite in collective freedom and power.

Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin’s deeply personal documentary WaaPaKe  (Tomorrow) asks the difficult question: “Who are we without our pain?”

For generations, the suffering of residential school Survivors has radiated outward, impacting Indigenous families and communities. Children, parents and grandparents have contended with the unspoken trauma, manifested in the lingering effects of colonialism: addiction, emotional abuse and broken relationships.

In her efforts to help the children of Survivors, including herself and her family, Koostachin makes the difficult decision to step in front of the camera and participate in the circle of truth. She is joined in this courageous act of solidarity by members of her own family, as well as an array of voices from Indigenous communities across Turtle Island. Each person’s individual journey is different, but in sharing their experiences, ways to create space, heal from chaos and forge new paths forward are explored.

Employing a range of innovative cinematic means, including collage, soundscapes and set design, the documentary illustrates not only the complex and deep-seated emotional undercurrents at work but also the layered stories of the people, embedded in the land itself. In learning how to actively demonstrate love and break the cycle of abuse, Indigenous ways of being, as well as creativity, play an enormous role—whether it’s filmmaking, poetry or learning to hunt in the Ancestral way.

Moving beyond burying intergenerational trauma, WaaPaKe (Tomorrow) is an invitation to unravel the tangled threads of silence and unite in collective freedom and power.

One Liner
Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin’s deeply personal documentary unravels the tangled threads of silence suffered by residential school Survivors through truth, freedom and power.

Two Liner
For generations, the suffering of residential school Survivors has radiated outward, impacting Indigenous families and communities. Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin’s deeply personal documentary WaaPaKe (Tomorrow) moves beyond intergenerational trauma, with an invitation to unravel the tangled threads of silence and unite in collective freedom and power.

Do you aim your work for specific groups of people? And, specifically for WaaPaKe, who are you hoping for as an audience?

Whenever I produce new works, my main audience in mind is my community—an Indigenous community. I do this because I was raised by my Cree grandparents and my mother. It is a part of my DNA to start my story from this place of knowing. I was raised with the Cree language and culture and it is inevitable that it will come through in my storytelling practice. When we visit Elders or Knowledge Keepers and they share stories and teachings, we only take away what we are ready to hear. Hearing means to really sit and listen… not bombarding them with questions and not trying to extract their knowledge. To listen means to engage and listen—it is about being engaged. The same goes for my work; as an artist, I find it challenging at times to fully articulate my messaging in the story because it comes from my soul. It comes from a place of truth searching. It is hard to put into words at times, especially when we are speaking to our own lived experiences or from our heart. I want people to engage with my work and learn something about Indigeneity. For me, if a film really impacts me, I’ll watch it over and over. Every single time, I take away something new, and I believe it’s because I’ve changed. This is the beautiful part of storytelling and means that Indigenous story carries agency.

WaaPaKe to me, feels like a prayer. When we pray, we ask for guidance, and often times, we don’t always find the answers, but we start the process by putting it out there in the universe. WaaPaKe is a personal narrative of trying to find peace from within. It’s about forgiveness and hope for a better tomorrow. It took me a long time to decide on the right platform to share my truth, and I am grateful that it unfolded as it did. It is a painful story, and I know that I held back a lot, but I am fine with my choice to do so. During production, I invited some of my friends with similar experiences to help me by sharing their own experiences of intergenerational trauma. I was in awe at how articulate and powerful our conversations were. I felt honoured and empowered to be a part of their journey.

Do you have any concerns that people may read your work differently from the way you intended it?

No, but I do pay attention to Indigenous storytelling protocols and ensure that I check in with myself often. I am cautious to a fault and worry a lot about doing the right thing. I have an Indigenous audience in mind, and I feel that settlers can do the work for themselves if they don’t understand core themes or the context. As a storyteller, I am responsible and accountable to my community, therefore this is where my concern rests. If someone is way off, that’s fine. I just hope that they walk away with questions and find the answers on their own, and not at the expense of an Indigenous person. It is emotional labour to aways have to explain our pain. We are still trying to navigate the impact of colonialism and articulate our experiences. We are still so close to the trauma, so to speak about it from a distance is not possible, currently anyway.

What is your earliest memory of art making?

When I was a child, I used to draw, play musical instruments at school, and dance, and I would be lost in my own world. My imagination is what saved me from my adverse childhood. I am an artist and love creating. I get into a zone and it feels amazing to get lost in the creative process. I produced my first play when I was in Grade 4, and I soon realized that I had a gift. It was a mess of a production, but I knew that storytelling, in all its incredible platforms, is where I needed to be to be truly happy.

What role do you think your culture plays in your creativity?

Cree culture is everything to me. I know that when one looks at me, they have their own expectations and understanding of who I am because of how I present. I am Cree through and through. The English language was introduced to me later in my young life, and we never had books in our home, just Cree bibles. Please don’t feel sorry for me either (if you do, then I ask you to reflect on your own settler colonialism), because I had two incredible Cree-speaking grandparents who lived off the land and taught me the importance of orality. Looking back, I would not have had it any other way. Going to school and facing all the hate from the educational system was where I felt the most unsafe. I internalized all those false narratives, which caused me a lot of unnecessary turmoil. It’s my culture that has fueled my fire and inspired me to unapologetically move forward with the work I do!

There are layers of media woven throughout WaaPaKe: photos, collage, animation. Was that your vision from the beginning, or did that grow as you worked on the film?

When I am about to embark on a new journey, I am all about the process. It is about the reflection, the discussions and working in collaboration with other artists. My vision usually starts with a question; with WaaPaKe, it started with ‘Who am I without her trauma?’ and we went from there. As stated, storytelling is like a prayer. WaaPaKe reflects the beautiful artistic process of praying and finding community.

Working with your mother’s voice, you do a great job of capturing the effort it takes for our Elders to speak on these themes, and this carries through. Were there any challenges? Were there moments where you found yourself taking extra care?

I have to always be careful with my mother. Sometimes I just want to lay it all on the table, but then I soon realized that I need to tread carefully. I need to handle our past with care, for now anyway. Of course, I need to censor myself, but with that stated, I also deserve to speak my truth and heal from my childhood trauma. For now, out of respect, I will keep the my story inside. When you are the child of a Survivor, you have taken on the caregiver role. This is my reality. Therefore, I sacrifice my truth in its entirety.

How did you create this safe space?

Taking my time during production is my self-care, and asking hard questions during post-production is necessary as well. I don’t think we can ever really create a ‘safe space,’ but we can try and do the best we can—that is why there are Indigenous storytelling protocols in place. If I don’t feel right about something, I will follow my instinct.

Your intention to invite healing by starting these conversations… did these conversations continue within your family and circle after the film was completed?

I have been plagued with listening to my mother’s horror stories about residential school since childhood, and so to be honest, I don’t have it in me to hear them anymore. It is too painful, but I sit quietly and listen to her stories.  All I have ever wanted was healthy relationships with my family. I believe that the healing process is a personal journey, and it is up to an individual to seek the help they need.

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