"This June, for the first time, Canadians will mark Aboriginal History Month.

It's an opportunity for us all to honour the heritage, cultures, and historic contributions of Aboriginal peoples to the development of Canada.

We'll be celebrating those contributions and cultures at the library throughout the month with displays and programs for children and adults. We have invited storytellers and speakers to join us (some dates are still to be confirmed, watch for upcoming notices) but what I can tell you about right now is our Aboriginal Film Series.

Every Wednesday night in June we'll be showing a film from the NFB Chiefs series in the library's Assembly Room beginning at 7 p.m. This series is the saga of five great First Nations chiefs - Sitting Bull, Pontiac, Joseph Brant, Black Hawk and Poundmaker - whose stories form a central drama in the history of the North American continent.

What you will see in this series is not the romanticized, highly improbable versions of their lives portrayed for years by Hollywood film makers. In these episodes, their living descendents tell their stories and reveal, through documentary and re-enactment, an alternative and essential history of Canada and the US."

Get the Story:
Leslie Cockburn: Native chiefs and heroes (The Fredericton Daily Gleaner 5/25)