Actor Gordon Tootoosis as Cecil Delaronde in APTN's new drama, Blackstone.
A new television drama began airing on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network called Blackstone. The hour-long show deals with tough issues such as addictions, family violence, suicide, corruption and nepotism on the fictional First Nation community of Blackstone in western Canada.
The first episode premiered Jan. 25 on APTN, which immediately begins with a disclaimer stating the “characters, reserve, band and events depicted in Blackstone are entirely fictional.” However, the plot line that unfolds throughout the next hour seems closer to reality when it comes to the day-to-day life of many First Nation communities across Canada.
The show begins with a few teens who arrive at an abandoned, severely damaged house where they can get high from sniffing gasoline fumes. It then cuts to a scene were a community member is video recording an interview with an elder who rolls out one of several great lines throughout the episode.
“If you look around you, culture is on display everyday: family violence; alcoholism; drug abuse; incest; suicide; corruption. That’s our culture now,” Cecil Delaronde, played by actor Gordon Tootoosis, says leading into the show’s opening.
Other scenes include members of Blackstone’s all male chief and council in a meeting jovially telling sexist jokes against women. A community band meeting is held where the same videographer inquires about his band’s spending of the treaty land entitlement money. At the same meeting, Tootoosis’ character delivers another great, sobering line that also serves as a reality check: “Leadership is about submission to duty, not elevation to power.”
In one scene, several community members meet at the elder’s home where they ring off all of the chief and council’s relatives who work at the band office. In other scenes, that same videographer who stirs things up at the meeting is later bullied by the chief and intimidated by his supporters. At first, he is followed by a truck as he walks back into the community. Later on, a brick is thrown through his dining room window.
The more disturbing plot line for me involved a teenaged girl named Natalie. She is one of the teens who likes to sneak away to sniff gasoline fumes. At home, she is neglected by her alcoholic mother who she finds passed out one morning in the bathroom. In one scene, she is chased down by man from her community who sexually assaults her. Traumatized, the girl gets high sniffing and, although it is not shown or mentioned, she commits suicide by hanging herself.
I’m intrigued by Blackstone for several reasons. For one thing, the show doesn’t try to pander to a non-aboriginal audience. The very raw narrative is told through the band members of Blackstone. The issues this community struggles with are internal and the community tries to deal with them internally.
I believe anyone who has lived in a First Nation community in Canada can identify with the show’s characters and plot line. All of these characters have real-life counterparts in our communities. We all know someone who is struggling with alcoholism and drug addictions. We have either been directly or indirectly affected by the suicide of a friend or a loved one.
We also know how ugly and stressful band politics can be. It affects entire families, not just individuals. While I’m not saying every First Nation in Canada has a corrupt chief and council, I think we all can point out bullying leaders who use their positions for personal gain and abuse their powers to silence critics.
Very few journalists have been able to penetrate First Nation communities to cover these serious issues. There are many band members who will complain about corruption by their chief and council but very few of them are willing to stick out their necks to go on the record. Doing so may mean they become the targets of bullying and intimidation by those in power.
As a journalist who has covered aboriginal issues in Atlantic Canada for many years, I’ve tried unsuccessfully on several occasions to get people to talk about alleged corrupt practices during band elections for news stories. They’re unwilling to go on the record because they don’t want to be seen as opponents to the elected leadership; such a designation could cost them consideration for a job interview or future housing repairs. Also, no one wants to publicly admit they have participated in an alleged vote-buying scheme.
This is why I’m so envious of Blackstone’s writers for having that luxury of delving into and examining these harsh, real life issues through the fictionalized community of Blackstone and its cast of characters. They can amalgamate all of the stories of addictions, suicide, and band corruption into the storyline of Blackstone to show how people can, or cannot, cope with this type of adversity on a daily basis.
The very raw and authentic themes may make some people feel uncomfortable. There has been some criticism against the show and its producers for perpetuating even more negative stereotypes of aboriginal people.
For me, I applaud the show for deciding to take on the task of tackling these issues. According to the show’s website, www.blackstonetheseries.com, “Blackstone is foremost a story of hope and reconciliation in its portrayal of Native people fighting for a better life in their community.”
I plan to stay tuned to the show for the next two months to see how the fictional community members of Blackstone attempt to create positive change for themselves and their community.
Blackstone airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network on Fridays at midnight on Showcase.
Maureen Googoo is a journalist from the Indian Brook First Nation, N.S. and the founder/editor of RadioGoogoo.ca. Her column also appears the first week of every month in The Weekly Press.
