The NFB is committed to respecting your privacy

We use cookies to ensure that our site works efficiently, as well as for advertising purposes.

If you do not wish to have your information used in this way, you can modify your browser settings before continuing your visit.

Learn more
Skip to content Accessibility

Foster Child

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 …
Your rental expires on
None
You've already purchased this film.
Download it from My purchases.

Details

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.”

Families Indigenous Peoples in Canada (First Nations and Métis) Social Issues All subjects
Indigenous Cinema
  • director
    Gil Cardinal
  • producer
    Jerry Krepakevich
  • executive producer
    Tom Radford
    Graydon McCrea
  • cinematography
    James Jeffrey
  • sound
    Alan Bibby
  • editing
    Alan Bibby
  • sound editing
    Gerald K. Wilson
  • re-recording
    Barry P. Jones

Education

Ages 14 to 17

Notes

Get students' opinions about whether they think that Gil's mother gave him up for the right reasons. Do you agree she was being unselfish in doing so? In the student's community, find out where a woman could go to give up her child. See if there are places that could help a single mother financially and with shelter if she wanted to keep her child. Ask students to imagine if they were a foster or an adoptive parent. If the child were from another culture living with them, would they educate the child so that it knew about its culture? Use the following link to see moments of people reacting to finding a lost family member.

More educational content

Foster Child
Purchase options
Licence Information
Already paid to see this film?
Licence Information
Download licence details
Personal & Single-Classroom Use

Who it’s for:

Individuals watching for personal use, and parents or teachers wishing to screen a film for a single class in Canada.

What it allows:

  • Private, personal viewing in Canada and worldwide.
  • Screening the film for a single class in Canada.
  • Downloading and watching offline.

What it does not allow:

  • Screenings or events for multiple classes, school boards, or campus-wide events.
  • Community, public or institutional screenings or events.

Bonus materials are not included with the downloaded film.

Institutional Use

Who it's for:

Organizations, government departments, businesses and non-profits. For other institutions seeking licensing options, please contact info@nfb.ca .

What it allows:

  • Internal screenings for employees, members or patrons.
  • Screenings open to the public on the organization’s premises, with no admission fee and outside the commercial cinema circuit.
Looking to host a one-time public screening instead?

Who it's for:

Public libraries, community groups, NGOs and other organizations wishing to host a one-time public screening in Canada with no admission fee.

How to request a screening:

Complete the “Request to screen an NFB film” form.

For any questions, email communityscreenings@nfb.ca.

Streaming restrictions

Films purchased as downloads (DTO) cannot be hosted on a streaming server without prior authorization.

To request permission to add these films to an institutional or educational streaming server, contact info@nfb.ca.