Finding Dawn

Finding Dawn

| 1 h 13 min
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Acclaimed Métis filmmaker Christine Welsh brings us a compelling documentary that puts a human face on a national tragedy – the epidemic of missing or murdered Indigenous women in Canada. The film takes a journey into the heart of Indigenous women's experience, from Vancouver's skid row, down the Highway of Tears in northern BC, and on to Saskatoon, where the murders and disappearances of these women remain unsolved.

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Finding Dawn , Christine Welsh, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

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Credits
  • director
    Christine Welsh
  • writer
    Christine Welsh
  • producer
    Svend-Erik Eriksen
  • editor
    Janice Brown
  • director of photography
    Moira Simpson
  • original music
    Bruce Ruddell
  • music supervisor
    Bruce Ruddell
  • narrator
    Christine Welsh
  • location sound recording
    Moira Simpson
  • sound design
    Gael MacLean
  • sound supervision
    Gael MacLean
  • music performer
    Bruce Ruddell
    Bill Henderson
  • music recording
    Bill Henderson
  • graphic imaging
    Jon Anastasiades
  • additional photography
    Karen Duthie
  • additional sound
    Sherry Antonishen
    Daniel Shingoose
    Jessica Wood
    Colleen Craig
  • dialogue editor
    Mark Hensley
  • production assistant
    Jessica Wood
    Banchi Hanuse
    Natasha Beeds
    Mary Suchell
    Wendy Nahanee
  • production stills
    Jessica Wood
    Banchi Hanuse
    Mary Suchell
  • clearances supervisor
    Paula Sawadsky
  • research
    Christine Welsh
    Jessica Wood
    Banchi Hanuse
  • assistant editor
    Erin Cummings
  • transcription
    Pamela Pellegrini
  • consultation
    Edna Brass
  • re-recording mixer
    Mark Hensley
    Angelo Nicoloyannis
  • re-recording services
    Post Modern Sound
  • on-line assembly
    Keyframe Editing Inc.
  • post-production services
    Rainmaker Digital Pictures
  • production coordinator
    Christine Sears
  • technical coordinator
    Wes Machnikowski
  • production supervisor
    Kathryn Lynch
  • program administrator
    Bruce Hagerman
  • executive producer
    Rina Fraticelli
 See also
Indigenous Peoples in Canada (First Nations and Métis)
Social Issues
Women
Law and Crime
All subjects
Women in film
Most-Viewed Films of 2020
Featured Films
Hot Topics
Indigenous Voices and Reconciliation
On the road
All channels
Add a new comment
  • mediocre-phenomenon

    Very heavy and educational.

    mediocre-phenomenon, 28 Oct 2020
  • None

    This film was amazing. I feel this is such a bad epidemic and we need to work together to stop these women from going missing. They aren't horrible people, just are trying to get by in unfair circumstances. Let's find our sisters. <3

    None, 2 Feb 2020
  • Mongo-Tendesii

    Great film and educational tool. Those who dare to watch with compassion and insight will gain much from it. Those who watch with callous intolerance will remain in locked in their own ignorance, unaware of their own mythical, 'special' role in the history of this country.

    Mongo-Tendesii, 14 Aug 2015
  • BrookeAngela

    Thank you for providing access to this film, it does a wonderful job of presenting such an important in issue. Colonization is Canada's dirtiest and ugliest hidden truth that has left a legacy of violence for aboriginal and settler peoples. This is not an aboriginal issue, this is not an addictions issue, this is the story of how we got here, all of us. What a privilege it is to be a witness and not bearer of such a truth, I hope that together we can continue to learn more about our difference experiences as Canadians and support each other in moving toward a more secure future for all. It has been painful to learn about my country outside of what i was told by texts and adults but only when I hear and read comments like some of those listed here do I feel real shame to be white and privileged. I hope to add my voice as a ally to aboriginal rights for the rest of the days things are so unequal and inhumane among us.

    BrookeAngela, 9 Mar 2014
  • Bhavana

    While I do not make light of the suffering of native people at the hands of white people, I don't think this is about racism, I think it is about prostitution and drug addiction, a lifestyle that women, and men, of all races and financial backgrounds can fall victim to. How can the police, or society, be expected to worry about or track down every prostitute that disappears? That is the lifestyle of a prostitute, even if they do not become victims of some murderer. And even when the police DO work hard to catch serial killers, as with the Green River killer in Washington, it takes YEARS to catch them - mainly because of how easy it is for the killers to get their victims, and because the victims are always strangers - a prostitute will go with anyone willing to pay them. What needs to be done is to make tougher laws - not against the prostitutes, but against their customers. Arrest these men, put them in jail, put their names in the paper...whatever it takes to humiliate them and keep them away from the streets. If there is no demand, there will be no one on the streets selling their soul.

    Bhavana, 22 Dec 2013
  • woodfilms

    An eye opening film. I never realized how rough it continues to be for native women. It is very sad especially when there is so much wealth in Canada. It is appalling that society can allow this to continue and that police dont care.

    woodfilms, 17 Jan 2013
  • TeenyE

    Police are not equally responsive to different parts of society. It's a violation of Human Rights in my eyes. What can be done? How do you change someones perception of an entire race? The only postive outcome in this whole thing is that it is now a known fact that the police discriminate against poor, against First Nations, against addicted persons all of whom are PEOPLE not just adjectives.

    TeenyE, 19 Dec 2012
  • beautifulday2004

    It saddens my heart to know that women have travelled this path....and nothing was done before, during or after....its like his actions were condoned...he got away with murder for years...had he been a native man and the victims been all white women...this would not have been the case...it is a racial thiing. Pure and simple. It is what it is and you are what you are.....change is slow.....live on purpose.

    beautifulday2004, 6 Oct 2010
  • oneidagurl

    Ernie Crey sums it up best when he says if this had happened to women in a "tonier" neighborhood, to white women, there would have been outrage and action long before so many more women went missing and killed by that monster. The fact that another one of our sisters was murdered on September 15 in the downtown eastside while the police look the other way shows us that nothing has changed....society is allowing this to happen and we have to take action ourselves to say Enough is Enough......

    oneidagurl, 6 Oct 2010
  • georgiagurl

    This was a very good documentary , I will surely recommend it. Thank you for taking the time from yourself to make this..

    georgiagurl, 26 Sep 2010
  • georgiagurl

    We, as Native people are not saying SOMEONE else is responsible. We are saying that we need to be treated the same as a RIch White or Other Rich person in time of need. Native People are the very last People to want to ask for help, We, as Native People are Proud and by all mean self sufficent. As for other people poking at our "Beliefs" need to stand back and look at themselves and look at there beliefs because I'm sorry there is alot of scandalous religion and "Uppity" people out there.

    georgiagurl, 26 Sep 2010
  • Pyrrho

    Once more someone else is responsible. Native people are not the only ones who are poor and who have to struggle in life. They are the only ones who want and expect to be 'special.' They want to live in some mythical past. No one forces people to take drugs or earn a living on the street. Get real. Join the human race.

    Pyrrho, 6 Sep 2010
  • Brstar

    Words cannot express the the atrocity of a society that allows this to be...

    Brstar, 30 May 2010

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