Nonoonse Anishinabe Ishichekewin Ka Kanawentank

Western pioneers knew that sugar could be made from the sap of the Manitoba maple. But the trees were small, the sap was thin, and the tastier product of Québec and Ontario was cheap and easy to get. The settler soon turned away from the arduous annual harvest and the Manitoba maple became just another tree. But not for Nonoonse. Forty years ago her grandmother brought her to Sugar Island. Since then she has returned every spring to gather the sweet sap. Filmed on Lake Manitoba, near the Ebb'n'Flow Reserve, Nonoonse is both a clear description of sugar-making and a quiet statement on the importance of the tradition to the Saultaux of the region. (Bilingual: English and Saulteaux.)