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Environmental Issues (80)

  1. Available in English Options
5 years old
18 years old
  • Abegweit
    Abegweit
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Serge Morin 1998 1 h 11 min
    A day-to-day record of the construction of the Confederation Bridge linking Prince Edward Island to the mainland, Abegweit reveals some of the innovations that made this mammoth project one of the most impressive engineering feats in Canadian history.

    The film also gives a voice to the people affected by the bridge--construction workers happy to have the work and proud to be part of the project, ferry employees sad about losing their jobs and their seagoing family, islanders whose lives will be forever changed by the fixed link, and fishermen worried about the impact it will have on the environment and their livelihood. It is a stunning meeting of technology, politics, high finance and intense emotions.
  • Atonement
    Atonement
    Michael McKennirey 1970 50 min
    This documentary shows efforts by Canadian wildlife specialists to preserve and nurture the creatures that remain in our wilderness areas, species such as the whooping crane, prairie falcons, bighorn sheep, bison, polar bears and grizzlies.
  • Angry Inuk
    Angry Inuk
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Alethea Arnaquq-Baril 2016 1 h 22 min
    In her award-winning documentary, director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril joins a new tech-savvy generation of Inuit as they campaign to challenge long-established perceptions of seal hunting. Armed with social media and their own sense of humour and justice, this group is bringing its own voice into the conversation and presenting themselves to the world as a modern people in dire need of a sustainable economy.
  • Borealis
    Borealis
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Kevin McMahon 2020 1 h 33 min
    In his new feature documentary Borealis, acclaimed director Kevin McMahon (Waterlife) travels deep into the heart of the boreal forest to explore the chorus of life in Canada’s iconic wilderness. How do trees move, communicate and survive the destructive forces of fire, insects, and human encroachment? Borealis offers an immersive portrait of the lifecycles of the forest from the perspective of the plants and animals that live there.
  • Bad Coyote
    Bad Coyote
    Jason Young 2013 51 min
    This short documentary investigates a perceived threat in the rural Maritimes following a deadly coyote attack in the Cape Breton wilderness. Locals react to the attack by concluding that a new super-species is infiltrating their communities: part coyote and part wolf. But is there any truth to this suspicion, or is the response the result of fear and rumours?
  • Worldviews
    Worldviews
    Malcolm Sutherland 2020 3 min
    Geneticist and environmentalist David Suzuki celebrates the pleasure of knowing we humans are squishy organic material in an inter-related web of life—and we’d better not forget that! An invitation to go out and play and learn from the real world.
  • Cities
    Cities
    Lillian Chan 2020 3 min
    Designer Bruce Mau views the COVID-19 pandemic as a short-term crisis in a long-term trend toward positive development. He dares us to abandon our toxic lifestyle habits and urges us toward bolder urban design.
  • Beluga Days
    Beluga Days
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Pierre Perrault Bernard Gosselin , … 1968 14 min
    From the lower St. Lawrence, a picture of whale hunting that looks more like a round-up, with a corral, whale-boys and all. In 1534, when he stopped at the island he named l'Île-aux-Coudres, Jacques Cartier saw how the Indigenous People captured the little white beluga whales by setting a fence of saplings into off-shore mud. In the film, the islanders show that the old method still works, thanks to the trusting "sea-pigs," the same old tide, and a little magic.
  • Battle for the Trees
    Battle for the Trees
    John Edginton 1993 57 min
    This documentary examines the battle strategies of citizens, scientists, loggers, environmentalists and First Nations people who are fighting over the liquidation of public forests and, with it, a way of life.
  • The Battle of Rabaska - Chronicle of an Environmental Conflict
    The Battle of Rabaska - Chronicle of an Environmental Conflict
    Magnus Isacsson  &  Martin Duckworth 2008 1 h 18 min
    This documentary is the story of citizen activists opposing a methane tanker terminal practically on their doorstep. Lucid and compelling, the film shows citizen action pitted against powerful lobbies and reminds us to be vigilant faced with Quebec's environmental and energy-related issues over the coming years.
  • A Crack in the Pavement: Digging In
    A Crack in the Pavement: Digging In
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Jane Churchill  &  Gwynne Basen 2000 18 min
    This short documentary follows students from Toronto's Jesse Ketchum School as they take steps towards the greening of their schoolyard. Along the way they get how-to advice and inspiration from kids across the country; from Pauline Public School, where students raised $10,000, to Broadacres School, where a family of wild ducks found a home in their pond.

    A Crack in the Pavement is a two-part video set that shows children, teachers and parents how they can work together to 'green' their school grounds and make positive changes in their communities
  • Class Project: The Garbage Movie
    Class Project: The Garbage Movie
    Martin Defalco 1980 23 min
    In this short documentary, a group of pupils aged 8 to 13 embark on a school project to find out all they can about garbage and its impact on the environment. The places they visit tell us a lot about the society we live in and about ecology, cities, art and history.
  • A Crack in the Pavement: Growing Dreams
    A Crack in the Pavement: Growing Dreams
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Jane Churchill  &  Gwynne Basen 2000 19 min
    This short documentary shows initiatives kids take to transform bare pavement into dream schoolyards. Some grow trees for shade, and vegetables for a food bank. Others build a greenhouse or a rooftop garden, while others yet construct a courtyard pond as an outdoor classroom and refuge for wildlife.

    A Crack in the Pavement is a two-part video set that shows children, teachers and parents how they can work together to 'green' their school grounds and make positive changes in their communities.
  • Climate on the Edge
    Climate on the Edge
    Alain Belhumeur  &  Jean Lemire 2003 52 min
    A documentary that gives scientific context to the controversy and debate on climate change. Accessible interviews with climatologists, glaciologists, astrophysicists and oceanographers, juxtaposed with stunning footage, bring understanding to the impact of the melting of the Arctic permafrost and release of greenhouses gases that affect our whole planet.
  • Crapshoot: The Gamble with Our Wastes
    Crapshoot: The Gamble with Our Wastes
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Jeff McKay 2003 52 min
    A hazardous mix of waste is flushed into the sewer every day. The billions of litres of water - combined with unknown quantities of chemicals, solvents, heavy metals, human waste and food - where does it all go? And what does it do to us? Filmed in Italy, India, Sweden, the United States and Canada, this bold documentary questions our fundamental attitudes to waste. Does our need to dispose of waste take precedence over public safety? What are the alternatives?
  • Deserter
    Deserter
    Michel Murray 1991 19 min
    In this short fiction film, the observation satellite Zenon has, on its own, left its assigned orbit and is refusing to send back vital data concerning the Earth's water reserves. Those in charge of the Research Center that sent the satellite up are threatening to destroy this free and intelligent "spirit" if Estelle, the scientist controlling it, cannot make her "friend" see reason.
  • The Energy Carol
    The Energy Carol
    Les Drew 1975 10 min
    This animated short borrows A Christmas Carol’s storyline to sketch a satirical exposé on energy waste and conservation. In this version, Ebenezer "Stooge", a power company CEO, has a bold motto: to waste is to grow. After his midnight meeting with the spirits of Energy Past, Present and Future, however, that motto is up for thorough review.
  • Eye of the Storm
    Eye of the Storm
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Nigel Markham 1997 44 min
    A documentary about Nain, a Labrador Inuit community located near the world’s largest nickel and copper deposits. As commercial mining interests prepare to exploit the resources, local residents consider the potential environmental and cultural impact. Meanwhile longstanding Aboriginal land claims are unsettled.
  • Epilogue
    Epilogue
    William Pettigrew 1971 15 min
    This film employs a multi-image technique to contrast scenes of natural grandeur--mountains, forests, and wildflowers filmed in Canada's national parks--with images of the polluted rivers and countryside that result from the heedless exploitation of the environment. Without words.
  • Estuary
    Estuary
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Don White 1979 11 min
    Winter lasts nine months in Canada's alpine regions, but when spring does arrive in late June, the different alpine zones--the meadow, the treeline, and the tundra--teem with life. From the lichen surviving at the uppermost limits of life to the insects, birds and mammals that populate the beautiful meadows, this film explores the special adaptations and delicate balance established between the plants and animals of this harsh environment.
  • An Ecology of Hope
    An Ecology of Hope
    Fernand Dansereau 2001 1 h 24 min
    A documentary portrait of ecologist Pierre Dansereau, the film takes us from Baffin Island to New York City, from the Gaspé Peninsula to Brazil. At each stop on this world tour, we hear his story and witness landscapes of breathtaking beauty.
  • The End of Certainties
    The End of Certainties
    Jean-Daniel Lafond 2020 45 min
    More than a decade after the worldwide financial crisis of 2007–08, what does globalization mean today? Filmmaker-philosopher Jean-Daniel Lafond takes us behind the scenes of the International Economic Forum of the Americas, a massive annual gathering at which economists, financiers and politicians hold forth on the key issues of the day. Featuring first-hand testimonials by nearly two dozen influential men and women, The End of Certainties unfolds as a multi-voice meditation on the state of the world. This observational documentary offers a cogent assessment of globalization—and its ideals, disillusionment, fears and hopes—and the quest for a new humanism, characterized by greater inclusiveness and fairness.
  • Footprints in the Delta
    Footprints in the Delta
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Peter Campbell 1999 43 min
    The Peace-Athabasca River Delta is a stunning habitat. Rivers converge in a rich, marshy wetland before draining into the Slave River. But the Delta is in trouble. Since the building of the WAC Bennett Dam in 1967, annual floodwaters--once the ecosystem's lifeblood--have become a thing of the past. The Delta is drying up, and lakes and wetlands are being replaced by brush. Species like the muskrat are disappearing. Footprints in the Delta explores the changes that have buffeted the region for several decades. Scientists, activists and Indigenous Peoples describe how lives have been fundamentally altered by the changes. And satellite images show the dramatic pace of degradation. Footprints in the Delta is essential viewing for anyone who cares about wetlands. It is a revealing account of the rapid change and environmental havoc humans can bring to a delicate ecosystem.
  • The Forest in Crisis
    The Forest in Crisis
    Susan Murgatroyd 1981 21 min
    This short documentary dispels the myth that Canada has an inexhaustible supply of usable wood and forest resources. In documenting the use and misuse of forest resources in Northern Ontario, it shows the efforts of the government and industry to find better ways to find a sustainable solution. The film also serves as a reminder that this is not just a problem for Northern Ontario - a crisis in the forest industry would affect one out of every ten Canadian jobs.
  • Freshwater World
    Freshwater World
    Giles Walker 1974 24 min
    This documentary explores a variety of projects undertaken by scientists at Environment Canada's Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg to study the processes that pollute or disrupt clean and balanced freshwater environments.
  • For Future Generations
    For Future Generations
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Boyce Richardson 1985 54 min
    This documentary is about the conservation ethic in Canada that led to the national parks systems around the world. Includes interviews with the then-Minister of Natural Resources, Jean Chretien.
  • Foresters
    Foresters
    Werner Aellen 1968 13 min
    This short documentary looks at how modern technology affects the forestry industry and the role of the forester in ensuring the sustainability of this great natural resource. It was in the '60s that people started to realize that the forests did not provide an endless supply of wood, and thanks to recent developments in the science of forestry, people are learning how to manage the resources more effectively.
  • Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie
    Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Sturla Gunnarsson 2010 1 h 32 min
    This feature documentary profiles the life and work of world-renowned Canadian scientist, educator, broadcaster and activist David Suzuki on the occasion of his last lecture in 2009—a lecture he describes as “a distillation of my life and thoughts, my legacy, what I want to say before I die.” As Suzuki reflects on his family history—including the persecution of Japanese Canadians during WWII—and his discovery of the power and beauty of the natural world, we are spurred to examine our own relationship to nature, scientific knowledge, and sustainability throughout modernity and beyond.
  • Fire - Energy
    Fire - Energy
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Michel Barbeau 2000 21 min
    This short documentary is about Canada's energy resources: wind, water, sun, oil, uranium and natural gas. The film is part of the TRANSIT series on Canada's geography, which travels from the humid rainforests of British Columbia, to the desert-like badlands of Alberta; from the frosty Arctic where no trees grow, to the fertile farmland of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Region.
  • The Great Clean-up
    The Great Clean-up
    James Carney 1976 52 min
    This documentary is about pollution in the Great Lakes. To tidy up the biggest body of fresh water in the world is a massive operation. The Great Clean-up documents changes to legislation affecting the emission of industrial pollutants into the environment on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border.