Treading Water:
Plight of the 2011 Manitoba First Nations Flood Evacuees

BROADCAST DATE

April 2014

FORMAT

TV Documentary - 1 Hour

AWARDS

Winner, Best Short Documentary, ImagineNATIVE 2014; Winner, Aboriginal Award, Yorkton Film Festival 2015; Nominated, Best Social / Political Documentary, Yorkton Film Festival 2015; Nominated, Best Research, Yorkton Film Festival 2015

SYNOPSIS

In 2011, 2100 First Nation people were forced from their homes after artificially diverted floodwater swamped their communities to save the city of Winnipeg and other major urban centers.

Three years later, evacuees are still stranded and drowning as the pawns in a political firestorm between the First Nation bands, the Manitoba Association of Native Firefighters, hotel owners and the federal and provincial governments. The displacement has triggered a rise in substance abuse and suicide rates. Plans for getting people home seem to be at a standstill.

Treading Water is a deeply intimate look at the unexpected, untold story of the real-life evacuees behind the national headlines of the 2011 Manitoba flood.

KEY CREATIVES

Written & Directed by  Janelle Wookey & Jérémie Wookey
Produced by Janelle Wookey (Wookey Films), Jocelyn Mitchell & Jeff Newman (Nüman Films)

BROADCASTER

CBC, APTN

LOCATION

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Lake St.Martin First Nation, Little Saskatchewan First Nation