Open events

This event will be the first in-person screening of the film, and will include a discussion with the Director of the film, Angele Alook, Assistant Professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies. Along with settler-ally Director Sheena Wilson, and Metis film producer Jamie Bourque-Blyan.

This 2022 film, that has already been screened at York University’s Centre for Indigenous Knowledges and Languages, and was produced over several years, beginning in 2017. pîkopayin (it is broken) is a collaboration between Bigstone Cree Nation and the Just Powers research project. The film foregrounds Bigstone Cree Nation members’ perspectives and insights on energy projects and activity within Treaty 8 territory.

pîkopayin documents Bigstone Cree Nation members’ experiences of resource-extraction projects and activity within the First Nation’s traditional territory—including the challenges these projects present, and the official and unofficial collective actions that have been organized to respond to the industrial use of Bigstone lands.

Exploring the perspective of Bigstone Cree Nation members on what it means to live in relationship to the land, the project documents traditional land uses—such as hunting, harvesting, and cultural practices—while investigating members’ visions of the future on these lands. Furthermore, pîkopayin documents and analyzes how energy transitions influence Indigenous communities, and how those communities influence trends and attitudes that guide decisions around Alberta’s energy transition and our shared energy futures.

Please note this event will be presented in English. Bilingual titles and descriptions are for reference purposes only.