Boyce Richardson, (March 21, 1928—March 7, 2020) was a journalist, author and filmmaker.

Biography

Richardson was born in

Wyndham, New Zealand Wyndham is a rural town of 579 people in the South Island of New Zealand in the Southland region, 45 km (28 mi) east of Invercargill and 25 km (15 mi) south of Gore. The original Māori name of the locality was (clear or s ...

to Robert and Letitia Richardson, and grew up in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...

where, at age 17, he began his career in journalism at the ''Southland Times'' and the ''Southland Daily News''. After a brief stint as a reporter in Australia, he went to India to live and work at

Nilokheri Nilokheri is a town, just 19 km from Karnal, Karnal city and a municipal committee in Karnal district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Haryana. It has 13 wards. The town is located about 143 km from Delhi on Natio ...

, a co-operative community north of

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. In 1951, he moved to Britain, where he studied writing under the Scottish poet,

Edwin Muir Edwin Muir CBE (15 May 1887 – 3 January 1959) was a Scottish poet, novelist and translator. Born on a farm in Deerness, a parish of Orkney, Scotland, he is remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry written in plain language and wit ...

Newbattle Abbey Newbattle Abbey was a Cistercians, Cistercian monastery near the village of Newbattle in Midlothian, Scotland, which subsequently became a stately home and then an educational institution. Monastery It was founded in 1140 by monks from Melrose ...

College. In 1954, Richardson emigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, first joining the ''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Free Press'' (or FP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press''; previously known as the ''Winnipeg Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, natio ...

'' then the ''

Montreal Star ''The Montreal Star'' was an English language, English-language Canada, Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike. It was Canada's largest newspaper until the 1950 ...

''. From 1960 to 1968 he was the latter newspaper's correspondent in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Filmmaking career

Upon his return to Montreal, Richardson became disenchanted with corporate media and, in 1971, embarked on a freelance career. Despite knowing nothing about film-making, he began to work for the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

(NFB), learning the craft under the mentorship of NFB veterans Tony Ianzelo and Colin Low. His first film, ''Cree Hunters of Mistassini'', which he co-directed with Ianzelo, won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary. Between 1973 and 2000, he made 38 films for the NFB. He made one other film not associated with the NFB; The Children of Soong Ching Ling, produced by

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

and directed by Gary Bush, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film.

Politics and activism

In 1950, Richardson married Shirley Norton, a woman of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

descent and the daughter of a trade union activist. The two were proud socialists and Richardson's entire career was devoted to social justice. Many of his NFB films were about worker rights and corporate abuse, but he was an avid supporter of Canada's aboriginal peoples, in creating understanding, and seeking justice in their struggles against degradation of their lands. In his films and books, he created "a chronicle of the assault upon the last coherent hunting culture in North America, the

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

Indians of Quebec, and their vast primeval homelands". He also did prescient work on

anti-globalization The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist ...

in the 1987 award-winning NFB documentary ''Super-Companies'', which explored the role of multinational corporations such as

Alcan Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During ...

. When his 1996 article ''Corporations: How Do We Curb Their Obscene Power?'' was rejected by a progressive periodical, he posted it to the Internet, to worldwide interest. That sparked the creation of ''Boyce's Paper'', a series of regular articles which we would now call a 'blog'. In 2002, in recognition of his use of "creativity to draw public attention to social issues and engender compassion through mutual understanding", Richardson was invested as a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

Personal life and death

Richardson's marriage to Shirley, a poet, lasted 56 years and produced four children. She died in 2012. Richardson died of cancer at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital, on March 7, 2020.

Filmography

(For the

*'' Cree Hunters of Mistassini'' - documentary 1974 - writer and, with Tony Ianzelo, director *''Our Land is Our Life'' - documentary 1974 - writer and, with Tony Ianzelo, director *''Niagara for Sale'' - documentary, William Canning 1975 - writer *''Some People Have to Suffer'' - documentary, Christopher Pinney 1976 - writer *''Some Call it Progress'' - documentary short, Tina Viljoen 1978 - writer *''Welcome to Smiths Falls'' - documentary, William Canning 1978 - writer *''Anthony Mazzocchi Talks About Chemicals and the Workers'' - documentary short 1978 - writer, director *''Dr. Epstein Talks About Chemicals in the Workplace'' - documentary short 1978 - writer, director *''Dr. Epstein Talks About Distortion of Information'' - documentary short 1978 - writer, director *''Dr. Epstein Talks About the Chemical Explosion'' - documentary short 1978 - writer, director *''Dr. Selikoff Talks About the Latency Period'' - documentary short 1978 - writer, director *''Homer Séguin Talks About Radiation at Elliot Lake'' - documentary short 1978 - writer, director *''Our Health is Not for Sale'' - documentary short 1978 - writer and, with David Newman, director *''Who Will I Sentence Now?'' - documentary short 1978 - writer and, with David Newman, director *''Two Union Leaders Talk About Workers and Health'' - documentary short 1978 - writer, director *''Robert Sass: Workers in Saskatchewan'' - documentary short 1978 - writer, director *''Coke Ovens: A High Risk Job'' - documentary short 1978 - writer, director *''Georges Dionne, un mineur de l'amiante'' - documentary short 1978 - writer, director *''Two Dreams of a Nation: The Fortin Family of Quebec and Alberta'' - documentary short 1980 - writer and, with John Dyer, director *''China: A Land Transformed'' - documentary short 1980 - writer and, with Tony Ianzelo, director *''North China Commune'' - documentary 1980 - writer and, with Tony Ianzelo, director *''North China Factory'' - documentary 1980 - writer and, with Tony Ianzelo, director *''Wuxing People’s Commune'' - documentary 1980 - writer and, with Tony Ianzelo, director *''Under New Management'' - documentary short, Tina Viljoen 1981 - writer *''The Politics of Persuasion'' - documentary short, Martin Defalco 1982 - writer *''Who Wants Unions'' - documentary short, Laszlo Barna & Laura Alper 1982 - writer *'' The Children of Soong Ching Ling'' - documentary short, non-NFB, Gary Bush 1984 - writer *''From Ashes to Forest'' - documentary, Tony Ianzelo 1984 - writer *''For Future Generations'' - documentary 1985 - writer, director *''The Great Buffalo Saga'' - documentary 1985 - writer and, with Michael McKennirey, director *''Feeding and Clothing China's Millions'' - documentary short, Dennis Sawyer 1986 - writer *''School in the Bush'' - documentary short, Dennis Sawyer 1986 - writer *''Super-Companies'' - documentary 1987 - writer and director *''A Struggle for Shelter'' - documentary short, Robert Fortier 1987 - writer *''Blockade: Algonquins Defend the Forest'' - documentary short 1990 - writer, director *''Flooding Job’s Garden'' - documentary 1991 - writer, director *''Louisbourg Under Siege'' - documentary, Albert Kish 1997 - writer *''Moving Pictures'' - documentary, Colin Low 2000 - writer

Awards

'' Cree Hunters of Mistassini'' (1974) *BAFTA (

British Academy Film Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...

), London – BAFTA Award for Best Documentary (Robert Flaherty Award), 1975 * 26th Canadian Film Awards,

Niagara-on-the-Lake Niagara-on-the-Lake is a town in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Niagara Peninsula at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, across the river from New York (state), New York, United States. Niagara-on-the-Lake is in the R ...

, ON - Genie Award for Best Documentary, 1975 * Melbourne Film Festival – Silver Boomerang, Best Film Made for TV, 1975 ''Who Will I Sentence Now?'' (1978) *World Congress of Rehabilitation International Film Festival,

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

- Second Prize - Prevention/General, 1980 ''The Great Buffalo Saga'' (1985) *International Wildlife Film Festival,

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five ...

- Merit Award - Historical Documentary, 1985 ''Super-Companies'' (1987) *National Educational Media Network Competition,

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

– Golden Apple Award, 1990 *American Film and Video Festival, Chicago - Red Ribbon Award - International Issues, 1989

Bibliography

*''The Future of Canadian Cities'' (1972) *''James Bay: The Plot to Drown the North Woods'' (1972) *''Strangers Devour the Land'' (1974) *''Drumbeat: Anger and Renewal in Indian Country'' (1989) *''Time to Change: Canada's Place in a World in Crisis'' (1990) *''People of Terra Nullius: Betrayal and Rebirth in Aboriginal Canada'' (1994) *''Memoirs of a Media Maverick'' (2004)

References

External links

Boyce'sPaper
Provocative progressive Weblog (one of the oldest continuously published blogs, since 1996).

Internet Archive.

Autobiography
'Cree Hunters of Mistassini'
Film online at the NFB
'For Future Generations'
Film online at the NFB * A classic of Internet

Samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

! * An appreciation of Bubbles & The Boys. {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Boyce 1928 births 2020 deaths Members of the Order of Canada Canadian male journalists Canadian documentary film directors Canadian male bloggers Film directors from Montreal Journalists from Montreal New Zealand emigrants to Canada People from Wyndham, New Zealand Writers from Montreal Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Documentary Film