Tasha Hubbard is a Canadian

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

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 ...

filmmaker and educator based in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

, Saskatchewan. Hubbard's credits include three

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 ...

documentaries exploring Indigenous rights in Canada: '' Two Worlds Colliding'', a 2004 Canada Award-winning short film about the Saskatoon freezing deaths, '' Birth of a Family'', a 2017 feature-length documentary about four siblings separated during Canada's

Sixties Scoop The Sixties Scoop (), also known as The Scoop, was a period in which a series of policies were enacted in Canada that enabled child welfare authorities to take, or "scoop up," Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement ...

, and '' nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up'', a 2019

Hot Docs The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

and DOXA Documentary award-winning documentary which examines the death of Colten Boushie, a young Cree man, and the subsequent trial and acquittal of the man who shot him."‘We Will Stand Up,’ ‘Hope Frozen’ Take Top Prizes at Hot Docs"
''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', May 4, 2019.

Family

Born in 1973, Hubbard's birth name was Carrie Alaine Pinay. Her biological mother was a young single

Saulteaux The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and Ojibwa ethnonyms, other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations in Canada, First Nations band governm ...

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

woman whose parents and grandparents, as well as Hubbard's

Nakota Nakota (or Nakoda or Nakona) is the endonym used by those Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native peoples of North America who usually go by the name of ''Assiniboine people, Assiniboine'' (or ''Hohe''), in the United States, and of ''Nakoda ...

father, were placed into the

Canadian Indian residential school system The Canadian Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by various Christian churches. The sch ...

. With limited support from family and social services, Hubbard's mother gave her to a social worker whom she trusted, putting her up for adoption through the ''Saskatchewan Adopt Indian Metis (AIM)'' pilot project, part of the

. Raised on a farm near

Avonlea, Saskatchewan Avonlea ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the RM of Elmsthorpe No. 100 and Census Division No. 2. The village is approximately south-west of the city of Regina. The Southern Rails Cooperative ...

, Hubbard's adoptive parents were supportive of her search; it was her adoptive mother who first asked Hubbard, at the age of 14, if she wanted to find her biological family. Their search yielded nothing for almost two years until they hired a Cree lawyer who located Hubbard's birth mother in just two weeks; a woman who turned out to be a friend of her biological father. She met her birth mother three days after her sixteenth birthday, followed by her father, three weeks later. She would go on to reunite with all ten of her siblings, the last, a sister, at the age of twenty-two.

Filmography

''Two Worlds Colliding'' (2004)

''Two Worlds Colliding'' is a 2004 documentary following the experience of Darrell Night, an Indigenous man dumped by police in a field on the outskirts of Saskatchewan in January 2000 in -20 °C temperature. Investigating the "freezing deaths" of Indigenous peoples in the early 2000s and the cementing of distrust and fear of the Saskatchewan police, The film premiered at ImagineNATIVE in 2004, winning a Gemini Canada Award. ''Two Worlds Colliding'' also won the Golden Sheaf Award - Aboriginal at the 2005

Yorkton Film Festival Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) is an annual film festival held in late May in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada. In 1947, the Yorkton Film Council (YFC) was founded and in 1950 the first international documentary film festival officially opened in we ...

"7 Minutes" (2016)

This short documentary won the Golden Sheaf Award - Short Subject (Non-Fiction) at the 2016

''Birth of a Family'' (2017)

Hubbard's own experiences helped influence her decision to make '' Birth of a Family'', about the reunion of four First Nations siblings separated as part of the Sixties Scoop. One of four reunited siblings is Betty Ann Adam, a journalist with the '' Saskatoon Star Phoenix'', who also co-wrote the film. Adam, a

Dene The Dene people () are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal, subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term ...

, had been encouraged to document her reunion with siblings Esther, Rosalie and Ben by Marie Wilson, a commissioner with Canada's

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...

. Adam had known Hubbard for more than a decade and approached her with the idea of making the film. The documentary was nominated for the

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and Jun ...

2017 and won the 2017 EIFF Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature and 2017 Special Jury Prize - Moon Jury at the 18th Annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

''nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up'' (2019)

'' nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up'' is a 2019 documentary that serves as Hubbard's personal reflection on the death of Colten Boushie, a young Cree man, the subsequent trial and acquittal of the man who shot him, and the aftermath of the case, which caused shock and outrage across Canada. While following the trajectory of the case and the efforts of Boushie's family to seek justice, Hubbard draws attention to prejudices in the Canadian legal system, the history of colonialism on the Prairies, and anti-Indigenous racism in Canada. The film received the Best Canadian Feature Documentary Award at Toronto's

, and the Colin Low Award for Canadian Documentary at Vancouver's

DOXA Documentary Film Festival The DOXA Documentary Film Festival is a documentary film festival based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is held annually held for 10 days in May, and is presented by The Documentary Media Society, a non-profit organization. The festiv ...

. Additionally, this film won the Golden Sheaf Award for Best Multicultural (Over 30 Minutes) at the 2020

''Singing Back the Buffalo'' (2024)

'' Singing Back the Buffalo'' is a 2024 documentary that follows Indigenous visionaries and communities who are repatriating the buffalo back into the North American plains, signalling a turn for Indigenous nations, the ecosystem, and the future. The documentary received the Nigel Moore Award at the 2024

. It also received the Audience Award for Documentaries from the 2024

Calgary International Film Festival The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a film festival held annually in Calgary, Alberta, in late September and early October. CIFF is the largest international film festival in Alberta and the sixth largest in Canada. In 2020, thei ...

, as well as an honorable mention for Best Canadian Documentary.Aryn Toombs
"Calgary International Film Festival awards The Assistant, now eligible for Academy Award consideration"
''LiveWire Calgary'', September 26, 2024.

References

External links

*
Films by Tasha Hubbard at NFB.ca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbard, Tasha 1973 births Living people 21st-century First Nations artists Canadian adoptees Canadian documentary film directors Canadian women film directors Cree people Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Documentary Film Film directors from Saskatchewan First Nations filmmakers Indigenous child displacement in Canada Métis filmmakers People from Saskatoon Canadian people of Métis descent Saulteaux people Academic staff of the University of Saskatchewan Canadian women documentary filmmakers 21st-century First Nations women