Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising looks into one of the lesser-known armed standoffs between Indigenous land defenders and Canadian forces, the 1974 occupation of Anicinabe Park just outside Kenora, in Northern Ontario. The documentary, which premieres today at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), also goes far beyond the occupation.
There is scarce archival footage of the Indigenous youth-led effort to take that piece of land back, so the doc relies on interviews with Indigenous people who were there, including Lynn Skead, who was active in the movement and married to Louie Cameron.
As the leader of the Ojibway Warriors Society, Cameron was a charismatic speaker and a skilled strategist who could have been a household name. After the occupation ended and Cameron helped lead a caravan to Ottawa (also covered in depth in the film), work was hard to find. He was targeted by police and harassed by racists in Kenora for years, grinding him down. Cameron died in his 40s after a fall. As the film shows, he was one many Indigenous people in the region to die young and under mysterious circumstances.
Overall, Ni-Naadamaadiz is both an inspiring and a sobering look at what it’s like to really challenge Canadian land theft and domination.
Directed by Shane Belcourt and co-written by the award-winning journalist Tanya Talaga, the well-made doc was produced with support from The Documentary Channel (controlled by CBC) and APTN, so it should be available to watch for free relatively soon.
This article appeared in the 2025 Oct/Nov issue.