Canada: A People's History

When The World Began - Episode 1 Original Airdate : 2000-10-22

Canada: A People's History, is an epic 17-part documentary series that traces Canada's evolving history, from early native populations more than 15,000 years ago to life at the end of the 20th century - as told by the people who lived it.

The series chronicles the rise and fall of empires, the clash of great armies and epoch-making rebellions.

The production, a joint work by the CBC and Radio-Canada, airing over two years in English and French, was awarded three Geminis and multiple international honours.

The opening episode of this 17-part documentary ranges across the continent, looking back more than 15,000 years to recount the varied history of the first occupants of the territory that would become Canada.

From the rich resource of native oral history and archaeology come the stories of the lands first people - how dozens of distinct societies took shape, and how they encountered a strange new people, the Europeans.

Among the earliest of these epoch-making encounters is the meeting between Jacques Cartier and Donnacona, the Iroquoian chief whom Cartier first met on the Gaspé shore in 1534 and later kidnapped.

Later on the Pacific coast, Nootka chief Maquinna encounters John Jewitt, the English sailor who became his captive and eventually his reluctant friend.

Featuring: Yvan Ponton (Jacques Cartier), Michael Mahonen (John Jewitt), Jonathan Jacobson (Maquinna), August Shellenberg (Woodlands Storyteller), Tantoo Cardinal (Plains Storyteller), Lucie Idlout (Inuit Storyteller), Evan Adams (West Coast Storyteller), René-Daniel Dubois (André Thevet), Roger Honeywell (William Cormack).

Posted on Nov 2, 2011 8:00:00 AM