Joyce Jonathan Crone a Haudenosaunee, Mohawk, Turtle Clan from the Huntsville area in Ontario is, amongst many things, an activist, columnist, radio show host, writer and member of the Indigenous Advisory Council of the Ontario Provincial Police. She is founder of the Hope Arises Project which is committed to promoting a connection to Indigenous culture for those expressing loss or interruption of cultural identity. Hope Arises Project seeks to address cultural misconceptions and barriers and envisions a community fostering cultural parity, diversity and acceptance.
“Red Girl Rising” affords Crone an opportunity to tell viewers her story. The short documentary is one of the seven in the Citizen Minutes Programme.
Her father attended a residential school in Ontario and was severely traumatized by the experience as is Crone. Residential school trauma is intergenerational a message which is very much a message of the documentary.
Given the genocidal intent of residential schools all Canadians surely must understand the anger of Indigenous people in Canada. Crone was the victim of racist bullying based on her skin colour. Crone recognizes the necessity of understanding and educating about past abuses but cautions a sole focus on the past amounts to stuck wheels and one avoidance strategy of the spinning wheels is community involvement with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. To potential allies she states to be an ally you must stand close enough to feel the rocks being thrown.
A short but powerful and telling recounting of a woman seeking to change the future by education, community involvement and reconciliation despite her own trauma and her anger so evident in a final drum beating scene.
Directed by Kim Stadfeld and Faith Howe.
The Citizen Minutes Programme screens 30April2025.
RKS CANADIAN Documentary Rating 81/100.
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