nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up exhibits how strong voices can persevere during tragic times. Not since Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine has a documentary been made with this much love for a life lost.

The film chronicles the ripple effect that sparked after Colten Boushie, a young Cree teen, was shot and killed for allegedly trespassing onto farmer Gerald Stanley’s property. Inciting race war parallels to Florida’s infamous trial of Trayvon Martin’s murder, the death of Boushie made Canadians more aware of the racism that still exists against Indigenous cultures. It’s an eye-opening perspective for nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up director Tasha Hubbard (Birth of a Family), who uses this film as an opportunity to educate her sons on First Nations and the culture’s suppressed history.

nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up is able to balance both of these intentions – to commemorate Boushie and to bring more awareness to a glaring systemic issue. However, the film becomes a traditional, yet equally effective, doc as Hubbard allows the film’s focus to be solely on the Boushies as they channel their mourning into activism.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie