Identity is often revealed in the most perilous situations. In The Abenaki - People of the Dawn, it is Joe Obomsawin's intimate knowledge of the back roads and hidden trails on the frontiers of Quebec and New England that narrowly saves a group of bootleggers from capture. The escape also provides the impetus for his character's powerful and deeply personal retelling of the history of his people. Huddled around a fire in a remote cabin, Obomsawin unfolds the tragic, improbable and inspiring story of the Abenaki nation, reduced from 50,000 to some 1,500 over a few hundred years of colonial settlement. A collaboration between author and storyteller Mike Burns and director G. Scott MacLeod as part of the animated series The Water of Life, The Abenaki - People of the Dawn fuses traditional pencil animation with new digital media to tell the harrowing tale of a people's struggle for survival.

Graphic novel version available: Product # 300151GN

For the graphic novel version in ON-Core and CAN-Core click on Teacher Resources below the description.

This program is also available in French.