Ojigkwanong - Encounter with an Algonquin Sage - DVD
Catalogue Number: NFB523580
Producer: National Film Board Of Canada
Producers: André Gladu
Directors: Lucie Ouimet
Producing Agencies: National Film Board of Canada (Montreal), Office national du film du Canada (Montreal)
Subject: Documentary, First Nations Studies, Indigenous Peoples, Religious Studies
Language: English
Country Of Origin: Canada
Copyright Year: 2000
Running Time: 26:00
Closed Captions: Yes
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William Commanda, whose Algonquin name is Ojigkwanong, was born on the Maniwaki reserve in Quebec in 1913. The story of his early life is a familiar one: the loss of Indigenous culture, numbing poverty and escape into alcohol. In 1961 Commanda, then chief of his reserve, was terminally ill. He had a vision that would transform his life and those of his people. Imagining a Circle of all Nations, his first gesture was to reconcile the Algonquins and Haudenosaunee. Since then, he has devoted himself to the reconciliation of peoples and cultures. The message of this old sage is universal: healing is the main priority and can only be achieved through forgiveness and tolerance. In this, he shares much with other remarkable individuals who managed to wash politics clean of resentment: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. Ojigkwanong - an encounter with a remarkable man. In French with English subtitles.