Storytelling for Truth and Reconciliation
I Am Compelled Collective
Crystal Lavallee was elated to champion the voices of elders and community leaders from Frog Lake First Nation (Unipouheos 121) in her mini-documentary Frog Lake: The Untold Stories.
The film brings to light the oral histories surrounding the 1885 Frog Lake “Massacre,” a tragic event that the community refers to as a ‘terrible occurrence.’
Another moment of encouragement came when Lavallee screened the film for a hard-to-impress audience of Grade 8 students in Niagara.
“The feedback I got from the students, especially the Grade 8 boys, was, ‘I enjoyed how the elders shared their stories and explained what happened to their families. It was very well put together,’” Lavallee said. As the founder of I Am Compelled Collective, a national educational charity, she focuses on sharing the often- overlooked or forgotten oral histories of Canada’s First Peoples to advance reconciliation. “Our stories must be shared,” she emphasized.
Thanks to a $1,500 Mini Grant from NCF, local residents and students were able to view Frog Lake: The Untold Stories in Grimsby last summer. The grant funded community screenings and discussions.
“The Niagara Community Foundation empowered us to remove barriers for learning and played an instrumental role in bridging the gaps in understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities,” Lavallee shared. “These shared stories are essential for healing in the Frog Lake community. They also provide knowledge to non-Indigenous people—I watched stereotypes change after they listened to the stories and discussed their learnings!”
A lot of Indigenous ways, our traditional ways, is not to tell people what to think, rather to share our stories.
Crystal Lavallee,
Founder
The creation of Frog Lake: The Untold Stories began during the pandemic, when Lavallee shifted her Indigenous storytelling efforts from theatre to film to reach a broader national audience.
While traveling in Alberta, she stopped by Frog Lake and spoke to Elder Larry Quinney, who passed down the knowledge his ancestors had shared with him. She was compelled to help!
This lesser-known chapter in Canadian history has been a source of shame for generations in Frog Lake, as the community has long carried the burden of blame for the “massacre.” Frog Lake: The Untold Stories features the voices of both elders and youth, sharing the lasting impact of this terrible occurrence and their collective journey toward healing.