True North review: Students take stand against racism in 1960s Canada

The Lead

The documentary 'True North' directed by Michèle Stephenson, recounts a charged moment in Quebec history in 1969 when black students at Sir George Williams University, now called Concordia University, staged what would become the biggest campus protest in Canadian history.

The Event Details

The protest was sparked by complaints against a flagrantly racist biology professor named Perry Anderson. The documentary stitches together interviews with key leaders of the protest, including Norman Cook, Brenda Dash, and Rosie Douglas, with extensive archive material, all shot in black and white.

• The protest resulted in scores of arrests and about C$2m in property damage due to fire destroying a computer lab.
• The soundtrack features deliberately discordant jazz and vintage gospel tunes, creating a bewitching soundscape.

The Impact Analysis

The documentary goes beyond the immediate incident, tracing the roots of the protest back to colonialism, slavery, and more recent events like the destruction of Africville in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The protest was also inspired by black Americans' protests across the border in the US, and a million local quotidian racist slights and insults.

The Prediction

The documentary highlights that several of the protesters went on to become politicians and community leaders later on, despite facing deportations and prison terms.

'True North' is set to be screened at Bertha DocHouse, London, from 22-28 May.