Manitoulin film school looks to expand as it nears important milestone

Students inside Weengushk Film Institute are hard at work as the renowned place of Indigenous learning nears its 20th anniversary. Aug/13/21 (Ian Campbell/CTV News Northern Ontario)

SUDBURY -

It's a quiet, little unassuming warehouse along Highway 540 as you enter M'Chigeeng First Nation but inside magic happening.

Students inside Weengushk Film Institute are hard at work as the renowned place of Indigenous learning nears its 20th anniversary.

"No, it doesn't feel like it's been 20 years," laughed the schools founder Shirley Cheechoo, herself an artist in her own right and a self-styled 'residential school warrior.'

Cheechoo has personally mentored roughly 300 students who have come through the doors at Weengushk, many of whom are still working in the industry.

The school these days though has a problem, space, mainly they don't have enough of it. They're only able to accept about 10 to 13 students a year.

She and the rest of the board have started a capital campaign to build a new facility that would allow them to accept more students.

Shaped like a turtle, a model of it is currently on display at an architectural festival in Venice, Italy.

"I wanted the new Weengushk Film Institute's training centre to be shaped like a turtle as I have been taught that the truly supports the world, it's an icon of life itself," she said.

Cheechoo had always envisioned the school as as place where at risk-youth could get a leg up in life and get inspired to use their artistic skills.

"A lot of youth have fallen through the cracks and that's our goal, to pick up those people who have fallen through the cracks and give them a dream so they can have a voice in this world," she tells CTVNews.

One of the men that's helping her achieve that goal is elder Randy Msheekehn Trudeau who serves as a knowledge keeper and helps to facilitate the land-based teachings.

Holding a turtle shell in his hands, he says this is helping to light the fire of young Indigenous people, allowing them to reach new heights.

"You know what are some of the things that the law of the land has taught us to survive all these years and what is the difference today," said Trudeau.

Students on Thursday were busy working on a documentary of residential schools that will be aired at a later date.

Those on campus, say it's been a game changer for them,

"My mom worked here and she told me about Weengushk and I was like 'oh my gosh, I need to go there," said Izabelle Langendoen, an incoming student who had heard about Weengushk through her mom.

"I had a really hard time in the beginning trying to formulate my ideas even so they really helped me through Weengushk, the land-based learning ... finding the inner-fire inside of me," said graduate Angela Lewis Kijadjiwan who was also serving as the producer of the documentary.

Cheechoo says the new building is a dream she is hopeful that can be one day accomplished. She envisioned two turtles with beams of a light in the air that form a teepee but they're starting with one turtle at the moment due to prohibitive costs.

It's her hope students would be able to benefit immensely from state-of-the-art classrooms. She's hoping they can get enough community, government and funding support to make it happen.

"There's a lot of work to be done," Cheechoo added. "There's a lot of change that needs to happen and together we can make that change.