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Birth of a Family

Directed by Tasha Hubbard
Canada, 2017 (documentary, 79 minutes, colour, English)
Also known as "Naissance d'une famille"
Birth of a Family
Image: © National Film Board of Canada
Video (National Film Board of Canada)
Video (National Film Board of Canada) [French]

Film Description:
"Three sisters and a brother, adopted as infants into separate families across North America, meet together for the first time in this deeply moving documentary by director Tasha Hubbard. Removed from their young Dene mother's care as part of Canada's infamous Sixties Scoop, Betty Ann, Esther, Rosalie and Ben were four of the 20,000 Indigenous children taken from their families between 1955 and 1985, to be either adopted into white families or to live in foster care. Now all in middle age, each has grown up in different circumstances, with different family cultures, different values and no shared memories. Birth of a Family follows them through the challenges, trepidations and joys of their first steps towards forming their family. Meeting all together for the first time, they spend a week in Banff, Alberta, sharing what they know about their mother and stories about their lives and the struggles they went through as foster kids and adoptees. As the four siblings piece together their shared history, their connection deepens, bringing laughter with it, and their family begins to take shape."
-- National Film Board of Canada (source)

Film Credits (partial):
Written by: Tasha Hubbard, Betty Ann Adam
Produced by: Bonnie Thompson, David Christensen
Cinematography: Allan Leader, Thomas Dudley, Jim Moule
Film Editing: Hans Olson
Production Company: National Film Board of Canada / Office national du film du Canada
(sources)

Notes about Birth of a Family

(sources)

Quote about Birth of a Family

"In Birth of a Family you witness the pain the siblings go through when coming to terms with being robbed of a childhood together as well as with their mother's pain of losing her children. During filming [Tasha] Hubbard couldn't help but connect with that feeling of loss of growing up without her own birth family and culture; 'You can't get those childhood memories of your siblings back,' she explained. 'While sharing memories with each other all you can do is look at photos and hear stories. There's a part of you that thinks: I should have been there. We should have had those memories together.'"
-- Erica Commanda (source)

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