Little Bird is a 2023 mini-series from Canada. It tells heart-breaking Native American tales about the infamous Sixties Scoop, which broke a lot of Indigenous families and destroyed the lives of many young Native kids.
I had tears in my eyes as I watched this poignant and heart-wrenching story. It is based on the Canada (and the USA too) Government policy of separating Indigenous children from their families forcibly, in real life.
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Little Bird (CA/2023) Mini-Series:- synopsis
It explores universal themes of resilience in the face of trauma and loss. Removed from her home in Long Pine Reserve in Saskatchewan, Bezhig (Darla Contois) is adopted into a Montréal Jewish family at the age of five, becoming Esther Rosenblum (Darla Contois). Now in her 20s, Bezhig longs for the family she lost and is willing to sacrifice everything to find them.
Her search lands her in the Canadian prairies, worlds apart from everything she knows. As she begins to track down her siblings, she unravels the mystery behind her adoption, and discovers that her apprehension was connected to a racist government policy now known as the Sixties Scoop. Bezhig’s sense of identity shatters and she is forced to reckon with who she is and who she wants to become.
Bell Media
Focus:- the “Sixties Scoop” term
Well, let us learn about the “Sixties Scoop”, from The Indigenous Foundation working in North America. The children of the Native Communities were taken away from their families by government-backed agencies.
The Sixties Scoop refers to the time period, primarily throughout the 1960s when Indigenous children were taken or “scooped away” from their birth families and communities, usually without the consent of their family and band. The term was coined by Patrick Johnson in his 1983 report on Indigenous children in the Child Welfare system. Throughout the 1960s and onwards, many Indigenous children were taken from their communities and adopted into predominantly white, middle class families throughout North America.
The Sixties Scoop occurred not because the government was genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of Indigenous children, but primarily as an extension of the racist policies against Indigenous communities meant to assimilate Indigenous children into Western society and strip them from their culture and communities.
Sixties Scoop | The Indigenous Foundation
When they mention Northern America, they mean that the official snatching away of native kids happened in both the United States of America and Canada. This shameful policy adversely hurt at least a few generations.
Little Bird (CA/2023) Mini-Series:- details
| Genre | Drama |
| Released | May-June 2023 |
| Season | One (1) |
| Episodes | Six (6) |
| Creators | Hannah Moscovitch & Jennifer Podemski |
| Cast | Darla Contois, Keris Hope Hill, Osawa Muskwa, Imajyn Cardinal, Braeden Clarke, Joshua Odjick, Lisa Edelstein, Ellyn Jade, Michelle Thrush, etc. |
| Award | Audience Award Prize at the 2023 SERIES MANIA Festival in Lille, France, |
Little Bird (CA/2023) Mini-Series:- {Spoilers Free} review
It is a sad, depressing, moving, and emotional story about the Indigenous Native communities of North America. It is about the systematic destruction and forcible loss in the lives of Aboriginal people.
Using her unfathomable power of resilience, an Indigenous woman Bezhig (Darla Contois) seeks the truth about her long-lost and forgotten birth family – parents as well as siblings. Thus, this mini-series explores the two timelines – the first one tells us about when Bezhig was an 8-year-old kid and the second one depicts when she grows up to be a young woman in her twenties and starts looking for her real family and her tribal roots.
It is a riveting drama that makes you emotional and teary-eyed, as she uncovers the harsh realities of the powerful government policies and the tragic fate of her own family. Here one gets to take a closer look at the acts of injustice being meted out to American Indian families and the native communities by the government, even though the colonial era is supposedly over.
And the scooping-away incidents are comparatively the less-talked-about tragedies of recent times in these modern democracies, with a rule of law and democratic governments in place. Such powerful tales inspired by real-life incidents perhaps herald a fresh beginning in their lives. Maybe, it can start the healing process in the lives of Native communities of North America.
Personally, after watching this slice of recent true happenings from North America in this Mainstream mini-series, I realized that the tales of Indigenous people living in different nations around the world have a common thread of extreme exploitation and gross human rights violations by the dominant set of non-indigenous people backed by the governments.
Despite such large-scale acts of abuse, crime, prejudice, discrimination, injustice and oppression; the Indigenous Native societies survive and they live to tell their tales not only in North America but in different nations around the world.
Kudos to both the creators of this series – Jennifer Podemski and Hannah Moscovitch for creating a powerful and emotive piece of drama, that touches and breaks one’s heart. It portrays the historical period between the 1960s and 1980s in North America, so it has to get lots of facts right – people, culture, costumes, music, lifestyle, et al; and it did so admirably. This series was filmed in and around Winnipeg and Brokenhead Ojibway Nation on Treaty 1 territory and in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation on Treaty 2 territory to get the settings of this story right.
With a powerful story, its main lead played by Darla Contois (Bezhig), the other cast members – Keris Hope Hill (Young Bezhig), Osawa Muskwa (Morris), Ellyn Jade (Patti), Imajyn Cardinal (Dora), Braeden Clarke (Leo), Joshua Odjick (Niizh), Lisa Edelstein (Golda Rosemblum); all of them splendid acting performances to tell us this evocative story in a sensitive manner. The efforts of all the people involved with this mini-series must be applauded graciously.
It is a mainstream TV drama that fearlessly tackles the shameful history of forcibly removing Indigenous kids from their Native families as part of the “Sixties Scoop” policy.
For an empathic and compassionate person, then it is one of the best series of 2023, that you can watch this year. This is perfect for a binge-watch.
Little Bird (CA/2023) Mini-Series:- poster
Little Bird (CA/2023) Mini-Series:- ratings
| FM’s rating | 4.25/5 |
| IMDb rating as of the date | 7.80/10 |
Little Bird (CA/2023) Mini-Series:- trailer
Focus:- Na’kuset’s true story inspired this show
Na’kuset S is the Executive Director of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montréal. She is a Cree from Lac la Ronge, Saskatchewan.
On this day, let’s remember Canada’s historical “strategy” towards Indigenous peoples via Kent Monkman’s painting…and the implications that continue to this day.
Na’kuset | Twitter (X)
In her real life, she was adopted by a Jewish family in Montreal, so she draws on her adoptee experience in her advocacy work for Indigenous children in care. Her personal story inspired this series.
Focus:- the Native American actor Keris Hope Hill
The 8-year-old actress Keris played the role of the main protagonist Bezhig in this show. She portrayed her life as a young kid when she was separated from her loving Native family.
At only 8 years old, Keris Hope Hill is already pure magic onscreen.
Little Bird | IG
Focus:- the Native American actor Darla Contois
The young actress Darla played the role of the main protagonist Bezhig in this show, as she depicted her life as a lawyer, who was separated from her loving Native family and then tried to find them.
Darla Contois is a Cree-Saulteaux playwright from whose home community is Grand Rapids Cree Nation.
Liitle Bird | Twitter (X)
If you like the Native American series, then you can also watch the ‘Dark Winds‘ and ‘Reservation Dogs‘ series.
Featured & Other Images: Little Bird | Crave Canada & IMDb.