A new feature documentary from Haida filmmaker Patrick Shannon is drawing a direct line between a village basketball team and the Haida Nation’s long fight over title of its lands and waters.
Saints and Warriors follows the Skidegate Saints through the 2023-24 basketball season as the team tries to defend its dominance at the All Native Basketball Tournament while key players are also leading political and legal efforts to secure acknowledgement of Haida title of Haida Gwaii off mainland British Columbia.
The 98-minute film, produced by InnoNative and Grand Scheme, is rolling out in select theatres across Canada starting this Friday, Nov. 21. It will be available to rent or buy starting Nov. 28.
“Saints and Warriors is a story about the Haida Nation, my people, and how we used basketball as a tool to keep our culture alive during the most oppressive eras of Canada’s Indian Act, back when it was illegal to gather in groups larger than three except in church or sport,” Shannon said.
Residential schools played a role in bringing the sport into coastal communities, he added.
“A lot of our kids from Haida Gwaii and from all across northwest B.C. were plucked out of their communities and sent off to foreign boarding schools, like the Edmonton Indian Residential School as one example,” Shannon explained. “In these schools, kids would learn to play basketball and were able to take that back home in the summertime.”
At home, gathering laws and other restrictions were designed to sever ties between Nations.
“Communities were siloed off and segregated from one another,” he said. “Connections, trading … (and) family relationships that have gone back thousands of years were now made illegal for us to continue. (We could not) speak our language (or) represent our culture in any way, visibly or publicly.”
In that context, sport became one of the only legal ways to bring people together. A tournament launched in 1947 — which would become the All Native Basketball Tournament — created space to revive ties.
“(The tournament) allowed us to rekindle those connections when it was illegal to gather otherwise, but to also represent your culture and your people in a grand sense,” Shannon said. “It was allowed because it was through sport.”
Over time, he said, basketball became central to community life and leadership up and down the northwest coast, ultimately becoming a “powerful tool for cultural survival.”
“At one point, the leadership of all the Nations along the coast was centered around basketball. Our president of the Haida Nation is the captain of the basketball team. Our previous president is a basketball announcer,” he said. “Basketball is the bedrock of … our communities. … Our most monumental moments, from the signing of land agreements to big potlatches, they happen in our basketball gym.”
The documentary follows that legacy into the present. The Skidegate Saints, widely regarded as one of the strongest teams on the coast, are heading into the All Native tournament with an aging core and a history of success: eight titles in 11 years by the time filming took place. A key player’s move to a rival city raises the stakes for what could be the last run for a dynasty.
At the same time, the film tracks the Haida Nation’s battle for recognition of Aboriginal title, culminating in the signing of a landmark agreement with Canada and British Columbia. Many of the people leading that work are also central figures in the Saints’ story.
“I was thinking, ‘How can we tell the story of Haida Gwaii?’ because Haida Gwaii is represented … almost like a tourist destination. Most films or documentaries … (are) focused on the natural beauty (of the region) and these romanticized Haidas doing their thing,” Shannon said. “I really want to share what it was like to actually grow up there … and to see the underpinnings of what makes the Haida Nation (and) our communities so strong and successful in what we do, especially asserting ourselves in this modern colonial state.”
Shannon, a 20-year veteran of the film industry, said he wanted to avoid the extractive model of outside crews collecting stories and leaving.
“What I’m really proud about with Saints and Warriors is that our process for filming was very collaborative with the community,” he said. “We had stakeholders in the community who were able to give substantial, meaningful input all the way to the final cut … because we wanted to make sure these stories were being told appropriately.
“What I’ve seen when it comes to productions coming to tell Indigenous stories (is) non-Indigenous people coming to tell our stories from their perspective, and often vastly misrepresenting (us). I wanted to make sure that I didn’t also do that,” he continued. “First and foremost, (the film) needs to do right by my own community, because I can’t be a part of the problem.”
For Jason (Gaagwiis) Alsop, president of the Council of the Haida Nation, Saints and Warriors is part of a broader shift toward Haida people controlling their own stories.
“I think, personally and in the role as president, it’s just a powerful opportunity to have Haida storytelling done by Haida people,” Alsop said. “A lot of our story, at times, has been interpreted by anthropologists or other outside creatives or filmmakers … We give our interviews and all that, but (we’re) not in control of the story.”
He said he hopes the film offers something to both Haida youth and non-Indigenous audiences watching from across the country.
“Hopefully (the film) offers inspiration and confidence to young people and others pursuing their personal and national priorities as an Indigenous Nation, but also for Canadians and British Columbians and others to reflect on what is possible when people work together … to hopefully stem some of the fear and undertones of racism and things that come out when we’re discussing Indigenous sovereignty, title, and rights.”
On the court, the film is anchored by Saints leader and Haida council member Desmond (Desi) Collinson, who serves as both a main character and narrator in the film.
“I hope it just inspires individuals to be proud of who they are and represent who they are,” Collinson said. “For myself, as a First Nations individual who grew up here on the reserve and … grew up through the hard knocks, you see the low self-esteem or the low confidence … From everything I have been through, I just want individuals to feel proud and inspired and feel and believe within themselves that they can achieve the goals that they’re looking to achieve.”
He said he and Alsop insisted on keeping the story grounded in community experience rather than tailoring it to festival expectations.
“The more that we kept the storyline authentic to us, the more the world would enjoy that, right?” Collinson said. “That’s what we’re trying to do — educate the world … (so they can see us) in an authentic light too.”
Haida filmmaker Gwaai Edenshaw, co-director of the separate Haida-language feature Edge of the Knife, sees Saints and Warriors fitting into a growing body of Haida-led cinema that starts by speaking to people at home.
“We had other producers … (who) didn’t like the direction that we were going, and kept on saying … ‘We’ll make a festival movie.’ That was never an acceptable approach for us,” Edenshaw said about Edge of the Knife. “We always managed it under the lens of building it for a Haida audience. Once it did find its way to (film) festivals, I think that was sort of the secret to our success.
“Things that were not spelled out, the sort of mysteries that were left inside the narrative, were the things that created the colour that I think the audience responded to.”
Beyond film festivals and basketball gyms, Shannon said he hopes Saints and Warriors offers a concrete example of what reconciliation can look like when Indigenous rights and titles are respected.
“I’ve been to over 100 Indigenous communities across Canada, the United States, and around the world. I’ve never seen such a beautiful, healthy dynamic between Haida and our Indigenous and non-Indigenous neighbours,” he said. “I think Haida Gwaii truly represents what reconciliation could look like in this country. (It’s) one where the non-Indigenous communities pay respect and defer to the Haida Nation as true stewards of the land for making long-term decisions for the good of everyone.”
Sport will continue to play a role in that, he added.
“How often do Indigenous and non-Indigenous people have opportunities that aren’t political to be able to gather and build relationships? There aren’t any,” Shannon said. “I think sport is one of those rare opportunities.”
For a list of screenings and to learn more, visit SaintsAndWarriors.com.