Potlatch...a strict law bids us dance

Potlatch...a strict law bids us dance
Directed byDennis Wheeler
Directed by
Dennis Wheeler
Presents the history of the conflict between the Canadian government and the Kwakiutl Indians of the Northwest Pacific over the ritual of the Potlatch. Archival photographs and films, wax roll sound recordings, police reports, the original potlatch files, and correspondence of agents form the basis of the reconstruction of period events, while the film centres on a Potlatch given today by the Cranmer family of Alert Bay.
colonialism
canadian history
indigenous peoples
indigenous rights
indigenous sovereignty
Last Updated: November 7, 2025
