Heather Latter
To many, Colonization Road is just a road located in both the east and west ends of town.
But to Fort Frances native Ryan McMahon, it is so much more.
The comedian, through interviews and comedy, delves into the history and meaning of the road—and into Canada’s colonial past—in a 50-minute documentary entitled “Colonization Road,” which will have its world premiere this Sunday at the 2016 imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival in Toronto.
Produced and directed by Michelle St. John, a two-time Gemini Award-winning actor with more than 35 years of experience in film, television, theatre, voice, and music, the film features McMahon as he visits Fort Frances and other towns and cities in the province that also have “Colonization Roads.”
McMahon says the names of these roads are startling reminders of the colonization of indigenous territories and the displacement of First Nations’ people.
On his journey through Ontario, McMahon explored the history of these roads, met with settlers in solidarity, and raised significant questions about “reconciliation” and what it means to “de-colonize.”
“In this film, we unpack the suite of policies and legislation that expedited the creation of Canada, and we examine how these policies were put in place at the cost of indigenous peoples, our nations, and the lands and waters we have lived in relation to for thousands of years,” he noted.
McMahon explained the origins of the film took root 12 years ago when St. John visited Couchiching to do a theatre workshop with her theatre company, Turtle Gals.
“They saw the sign, and they jumped out of the car immediately and took a picture in front of the sign,” he recalled.
“They couldn’t believe there was a road called Colonization Road in Fort Frances.
“They were dumbfounded,” McMahon added, noting the next time he saw St. John, she gave him the picture and pointed out the sign.
“That was the first time where I really went, ‘What does that mean?’” he remarked.
“Yeah, Colonization Road is just the name of a road but it means something.
“And to have one in my hometown, at the foot of the old burial mounds at Pither’s Point Park, is profound,” he stressed.
“For me, as a member of Couchiching First Nation, it’s even more profound.
“When I started peeling back the layers to search who Robert Pither was, and to really learn about how disgusting of a human being he was, that he was one of the original Indian Agents at Couchiching, it really made me realize how ugly Canada’s history is and how personal it is to me and my experience and my life,” McMahon said.
“The film gave me a chance to explore that.”
St. John started the project as a theatre piece for the Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble, then it evolved into the idea of a feature-length film.
McMahon, meanwhile, was doing some research on his own to better understand Fort Frances’ history and the history of Treaty #3.
St. John set out to interview him during the development process.
“That’s when she said, ‘Dude, this is your movie,’” he recalled, adding it really had become a personal story for him.
They spent the next three-four years on the project.
“It’s not very often in someone’s career where someone just gives you a movie,” McMahon noted. “I’m still, to this day, very grateful and indebted to Michelle and her work and her research. . . .
“I’m very grateful to her for giving me the chance to explore this part of my life and my family’s history and, more broadly, Northwestern Ontario’s history and Canada’s history,” he added.
McMahon said one elder in Shoal Lake told him he was giving a gift to Canada because it’s a story that hasn’t been told before.
“And I love to think of it that way,” he remarked.
And though there is some stand-up comedy in the film, McMahon said the tone in the film is a little bit more serious.
“There are clips of me sort of unpacking some of the ideas that we’re trying to present through stand-up comedy,” he explained, noting his comedy over the past three or four years has begun to take a more serious tone—exploring the relationship as it is today, as it was yesterday, and as it will be tomorrow.
“That’s really been my focus through comedy over the last bunch of years now, and I enjoy the challenge because it allows me to talk about issues and sort of disarm people,” he reasoned.
“Because let’s face it, Canada is not ready to talk about the last 150 years,” he said. “Canadians generally aren’t equipped with Canada’s true history.
“It wasn’t in the text books when we went to school, it’s hard to find on the Internet now, so when we talk about the myths and the lies that Canada is built on, oh man, people get defensive,” McMahon added.
“It hits too close to home,” he said. “It’s a really tricky conversation, but I think through comedy what I’m trying to do is unarm everybody.
“Let’s put our guns down and let’s see where the middle ground is—if there is middle ground,” he noted.
“Hopefully, the comedy I’m doing now is a more accessible way to that truth.”
McMahon also said he’s proud of what the film is.
“I think it can create a common language around Canada’s history and I think the value in that just can’t be overstated,” he stressed.
“If we’re not creating films or television or media or websites or podcasts about these things, and we’re not giving it in a way they want to consume this history, then I think we’re failing.
“This [film] is a step in the right direction, where we can be a little bit closer to the truth, especially in this time where we’re talking about reconciliation,” he added.
“We need to be nudged a little closer to a history that really tells both sides.”
McMahon said there’s no blame laid in the film.
“We’ve quite literally taken Canada’s suite of laws, policies, and legislation and presented back in a way that people can see another perspective,” he explained.
“And I’m proud I was able to be a part of it.
“I hope people like it.”
In the film, McMahon visits the Fort Frances Museum as part of his research and stressed it is such a “treasure trove.”
“There is so much value inside of that place,” he enthused. “And I hope people in Fort Frances really understand what they have there.
“A lot of the other places where we tried to visit to get resources and do that research, the information really wasn’t there,” he noted.
“We appreciate the efforts of the Fort Frances Museum to keep our local history alive and to keep our story alive, as complicated as that story is.”
After the world premiere this Sunday, McMahon is hoping to make arrangements to show “Colonization Road” in Fort Frances.
“I would love to do it in the Townshend Theatre and host a Q & A after,” he remarked. “I would love to present a really beautiful feast back to the people of Fort Frances and really use it as a catalyst to bringing us closer together.
“We say that we’re friends and we can get along,” he added. “Well, why is the town and the four First Nations still fighting over the land at the Point?
“Let’s move forward,” he urged. “What I want this film to be is a catalyst for change . . . and I would love to have that conversation with the people in the place that I love.”
McMahon said there will be producers, broadcasters, and distributors at the imagineNATIVE Film Festival vying to buy “Colonization Road” from the production company.
He’s hoping to have a theatrical release or get it on television.
“The distributor is really the first step and once we have a distributor, we’ll make the proper arrangements to get to Fort Frances,” he vowed.
In the meantime, McMahon said if locals want to see the film, they should take to social media.
“That’s the way films get attention,” he noted, adding they can contact him via Facebook and Twitter.
You also can visit colonizationroad.com and www.rmcomedy.com
Beyond this film project, McMahon is in the process of building his own production company called the Makoons Media Group (makoonsmedia.org), with a digital-first approach.
“What I realized through making this film is just how many stories there are to tell and the value of telling these stories in these mediums,” he said.
“We should be filling the Internet with stories and histories, and we should be working hard to raise our voices and working together in the true spirit of reconciliation,” he stressed.
McMahon also is working on another project called “Stories from the Land” (storiesfromtheland.com) after being one of the first recipients of the Canada Council for the Arts’ reconciliation grant.
He’ll be embarking on a national tour this fall to do story-telling and presentations on reconciliation.
