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First Contact Directed By Jeff Newman

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First Contact is a documentary series directed by Jeff Newman. The series follows six participants who have negative views towards Indigenous peoples as they journey to homes, communities and reserves in various locations across Canada. They meet Indigenous peoples who tell them their stories and discuss issues faced by Indigenous peoples. As the participants meet more people and expand their understanding, at differing levels their views begin to shift. The point of view is that of the participants, highlighting them and their opinions, and the Indigenous peoples are seen as background characters with the purpose of providing information throughout the documentaries. Overall, I believe that the series is effective at spreading information …show more content…

By knowing the risks, it is clear why some people wouldn't want to go to school, and explains why they would choose to stay on the reserve instead. The reason that made having to leave home surprising to me was how much strength is required and how difficult it would be. As a high school school student myself, I could not fathom having to leave my home and community if I wanted to go to school. If I was placed in that situation it would be difficult to make that decision, and I probably would end up choosing to stay with my family. This new piece of information provided in First Contact expanded my knowledge of the hardships that Indigenous peoples face with everyday things that would slip the mind of most non-Indigenous peoples, such as easily being able to attend high …show more content…

It was mentioned in the article that all of the main Indigenous peoples who were talked to and shared their stories wanted to do so in order to educate people. However, not everyone gave the permission to be used as a teaching opportunity for non-Indigenous peoples. For example, there were people in the visited communities who didn’t speak with the group, and there were people who were under the influence of alcohol or drugs who made appearances that weren't able to give proper consent to being filmed. An example of not being able to consent to being filmed was of Trent in episode three, as he
Porporo 4 was under the influence of drugs. Even considering the possibility of the show being staged, it is still sending the message that violating the privacy and lives of Indigenous peoples for the sake of learning is acceptable, resulting in a similar amount of harm as using them solely for education would. First Contact is effective at educating non-Indigenous peoples, but there are Indigenous peoples who were harmed by having their trauma brought up or by hearing the harmful stereotypes and opinions of the participants, sometimes against their

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