*WINNER!!!
2nd Prize - First People's Festival
Hot Docs Humanitarian Award
Honorable Mention - Columbus

On August 6, 1945 the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The uranium that provided the explosive material for these bombs was mined in the remote Great Bear region of Canada's Northwest Territories. Many of the native people (the Sahtu Dene) who worked in this mining operation were not even aware that the Second World War was in progress, or that they had been directly involved in the production of the two bombs.

A half century later they know a lot more about it as well as that they themselves were directly exposed to highly radioactive material. All but four of the village elders who worked for the mine during these years have since died from radiation-related cancer. VILLAGE OF WIDOWS explores this history and the practical and spiritual response of these peoples' struggle with the terrible legacy that has brought them to the verge of extinction.

NOTE: This program is being used in Grade 9 and 10 geography studies as well as in several core university and college curriculum.