By Bryan Eneas

Documentary featuring La Loche woman to debut in P.A.

Sep 10, 2017 | 10:22 PM

A British Columbia filmmaker has spent the last 10 years creating a feature-length documentary with homeless subjects, and one of them has roots in Northern Saskatchewan.

La Loche’s Karen Montgrand is featured in Us and Them, a film created by Krista Loughton from Victoria, B.C. Us and Them is the story of Loughton’s own quest for healing, and how homeless people played a role in her journey. After 10 years of work, she said she hoped the film can change people’s perceptions.

“When I discuss my emotional issues with [homeless people] they respond in a way that is full of wisdom and empathy that most people wouldn’t expect,” Loughton said. “That’s the most special thing to me about the film, it smashes these stereotypes apart.”

Loughton met Montgrand panhandling on the streets of Victoria.

Montgrand told the filmmaker she had recently lost her husband and didn’t know what she was going to do. Loughton then invited Montgrand to a Medicine Wheel group the film maker had started.

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The two have since become close friends through the filming process. Loughton said the pair speaks on the phone at least once a day.

“She likes the traveling and she likes coming to screenings,” Loughton said. “We’re like sisters now.”

On Sept. 16, Us and Them will be shown in La Loche. The screening will be accompanied with a discussion in Dene to promote healing for anyone who may need it.

“It’s really healing for [Montgrand] to be around her family and people that she knows,” Loughton said. “She loves anything to do with First Nations culture.”

Us and Them debuts in Prince Albert on Sept. 14 at the John M Cuelenaere Public Library at 7 p.m. The documentary will then be shown in La Loche, Saskatoon and Regina before moving to a screening on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Loughton said she sent invites to various government officials including Jean-Yves Duclos, the minister of Families, Children and Social Development.

“It’s the zenith of my hopes, the impacts of this film could have in Canada, so it’s pretty exciting,” Loughton said.

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas