Rudy Haase

In 1983, fifteen Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, landowners went to court to stop the spraying of herbicides by the local subsidiary of a Swedish multinational on forests adjacent to their properties. They found that the testimony of scientists and the support of public opinion, both here and abroad, were not enough to win their case. The film shows their ordeal and the landmark Sydney trial. Concerns raised included potential conflict-of-interest situations where a government must protect citizens' health while supporting certain kinds of industry; the relative value of the political and judicial processes in mediating social problems; and the need for a public forum for debating environmental issues. The film contains outstanding footage from chemical-industry films of the 1950s and recent material about Vietnam veterans affected by Agent Orange.

The Battle At Our Shores is a documentary following over a period of a year the ground swell of opposition that has arisen over the first inshore/coastal oil and gas exploration licenses to be given out in Canada in the Province of Nova Scotia. Most other jurisdictions have put moratoriums on inshore marine oil and gas activity. This documentary tracks this ecological and political controversy, which pits citizens groups against their governments and industry. The Battle At Our Shores looks at citizen activism, governments that ignore democracy, and the fight against corporate globalism at a local level.

Through the 1980's in every Canadian province east of Saskatchewan, except Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, chemical insecticides are sprayed from the air onto the forests to combat the spruce budworm and other forest insects. The focus is on the province of New Brunswick whose spraying began in 1952. It explores who both sprayers and anti-sprayers are, the role of government, the economics and the health issues surround the aerial application of insecticides.

This documentary traces the folklore, stories, and reality of living under the hurricane force winds, that beat down upon the residents of the Acadian region of Western Cape Breton Island, between Margaree Harbour and Cheticamp. The film contains stunning landscapes shot in winds of 130 miles per hour. While there is often serious damage from these Suêtes, roofs blowing off buildings and even homes blowing apart, there is also a good dose of local humour surrounding life under these harsh environmental conditions. Residents from young to more than 90 years old tell their tales of life under these winds.

In 1988 John Dunsworth, an actor and theatre director (well-known from his role in the award-winning series, Trailer Park Boys) was asked to run under the progressive New Democratic Party ticket in a provincial election in Nova Scotia, Canada. A political novice and an underdog, we watch Dunsworth as he undertakes his grassroots approach. Seeing the campaign through his eyes we come away with a new understanding of the political process.

In Fairy Creek, director Jen Muranetz documents the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history, creating a searing portrait of contemporary environmental activism, bearing witness to the lengths activists are willing to take to protect British Columbia’s last old growth forests.