Ghost of futures past Tom Berger in the North

Summary: How much should we develop the Arctic? Can it remain a homeland? And a refuge? Or is it some kind of new frontier? Destined to be exploited? Thirty years ago, Tom Berger changed the way Canadians looked at the North. He taught us that what happens in the North matters. That the way we act there will ultimately reveal the kind of people we are. Berger, a judge from British Columbia, had been asked by the federal government to consider the impact of building a pipeline through the Mackenzie Valley. He spent the next three years travelling from one community to another. He held hearings in tents and log cabins and even outdoors. Something momentous took place at those hearings. People talked as long as they wanted to. They described the land as their homeland, rather than a frontier to be exploited. The more Berger listened, the more he realized that the people who lived there had to have a direct say in whatever happened. Because of his recommendations, the pipeline was delayed until the land claims could be settled. In CBC Television's Ghosts of Futures Past: Tom Berger in the North, Berger, accompanied by David Suzuki, revisits the sites of those groundbreaking testimonies. But times have changed. A new pipeline is looming and three of the four aboriginal groups in the Valley have settled their land claims. First nation groups are now caught between two worlds, elders worry they are making too many compromises, a new generation of leaders is negotiating with developers and native suicide rates continue to climb. Can aboriginal people who are "of the land" stay true to values that have defined them for thousands of years and become equal and meaningful participants in an economy based on the extraction of oil and gas? Ghosts of Futures Past: Tom Berger in the North confronts issues of environmental impact, climate change and the huge scale of ecological change. Tom Berger eloquently reminds us once again of what truly matters. This poignant film is a heartfelt tribute to the importance of a land-based culture.