‘Blackstone,’ ‘Mohawk Girls’ offer new opportunities for aboriginal actors

Two Canadian TV shows that are in many ways dissimilar — “Blackstone” and “Mohawk Girls” — have one key element in common: both attempt to show what life is like on a reservation.

Shot in Alberta, “Blackstone” is in its fourth season on APTN and airs Tuesdays in most of the country. Set in the fictional Blackstone First Nation territory, it offers a searing look at modern day life on a reserve rife with corruption and addiction.

Much of Season Four revolves around life inside prison. Folks on the reservation aren’t faring much better with Gail (Michelle Thrush) relapsing into a life of booze and pills. Another character can’t lay off the online gambling.

Co-creator and executive producer Ron E. Scott says he does get some pushback from aboriginals who object to such depictions of self-destructive behaviour. He’s out for authenticity, however, and if that makes Canadians on or off the reservation uncomfortable, mission accomplished.

One the other end of the spectrum is “Mohawk Girls,” a new “dramedy” premiering Sunday on OMNI 1 and Tuesday on APTN.

Shot in Montreal and across the St. Lawrence on the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory in Quebec, the 13-episode season takes a lighthearted look at four young women trying to make their way in a rapidly changing world. Think “Girls” or even “Sex and the City” set on a reservation.

“Finding love is hard,” goes the tag line. “Finding yourself is even harder…especially when your family, friends and everyone in town has an opinion.”

The series is the brainchild of Tracey Deer, who grew up in Kahnawake. She was captivated by film and TV from an early age but wondered why she rarely saw aboriginals on television.

“As a 12-year-old, I wanted to make ‘Indiana Jones’ Part Six,” says Deer. “I had gone through the Oka crisis, I had post-traumatic stress.” For Deer, movies were a way to escape reality and “explore and feel. I was really in love with the magic and storytelling. I did not think I would ever be able to tell stories that were close to my heart.”

Studying film at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire opened Deer’s eyes to many possibilities. Her first works were documentaries, including “Club Nation,” a look inside Kahnawake.

“Mohawk Girls” began as a short film and has been percolating for years. Seven episodes were shot two years ago and APTN was so happy with the results they ordered six more and decided to hold everything back to launch one 13-episode season.

Among the stars is Brittany LeBorgne, who grew up with Deer on Kahnawake. Winnipeg-reared Metis performer Jenny Pudavick, Heather White (of Mohawk-Stoney descent) and Inuit actress Maika Harper play the other four leads.

“The aboriginal look is very diverse now,” says Deer, who wanted her leads — including blond actress LeBorgne — to reflect that new reality.

Ryan Cunningham, a Metis from Edmonton, plays a young lawyer on “Blackstone.” He’s been cast in the past, he says, as “every ethnicity under the sun.”

“Blackstone” boasts a large cast with between 80 and 90 speaking parts appearing this season alone. Scott says the talent pool is growing but it is still a challenge populating his show with native actors and he draws from every region in Canada. Several stars of “Mohawk Girls,” including Glen Gould, have also worked on “Blackstone” as well as other aboriginal-themed series such as, “Cashing In.”

Gould, whose credits reach back to “Da Vinci’s Inquest” and “North of 60” lauds the growth in aboriginal shows but says he’d he’d like to see more opportunities for First Nations actors on all Canadian TV programs.

Things are changing, however, says Scott. “APTN has opened many doors for so many artists,” he says. “Our casting director does a lot of shows out of Calgary and she says the talent and the amount of people that are in acting in the native community has grown by leaps and bounds. I love to see how the talent has progressed just in the four years our show has been on the air.”

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Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.