TORONTO — Indigenous performers Michael Greyeyes and Michelle Thrush say the power of film is in bringing light to dark places, and that’s what they hope they can do with their ‘60s Scoop drama, “Meadowlarks.”

Directed by Tasha Hubbard, the family saga about four scattered siblings brought together for one weekend makes its world premiere Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival, and screens again Monday.

It’s inspired by Hubbard’s 2017 documentary “Birth of a Family,” in which four Cree siblings who were taken from their mother as children gather for the first time as adults to piece together their family history.

Reached before TIFF in Naples, Fla., Greyeyes said the government policy remains little-known and “tragically” misunderstood today, more than a generation after 20,000 Indigenous Canadian children were put into foster care or placed for adoption with white families.

“There are various things that we talk about in our culture and people are familiar with them, like MMIW (missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls), things like intergenerational trauma — this kind of stuff, people have an understanding of it. And when I go, ‘It’s about the ’60s Scoop,’ even people who are pretty versed are like, ‘Hmm, what’s that?’,” Greyeyes said in a joint video call with Thrush, who was in Calgary.

“This is not something that either Canada or the United States are proud of and they buried it. And part of our job as Indigenous artists is to make sure that the world knows our stories.”

Thrush agreed, describing the job of an artist as “we bring light to places that were previously dark.”

“We often enter into territory that’s not always talked about or safe or in general conversation,” noted Thrush.

Thrush said much of the work involved conveying the inextricable bonds of siblings, but that it wasn’t hard to forge a connection with her co-stars, also including Carmen Moore and Alex Rice.

“The characters, as siblings, they lost so many years together. And I felt like working with these three actors and Tasha as our leader, that was our mission, was to fill in that beauty and that love and that light for so many of our community members who are finding their way home,” said Thrush.

“And how incredibly courageous that is for so many people in our communities.”

Reached in Edmonton, where she is an associate professor at the University of Alberta, Hubbard said Indigenous characters are too often treated as set dressing and their stories reduced to sad and tragic tropes. Indigenous creators are changing that, she said.

“We’re not just victims all the time, our characters in our films are complicated and beautiful and messy and struggling and overcoming. We have this range of humanity that’s been denied for a long time when it comes to film,” said Hubbard.

“I want to send a shoutout to (APTN/Crave series) ‘Little Bird’ and that beautiful series that told the story from childhood to reconnection and the struggles around that.”

“I think this film is in conversation with that, (this time focused) around five people in their 50s, which is a special time of life.”

“Meadowlarks” is set to open in theatres in November. The Toronto International Film Festival runs through Sept. 14.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 7, 2025.