Riel Country

Riel Country features young adults from two distinct Winnipeg neighbourhoods, on either side of the Red River as they struggle to overcome geographical and cultural barriers.

High school students from the predominantly Indigenous North End, with the support of their peers from the Francophone district of St. Boniface, work to produce a play on the origins of the Métis--a theme which links both groups to Louis Riel's dream of a society in which respect for difference is a founding principle.

How do these youths foresee their role and place within their respective communities? How do these minority communities co-exist with the predominant culture? How are prevailing intolerance and racism dealt with from both sides of the river? Victims of discrimination, these two groups share their experiences in view of better understanding themselves and others.