VISION QUEST

video. 48 mins

Opening Sequence Vision Quest 2001

EDNA BRASS SAYS:

I would like to dedicate this film to the homeless people, murdered and missing women also Cheyenne’s Mom, Cheyenne is 10 years old.

CHEYENNE BRASS SAYS:

To let the police know what it’s like to be a person starving downtown.

RETA BLIND SAYS:

One of the things we need to do, is to make the world aware.

GLORIA A. MULCAHY SAYS:

Vision Quest 2001 is dedicated to the survivance of our Original Peoples and to strengthening the heart beat of our many Nations. The film honours the lives of missing and murdered women and the homeless people from downtown east side, Vancouver.

CHANTELLE TUCKER SAYS:

A group of people (residential school survivors) came out to demonstrate the need for healing within our communities. First Nations women and men camped out at Oppenheimer park, located in the east side of down town Vancouver. Transpiring from this event is a spirit united by love. Driven truly by the love of people, our planet and need to help those who are suffering in the east side and anywhere else. This is a proactive film that is dedicated to the missing / murdered women & their families, and those in the homeless community both aboriginal and non aboriginal alike.

SISTERS IN SPIRIT SAYS:

Over the past 20 years, approximately 500 Aboriginal women have gone missing in communities across Canada. Yet government, the media, and Canadian society continue to remain silent.

In Vancouver, more than 50 women went missing in that city’s Downtown Eastside. Sixty percent were Aboriginal, and most were young. These were poor women involved in the sex trade. They struggled with drugs and alcohol. Some suffered from the effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and many were victims of childhood sexual abuse. Every one of them grew up in a foster home. In other words, their lives bore all of the markings of the violence of colonization. more here

UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO SAYS:

Vision Quest 2001 offers viewers a glimpse of hope in this documentary account of a Traditional Vision Quest held amidst the pain and abuse created within an urban community. The five-day fast unfolds in the core of Vancouver’s notorious poverty area– downtown east side –Hastings and Main, Pigeon Park and Victory Square.

A page dedicated to the late Elder Harriet Nahanee who was a Vision Quest participant

Vision Quest Background

Dedication

Vision Quest 2001 is dedicated to the families of the homeless people and the Murdered Womens’ families and to Cheyennes’ Mom. This film is for Cheyenne’s wellness, for my granddaughter and the love I have for all of our People who are suffering. –Edna Brass–

Vision Quest 2001 is dedicated to the survivance of our Original Peoples and to strengthening the heart beat of our many Nations. The film honours the lives of missing and murdered women and the homeless people from downtown east side, Vancouver. It is dedicated to my mother and grandmother, to our first grandchild Della and to rekindling the fire. –gloria alvernaz mulcahy–

Synopsis / Synopsis – Download pdf

Vision Quest 2001 offers viewers a glimpse of hope in this documentary account of a Traditional Vision Quest held amidst the pain and abuse created within an urban community. The five-day fast unfolds in the core of Vancouver’s notorious poverty area–downtown east side–Hastings and Main, Pigeon Park, and Victory Square. A small group of women, children and men pitched their tents at Oppenheimer Park and began a fast culminating in a day of feasting, drumming, singing and feeding of the homeless. The food arrives in the silence of midnight moving us into the fifth day–the salmon and halibut giving their lives to feed the community. The donor is unknown. The raising of a Tepee painted with orca fin, eagle, and bear claws, softens the harshness of this setting. The skyline is a dream world–Grouse Mountain and grandfather sun. We smell the sea, hear the cry of the eagle, feel the softness of rain. This sense of place is juxtaposed to stories of Residential School abuse, missing women, adoptions, prostitution, murder and to the stream of drug drops, needles, deals and the pungent odor of alcohol from breath and sweat. Out of such despair the documentary captures a spirit of hope and change as people move from day one to day five to the drum beats, the songs, the ceremonies, the stories. These bring the heartbeat of survivance, renewal and change. With this ancient practice of the Fast and Vision Quest, we see in the film a vision of the future, a dance of change to the rhythms of a poetry of hope for the next generation. –gloria alvernaz mulcahy–

What is a Vision Quest?

A Vision Quest is a fasting ritual traditionally done by Original People in search of wisdom and power. A Dream or vision may arrive and involve acquiring a “helping spirit” such as an ancestor or an animal. In First Nations cultures this quest often is a personal journey where the individual enters a period of fasting and isolation and seeks a “vision” that will provide clarity and guidance. Often these experiences were undertaken at the time of a life transition or when preparing for war. Typically, on a Vision Quest, an individual will discover songs, healing knowledge, and be given direction. Vision quests can be done for the broader community and this urban Vision Quest 2001 is based on ancient Teachings and centred on the survivance of our People despite the structures of colonisation that support racism, genocide, Residential School abuses, and the Indian Act. Vision Quest 2001 has been a Fast of unity, community and solidarity in an effort to shape a better future. –g alvernaz mulcahy–