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CBC
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
For a science-fiction thriller, 40 Acres feels remarkably authentic
Social Sharing 40 Acres is the highly anticipated feature film debut from Canadian director R.T. Thorne, whose previous work includes projects like The Porter. Now in theatres, 40 Acres follows a Black-Indigenous family trying to survive in a famine-decimated near future — and protect their farmland against new threats trying to take it. The film has been praised for its performances, and its creative interpretation of Canadian history. Today on Commotion, culture critic El Jones and film critic Jesse Wente join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to discuss the film's Black-Indigenous themes, and what its release could mean for BIPOC Canadian filmmaking moving forward. We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player. WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube: Elamin: I would have liked to say that as a post-apocalyptic movie, things start to go wrong when the teenage son starts to sneak out to be a teenager. But really, things start to go wrong from the very beginning. We're introduced to the stakes in that opening sequence of they are beset by forces trying to take their land. El, I want to talk about the fact that it's not just set in a dystopian Canadian future. 40 Acres is trying to also do some reminding of history that I think is really difficult to do, right? So the Freeman family here, their roots in this farmland go back to the 1850s, and specifically to the story of an African American ancestor who fled slavery to come to Canada, escaping from a Georgia slave plantation. Briefly, what do you think people should know about the real history of African American migration to Canada before they watch a movie like this one? El: Well, I'm speaking to you from Halifax/Kjipuktuk, Nova Scotia, which of course African Nova Scotians have been here for over 400 years — the first Black settlement and contact in Canada. So of course many people still don't realize the depth of Black contribution and land in this country. Similarly in Alberta, which I think this very closely references, we had many farmers coming up from the U.S. in the same time period; places like Amber Valley have been settled by African American farmers. And then of course in Ontario, people are probably familiar with the Underground Railroad, and those kinds of settlements … that you still see are very close to the States — this history of liberated Black people attempting to find safety in Canada, but then also being met with white supremacy and violence. So I think part of the film is this meditation on, you know, Canada's supposed to be this safe place for Black people, the end of the Underground Railroad. But we know that when Black people came here, as in Nova Scotia, there were race riots against Black people. We have suffered from white supremacist violence, and we've integrated with Indigenous communities as well. So it really does pick up that history, and encourage us to think about what it really means. Elamin: Jesse, the story centres on a blended Black and Indigenous family. How did you feel about the ways that these histories and these two racialized identities, with entirely different relationships to the land, to colonialism — how do you feel like their relationship intersected as one family in this movie? Jesse: Oh, I thought it was really quite beautifully portrayed. It feels like a film that was made for us, by us, in the most generous way. And that's because it's in the subtle things — it's in the use of language, the foods they eat, which I thought was a really fantastic depiction there…. Our histories as peoples are very much intertwined on these lands, both in terms of our experience of colonialism and our continued survival in the face of it, how we resist and what that looks like. And also, our ability to form communities with one another through that shared experience, that I think is in this movie. It's so interesting, Elamin, when you talked about that when the son goes out, things go wrong. In some ways, things start to go right when the son goes out because what happens is they broaden … a sort of insular vision that's really the result of colonial pressures and violence, that has made people like, "We're here, and we're not gonna trust the outside." And yet one of the things we see over the course of the film, through the mother's character and her transformation, is that the son wants to have a bigger community. At the heart of this film (and at heart of a lot of post-apocalyptic films), the apocalypse they're imagining is the end of colonialism and capitalism, these systems. That community is the thing that we will need to both survive this current moment, but also what will allow us to build in the future…. So I loved it in terms of the way they communicated. It all felt so real and lived in, in the best possible way. I thought they nailed that part of the story.
CBC
24-06-2025
- CBC
OPS use-of-force involving Middle Eastern residents up 28% from 2020
Social Sharing The number of Middle Eastern residents involved in Ottawa Police Service use-of-force incidents has increased by 28 per cent compared to five years ago, new figures show., new figures show. Only a small fraction of OPS calls involve the use of force. In 2024, Ottawa police officers responded to about 223,000 calls for service. Out of those, officers displayed or used force in 251 incidents, or less than one per cent of the total calls, according to the latest annual report submitted to the Ottawa Police Services Board (OPSB) shows. Drawing but not firing a gun is an example of displayed use of force. The number of use-of-force incidents in 2024 was the second lowest in the last five years: But force continues to be disproportionately used against members of Ottawa's racialized communities. Notably, the number of Middle-Eastern people in incidents went up from 50 in 2020 to 64 in 2024, an increase of 28 per cent. OPS began reporting on the perceived race of people involved in use-of-force incidents in 2020. "We hope the service continues to work proactively to address that," board chair Salim Fakirani said during OPSB's latest meeting Monday night. While the number of Black and Indigenous people was down in 2024 compared to 2020, they also continue to be overrepresented in use-of-force incidents too. The overall percentage of racialized people has remained quite consistent in the statistics, but "given that use-of-force incidents and use-of-force subjects have declined over the past few years, the actual number of subjects has also declined, both overall and within race categories," according to the report. 'Needs to come down to zero' On Monday, the OPSB heard from Robin Browne, co-lead of 613-819 Black Hub, a group seeking police reforms in the years after Abdirahman Abdi, a Black man struggling with mental health issues, died after a violent arrest by Ottawa police officers. "We've got that number," Browne said of the fact that Black and Middle Eastern people remain more likely to be affected by use-of-force incidents. "It needs to come down to zero." Another response to the report came from Sahada Alolo, the former co-chair of OPS's community equity council, a group that works with the police service to provide insight on ways to improve relationships between police and racialized communities. "Even when statistical improvements are observed, they do not necessarily feel like success. No one should find themselves in a use-of-force situation, and no one should experience harm," she wrote. Alolo called on OPS to increase its investment in body-worn cameras as they provide "a more complete and transparent picture of police interactions." The police service is currently planning to try out body-worn cameras on at least 50 officers before the end of 2025, the board heard Monday. Annual use-of-force training will increase to two days from one starting next year, the board also heard. New review panel staffed The community equity council began looking for members of a new review panel last year. The panel is tasked with looking over use-of-force incidents and bringing recommendations to reduce the number of incidents. The review panel was expected to begin its work in early 2025, the coroner's inquest into Abdi's death heard last year. The council has selected members for the panel and those members have begun training and done some initial case reviews, according to the report. They will be meeting in the fall. Members have already pointed to "not having any sort of video reference" as a challenge, Deputy Chief Steve Bell told the board. "One of the things that we believe they are very quickly going to come back with is a recommendation to adopt body-worn cameras to help [them with their] work," Bell added. CBC has asked the police service who the review panel members are. Alolo's response to the report indicates she is the review panel's co-chair.
CBC
24-06-2025
- CBC
OPS use-of-force incidents involving Middle Eastern residents up 28% from 2020
The number of use-of-force incidents involving members of the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) and Middle Eastern residents has increased by 28 per cent compared to five years ago, new figures show. Only a small fraction of OPS calls involve the use of force. In 2024, Ottawa police officers responded to about 223,000 calls for service. Out of those, officers displayed or used force in 251 incidents, or less than one per cent of the total calls, according to the latest annual report submitted to the Ottawa Police Services Board (OPSB) shows. Drawing but not firing a gun is an example of displayed use of force. The number of use-of-force incidents in 2024 was the second lowest in the last five years: But force continues to be disproportionately used against members of Ottawa's racialized communities. Notably, the number incidents involving people perceived by officers to be Middle-Eastern went up from 50 in 2020 to 64 in 2024, an increase of 28 per cent. OPS began reporting on the perceived race of people involved in use-of-force incidents in 2020. "We hope the service continues to work proactively to address that," board chair Salim Fakirani said during OPSB's latest meeting Monday night. While the number of incidents involving Black and Indigenous people was down in 2024 compared to 2020, they also continue to be overrepresented in use-of-force incidents too. The overall percentage of racialized people has remained quite consistent in the statistics, but "given that use-of-force incidents and use-of-force subjects have declined over the past few years, the actual number of subjects has also declined, both overall and within race categories," according to the report. 'Needs to come down to zero' On Monday, the OPSB heard from Robin Browne, co-lead of 613-819 Black Hub, a group seeking police reforms in the years after Abdirahman Abdi, a Black man struggling with mental health issues, died after a violent arrest by Ottawa police officers. "We've got that number," Browne said of the fact that Black and Middle Eastern people remain more likely to be affected by use-of-force incidents. "It needs to come down to zero." Another response to the report came from Sahada Alolo, the former co-chair of OPS's community equity council, a group that works with the police service to provide insight on ways to improve relationships between police and racialized communities. "Even when statistical improvements are observed, they do not necessarily feel like success. No one should find themselves in a use-of-force situation, and no one should experience harm," she wrote. Alolo called on OPS to increase its investment in body-worn cameras as they provide "a more complete and transparent picture of police interactions." The police service is currently planning to try out body-worn cameras on at least 50 officers before the end of 2025, the board heard Monday. Annual use-of-force training will increase to two days from one starting next year, the board also heard. New review panel staffed The community equity council began looking for members of a new review panel last year. The panel is tasked with looking over use-of-force incidents and bringing recommendations to reduce the number of incidents. The review panel was expected to begin its work in early 2025, the coroner's inquest into Abdi's death heard last year. The council has selected members for the panel and those members have begun training and done some initial case reviews, according to the report. They will be meeting in the fall. Members have already pointed to "not having any sort of video reference" as a challenge, Deputy Chief Steve Bell told the board. "One of the things that we believe they are very quickly going to come back with is a recommendation to adopt body-worn cameras to help [them with their] work," Bell added.
