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Series highlights Canada's ethnic heroines
by By Michael Kissinger, Vancouver Courier, 1/11/2006

For anyone who's had the misfortune of taking social studies classes in the text- book-obsessed public high school system, chances are your view of Canadian history is littered with dead white guys and a mind-numbing array of dates, statistics and recipes for bannock. That and perhaps the shadowy outline of Mr. Little's dandruff flakes forever illuminated on the overhead projector and burned into your memory. Or maybe that's just me.

Susan Poizner's documentary series Mother Tongue aims to change all that, without a long-dead world leader or dandruff flake in sight. The 13-part television series, which airs Sunday nights at 9:30 p.m. on channel M starting Jan. 15, tells the stories of 13 different women from 13 different ethnic communities across Canada. From Finnish suffragists to Acadian war heroines to Chinese housewives who take on city hall, each story profiles an unsung, yet pivotal figure in this country's social history.

"Essentially Mother Tongue is a women's history of ethnic Canada," says Poizner from her home in Toronto. "I am trying to create role models for young women, show them the things women have established through our history. But the other mandate really is to show the role Canada's ethnic communities have played in our history as well."

The Toronto-based producer and director comes by her fascination with ethnic communities honestly. For 17 years she lived abroad as both a student and journalist in Israel, Russia and England. "I love different cultures, different languages, and when I decided to come back to Canada I kind of felt disappointed that I would lose that aspect of diversity in my life," says Poizner. "So I was determined to do something to explore Canada's ethnic diversity."

Among Mother Tongue's 13 stories, two that particularly stood out for Poizner just happened to take place in Vancouver. In Kimiko Murakami: Triumph Over Internment, Mary Kitagawa tells the story of how her mother Kimiko Murakami refused to allow her children to give up hope during eight years of internment and was determined to return to the Saltspring Island farm they were forced to leave. In Mary Lee Chan: Taking on City Hall, Shirley Chan retells how her mother Mary Lee Chan and her neighbours formed the Strathcona Property Owner and Tenants Association and successfully fought the city's plan to demolish the neighbourhood as apart of a controversial "Urban Renewal" Program.

"Shirley Chan telling the story of her mother Mary Lee Chan was inspiring and it's a story that stood out right from the start," says Poizner. "This is woman who made a difference in her community, who faced down all sorts of obstacles, like the expectations of the behaviour of Chinese women. The same thing with Kimiko Murakami's story. She was interned for eight years with her family and she made sure that none of her family would lose hope. And I think that the passion that the two daughters have with telling their mothers' stories is partly what makes them so magical."

Both episodes will be screened at the B.C. launch for Mother Tongue, Jan.12, 7:30-9:30 p.m. at the Vancouver Museum, and will be followed by a Q&A with Shirley Chan, Mary Kitagawa and the director.

Besides reminding people that history is as much about ordinary citizens as it is about those who govern them, Poizner has another goal for her documentary series.

"I'm hoping that Mother Tongue will be a way for us to meet our neighbours in our country," she says.

"When you think about one community or another community, there are all these stereotypes, which is natural_but I think that by introducing remarkable women from 13 different communities, it reminds us that there are amazing people in all these communities. And just because their customs aren't familiar to us doesn't mean they can't be an inspiration for us."

For more information, go to www.mothertongue.ca.

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This series of educational videos was made possible with funding from

Mother Tongue: A woman's history of ethnic Canada is a 13-part TV series that documents Canada's multicultural history from a female perspective. Each program tells the story of a notable woman in one of Canada's communities, including a Black fugitive slave, an Acadian mail order bride, and an Icelandic suffragette. mother, tongue, woman, history, ethnic, Canada, video, DVD, TV, tele, television, series, show, think, stock, inc., canada, ontario, british, columbia, quebec, education, school