Sugarcane
South Rock Social Justice film society is back for the fall, and we’re starting with a story that matters. Sugarcane, a powerful and award-winning documentary that honours Truth and Reconciliation and sheds light on Canada’s residential school legacy. We invite you to join us this Sunday, September 28, 2025 at the WHITE ROCK COMMUNITY CENTRE as we come together through film.
VENUE AND TIME:
White Rock Community Centre
15154 Russell Ave,
White Rock, BC V4B 3Z6
Doors open at 5:30 PM
Film starts at 6:-0 PM
🎬 About Sugarcane
Sugarcane (2024), directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, is a powerful and unflinching documentary that investigates the dark legacy of St. Joseph’s Indian Residential School in British Columbia. For generations, Indigenous children were taken from their families and placed in institutions where many suffered abuse, neglect, or never returned home.
This film brings survivors, families, and communities to the forefront — uncovering painful truths while also shining a light on resilience, justice, and healing. It is more than a story of the past; it is a call to remembrance, accountability, and reconciliation.
🌍 Why It Matters
Shares the voices of survivors and their descendants.
Exposes truths long hidden within residential school systems.
Contributes to the national dialogue on reconciliation, healing, and justice.
🏆 Awards & Recognition
Sugarcane has received worldwide acclaim:
Academy Awards (2025): Nominated for Best Documentary Feature
Sundance Film Festival (2024): Winner, U.S. Documentary Directing
Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards (2024): 8 nominations, Winner of Best Political Documentary & Best True Crime Documentary
National Board of Review: Winner, Best Documentary
and many more…
This moving film is both an act of remembrance and a step toward truth and reconciliation.
Our Speaker:
Chief Harley Chappell
Chief Harley 
was elected to serve as Chief of the Semiahmoo First Nation in 2016. He married wife Rachael in 2008, and together they have three sons, Brandyn, Jace, and Thales, and one daughter, Kimora.
As Chief, he has been a strong advocate for reviving the local shellfish population, revitalizing the Semiahmoo language and culture, ensuring good stewardship of oceans, rivers and lands, and improving relationships with municipal and indigenous partners in the region.
In addition to serving as Chief, Chappell is also the owner and instructor of Pacific Top Team Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Chilliwack.
Special thanks to SEMIAHMOO FIRST NATION:
The Semiahmoo First Nation are Coast Salish people whose traditional territory spans the lands and waters around present-day Surrey, White Rock, and the southern Fraser Valley in British Columbia, extending into Washington State. Their name, Semiahmoo, is often understood to mean “half-moon,” reflecting the crescent shape of the bay where their community has long lived.
For thousands of years, the Semiahmoo have been stewards of the land and sea, sustaining their people through fishing, hunting, and gathering. Today, the Nation continues to strengthen cultural traditions, language, and governance while working toward reconciliation, recognition of rights, and the protection of their ancestral lands and waters.
“People say that fences make good neighbours. I say we just need a long table.”
— Chief Harley Chappell
https://www.semiahmoofirstnation.ca/
