The Stand

On a misty morning in the fall of 1985, a small group of Haida people blockaded a muddy dirt road on Lyell Island (then known as the Queen Charlotte Islands).

After a century of colonialist rule, Haida culture was nearly obliterated, with language and traditions fading, and the land stripped of its resources. But a committed group of Haida and their supporters took a stand, demanding a stop to clear-cut logging practices that had destroyed salmon habitat and ravaged old-growth forest. In the face of overwhelming pressure from the RCMP, private logging interests and even the media, the defenders called for the government to work with Indigenous people to find a way to protect the land and the future.

In a riveting new feature documentary drawn from more than a hundred hours of archival footage and audio, award-winning director Christopher Auchter (Now Is the Time) recreates the courage, tenacity and tension of this critical turning point. From furious showdowns between television pundit Jack Webster and Haida leader Miles Richardson, to the support of then-NDP MLA Svend Robinson, The Stand captures the struggle as it unfolds on a moment-to-moment basis.

As a complex battle played out on remote logging roads, in the legal system and in the court of public opinion, authorities staged a steady propaganda campaign, alongside stalling tactics and a police presence, to undermine the Haida cause. With the whole world watching, would the Haida hold fast to their strategy of peaceful resistance, or would violence erupt?

The parallels between past and present continue to resound, as the Lyell Island blockade laid the foundations for current land-claim treaties across Canada. From the Haida Nation’s resolute act of vision and conscience emerged an unbreakable commitment to justice, solidarity and Indigenous sovereignty that echoes forth to this day.