Marchand of the Okanagan
(Part of the series A Family Tree Narrative)

Martin de Valk
Chiaro Productions
24 minutes • 2005
Also available on DVD

The Okanagan people are a nation running through two countries. The Marchand family came to their BC home when their grandmother Mary Ann rode up from Washington State by horseback. Len Marchand, his sister Pauline Chiba, and her daughter Valerie share the stories of their ancestors who farmed, fished, gardened, picked berries and sold cordwood to sustain the family. Len, who became the country's first Native MP as part of Trudeau's 1968 election team, discusses his grandmother's influence on his sense of identity and how starkly it contrasted with the public image of his people at that pivotal point in Canadian history.

Subject(s): Family, Genealogy, Indigenous people–Okanagan, Storytelling