The Individual and Society (H)
Chris McDowell/Jacquetta Gosling
24 min. 1991
Teaching a young woman to be assertive can dramatically reduce the likelihood of her becoming a victim of sexual assault. In her SAFE-TEEN training program for teenage girls, Anita Roberts uses the analogy of a burglar about to commit a break-in, walking down the street looking for a likely prospect -- it's always the easy target, not the "hard house" that is chosen.
In her self-defence program and assertiveness training, Roberts uses creative role-playing to demonstrate effective methods for using voice and body language to deter potential offenders. Interspersed with scenes from her workshop are vignettes of young women telling their own stories about how they unwittingly found themselves potential victims and what they did to get out of some tricky situations.
A Hard House provides guidance on how to recognize possibly dangerous situations and deal with them in an assertive manner. The SAFE-TEEN workshop featured in the video has been implemented by both the Vancouver School Board and the Norwegian school system.
Subject(s): Self-defence, Violence against women, Youth
Health Care 911: the plight of immigrant medical doctors
Directed by Jiyar Gol
Produced by Erin Mussolum and Michelle Welygan
47 minutes • 2006
Available on DVD and VHS
Health Care 911 introduces some of the 8,000 medically trained immigrants
unable to practice in Canada despite a critical shortage of doctors across the
country. Facing the frustration of repeating years of training, exorbitant exam
fees and competing for scarce residency positions, doctors from Pakistan, Italy,
South Africa and elsewhere describe their battle with government bureaucracy
in Canada, a country where less than 5% of immigrant medical doctors (IMDs)
will ever practice.
Patrick Coady, coordinator of BC's Internationally Trained Professionals
Network, points to a 1991 report for Canada's deputy ministers of
health that predicted a doctor surplus and led to a decrease in
seats at medical schools. He also questions the role played by the
self-regulating colleges of practitioners in preventing IMDs from
working in Canada. A representative from the College of Physicians
& Surgeons of British Columbia places the blame squarely on
lack of government funding. One deputy minister defends his government's
policy as a precaution taken for the safety of patients. Meanwhile
a woman with a spinal condition, whose mobility has declined irreversibly
while she's waited months to see a specialist, is one of thousands
of Canadians shocked by the long queues for essential medical procedures.
As immigrant doctors continue to take jobs as security guards and
cab drivers, Health Care 911 probes all sides of the growing problem
of health care accessibility in Canada.
Subject(s): Health
care, Immigrants & Immigration,
Public policy
Gumboot Productions
39:30 min. 1999
Also available on DVD
Holding the Sun is the story of a Canadian family's desparate attempt, over a two-year period, to save their son from schizophrenia. The story took an even more tragic turn when Aaron Millar killed his mother Ruth with a ceremonial sword that had been hanging in their living room. The shock and grief of the surviving Millar family forms the backdrop for this in-depth look at mental illness and its many forms of expressions such as hallucinations, depression, paranoia, isolation and general confusion.
Christine, Aaron's sister, narrates her family's story through her mother's letters. In these letters, Ruth Millar stated her profound helplessness with her son's illness and her frustration with a health care system that failed them both. In spite of numerous medical assessments and the diagnosis of schizophrenia, Aaron was never admitted to a psychiatric hospital where he might have received proper medical treatment.
Could this tragedy have been avoided? Aaron's family is convinced that education and increased awareness of mental illness and its various forms of expression are the key to avoid tragedies like Ruth Millar's death in the future.
Awards:Chris Award, Columbus International Film and Video Festival.
Subject(s): Criminology,
Family, Grief,
Mental health
Return to the catalogue page
Moving Images Distribution
402 West Pender St, Ste 606, Vancouver, BC CANADA V6B 1T6
tel: 604.684.3014 toll-free: 800.684.3014
fax: 604.684.7165
Send us an e-mail
