Season 6, Episode 2:

Creating New Economies - The Ahousaht Story

The relationship between economies and social problems in Aboriginal communities is explored.

The numbers are shocking and disturbing – ninety-six suicide attempts in a small coastal village in a matter of months.  Some believe that this heartbreaking plague may have been triggered by the devastating loss of the community’s commercial salmon fishery.  The Ahousaht of Vancouver Island have been using salmon as commerce for thousands of years and now their traditional way of life is gone, causing chaos and hopelessness amongst the people.  We examine just how everything is related when it comes to social problems in Aboriginal communities; poverty, loss of culture, fallout from the residential school experience, and yes, even the disintegration of an economy can be to blame.  This is a story about a people battling to heal from a painful past, while trying to build a whole new future for their people.