For decades, First Nations peoples have been asked to tell their stories across media, sharing established wisdom, knowledge, culture, and experiences in film, television, and even video games. But as creatives Ben Armstrong and Brooke Collard discussed at GCAP 2024, sharing these stories means nothing without First Nations folks having agency over them. “When I’m thinking about story agency, it isn’t just the fact [that] you get to create something, that you get to express yourself or get a message across.
It goes back to wellbeing,” Collard explained. “It’s really important, not just for accurate representation and making sure that people are seeing themselves reflected in screens and games media of all forms. It’s about that healing process.
” Without agency, representation can feel empty and inauthentic. In the telling of First Nations stories, both Collard and Armstrong called for better and more opportunities for First Nations people to tell their stories, in their own voices, with their own sense of ownership. That doesn’t mean consultancy for a game led by non-First Nations voices.
Per Armstrong, it’s about buying into storytelling and culture, investing in people, and the relationality of those people. Previously, both Armstrong and Collard worked for , a social enterprise designed to elevate the creativity of First Nations talent through a variety of mediums – film, television, radio, video games, and beyond. A recent restructure meant plans for.
