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Preview: APTN’s First Contact returns to educate and inform

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A year ago, First Contact debuted on APTN. The three-night broadcast event explored Indigenous culture through the eyes of six Canadians. Narrated by George Stroumboulopoulos, First Contact followed those six on a 28-day adventure to Winnipeg, Nunavut, Alberta, Northern Ontario and the coast of B.C. to visit Indigenous communities to challenge their preconceived notions and prejudices.

Now, First Contact returns for a second season. Hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos and broadcast over three nights—Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on APTN—it once again seeks to inform and educate Canadians about First Nations people, culture and beliefs, and rid them of some preconceptions along the way. In my preview of Season 1, I wrote about growing up in Brantford, Ont. Located close to the Six Nations of the Grand River, I heard the awful, racist jokes uttered by more than one person in that city. In Season 2, a fellow Brantfordian takes part.

Sixty-two-year-old Larry Harris works in shipping and receiving and enters First Contact believing anything bad that befalls Indigenous Peoples are their own fault. So, does he change his tune over the 28-day experience? Certainly not within the first few minutes. Larry voices the opinion we are still shouldering the guilt for those who took the land away from the First Nations. Participants Brennan Kovic and Laurianne Bencharski say similar things, the latter that anytime a white person speaks about Indigenous Peoples they’re labelled a racist.

A group of people participate in a First Nations dance.Twenty-six-year-old Samantha Whitehead, meanwhile, has a different view. She has never met a member of the First Nations and is genuinely interested in being educated. As for Jackson Way, the 19-year-old from Midland, Ont.—who hopes to teach history one day—believes taking benefits away from Indigenous Peoples will force the community “to work to get certain things.” He wonders if the current system is trying to make up for what happened in the past.

The six head to Kanesatake, QC, and learn the other side of the story of the 1990 Oka Siege—a very different tale from what Larry tells Brennan and Samantha on the bus there—and then in Natuashish, Labrador, time spent with the local Innu Peoples sheds new light on its residents and history.

In Episode 2, the six participants travel to Thunder Bay, where a number of incidents have exposed racist attitudes towards Indigenous Peoples prior to a meeting with residential school survivors in southern Ontario.

In the emotionally charged final episode, the six travel to Saskatchewan. Once there, they meet with people from communities deeply affected by the death and trial of Colten Boushie. At the conclusion of Episode 3, the Indigenous hosts and producers will sit down in an interactive panel, live on Facebook

First Contact airs Tuesday-Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on APTN.

Images courtesy of APTN.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Salvage Kings reveals the treasures among trash found by Priestly Demolition Inc.

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Residents of Toronto will recognize the name Priestly Demolition Inc. The company, which has been around since 1971, specializes in—among many other things—demolition and salvage services to the commercial, industrial, and institutional sectors of the construction industry in Ontario.

I’ve always wondered what goes on the sites marked by Priestly signs. Now, thanks to Salvage Kings, I know.

Debuting Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on History, Salvage Kings—from Media Headquarters, the folks behind Canada’s Smartest Person and Tessa & Scott—gives the award-winning company and its staff a starring role. Priestly Demolition Inc. offers a one-two punch, going in and tearing down anything from a bridge, hospital, mall or industrial complex to an airport or even the CN Tower. But before the demolition can begin, salvaging anything of value happens first. That responsibility falls on Ted Finch, head of salvage, and his four-person team, who are tasked with collecting, sorting and then auctioning and selling items for a profit.

“From the time I was five or six years old, I’ve been interested in old stuff,” Finch says. “I would drag stuff home and refinish it. I’ve been going it my whole life. I’ve been an antique dealer and I’ve known Vic Priestly for 25 years. He just kept telling me to come and work for him.”

In Sunday’s first instalment, Ted and his team, including right-hand man Justin Fortin, descend on Market Village Mall in Markham, Ontario, where they are tasked with unlocking mysterious vault doors, while the demolition team begins its tear down. But while the vault and its mystery may be the big prize, there a lot of little ones collected along the way. Store signs can be sold by the letter, cooling and heating systems cut from ceilings for a profit, or medical equipment rolled away to be snapped up for cash by a feature film set decorator. As with anything in the collectable genre, I’m constantly surprised by what can be given a value … and the folks who are willing to pay for them.

“I like it when people get an appreciation for recycling and history and moving things forward and not just throwing it in the garbage,” Finch says. “There is a lot of waste in this society and it boggles my mind the stuff that people just throw out. It has a lot of life left in it.”

Salvage Kings airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on History.

Image courtesy of Corus Entertainment.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

CTV Life Channel debuts Holmes 911 starring Canada’s favourite contractors, beginning September 17

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From a media release:

Canada’s favourite contractors are coming to CTV Life Channel this fall with HOLMES 911, airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT beginning Sept. 17, it was announced today. The much-anticipated debut and kick-off of the Holmes family on CTV channels, HOLMES 911 stars TV icon and professional contractor Mike Holmes, as well as his son Mike Jr. and daughter Sherry, who share their father’s passion to “Make It Right®.”

In HOLMES 911, Mike Holmes goes back to his roots to rescue homeowners from unscrupulous contractors, unhealthy homes, and D.I.Y projects gone wrong. Over 12 one-hour episodes, the Holmes family takes on five different houses, and turns them into homes again.

On the series premiere of HOLMES 911, “Families Helping Families” (Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV Life Channel and then streaming on CTVLife.ca), the Holmes’ take on their first project, The City Barn. The plan is to fix the weathered roof and make the house more accessible for thirteen-year-old Jake, who is battling cancer. When the reno gets delayed due to unforeseen structural issues, the Holmes team begins a second job and finds out how a small leak turned into a huge disaster and insurance nightmare for homeowners Bob and Barb. Encore presentations of HOLMES 911 air Saturdays at 1 p.m. ET/PT on CTV Life Channel. Episodes of HOLMES 911 are also available on-demand.

CTV Life Channel is part of the CTV suite of specialty channels rebranding on Sept. 12. HOLMES 911 joins the all-new CTV Life Channel fall lineup, which also includes new series JAMIE’S ULTIMATE VEG, new episodes of MARTHA AND SNOOP’S POTLUCK DINNER PARTY and BONACINI’S ITALY, as well as JAMIE AND JIMMY’S FOOD FIGHT CLUB, ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY, and WHERE TO I DO, among others. 

CTV Life Channel also features a vast library of previous programs from the Holmes family’s Make It Right production company.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Corus Studios signs global streaming deal with Netflix for Canadian-original series Rust Valley Restorers

From a media release:

Committed to developing unique content for a global audience, Corus Studios, a division of Corus Entertainment, announced today that Rust Valley Restorers (8×60), will be available worldwide on Netflix on August 23. The series is among the slate of original programming developed by Corus Studios for HISTORY®, representing a strategic move by Corus Studios to complement its robust slate of Lifestyle series by investing further in factual programming. Rust Valley Restorers garnered attention in Canada this past winter ranking among the Top 5 programs on HISTORY*.

Based in the foothills of the Canada’s Rocky Mountains, Rust Valley Restorers profiles the unique car restoration community in the “Rust Valley” and a restoration shop that stands apart from the rest. Led by the shops easily identifiable dreadlocked owner, Mike Hall and his colourful crew transform rusted wrecks into collectible cars. Together they passionately work to return cars to their former glory – sometimes for trade, sometimes for sale, and not always at a profit.

Rust Valley Restorers is produced by Mayhem Entertainment in association with Corus Studios for HISTORY. Corus Studios is represented by Rita Carbone Fleury, who oversees the global sales of Corus’ original content slate and brokered this deal.

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