About this season
Cree Matriarch Aline Spears survives Canada's residential school system to continue her family's generational fight in the face of systemic starvation, racism, and sexual abuse. The story unfolds over one hundred years with a cumulative force that propels us into the future.
Episodes (5)
1. To Be Starved
7.0Aired 20 September 2023 • 44 min
Cree piano prodigy Aline Spears and her siblings are torn from their family and forced into residential school. Now a WWII code talker, Spears and her husband, confront the spectres of their pasts.
2. To Be Seperated
Aired 27 September 2023 • 44 min
Aline reconnects with her sister Perseverance, which resurfaces memories of a daring attempt to escape residential school - and its irrevocable consequences on all four Spears siblings.
3. To Be Denied
Aired 4 October 2023 • 50 min
Aline struggles to support her family while Adam, denied his veteran's pension, is cast adrift. When their children, Jake and Taylor, take action against a local priest, Aline experiences a crisis of faith.
4. To Let Go
Aired 11 October 2023 • 44 min
Advancing her work on the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Affairs, Taylor returns to her childhood home. A tense Thanksgiving dinner between the family spurs Jake to reach out to his father's family.
5. To Be Here
Aired 18 October 2023 • 47 min
Taylor and Aline travel to the Vatican, where Aline confronts her past - and inspires a pivotal discovery. Jakes joins his family's work and a concert becomes an opportunity for reconnection and healing. Through art and music, the entire Spears family comes together.