Older Than the Crown: Arts Revelstoke documentary screening explores the Rick Desautel case

Arts Revelstoke presents Older Than the Crown, a documentary about the Rick Desautel case. This online movie screening is part of National Indigenous Peoples Day events. Launching virtually at 7 p.m. on June 21, the film will be available until June 27.

In 2010, Desautel was charged with hunting as a non-resident and without a proper permit in Canada. However, Desautel was within his rights as a Sinixt person. He was hunting elk in Vallican, B.C., part of his ancestral land. The Sinixt people were declared extinct by the Canadian government in 1956, which stripped the Sinixt of their aboriginal rights in the country.

However, the Desautel case has given Sinixt people a voice in the Canadian legal system. This provides an opportunity to fight back against the extinction declaration of 1956.

Older Than the Crown is directed by Derrick LaMere, an Indigenous filmmaker from Spokane, Washington. Free tickets are available for this event on the Arts Revelstoke website.