In 1972, five young film students made a documentary about the Sayisi Dene, an aboriginal band in Northern Canada that had been forcibly relocated from their ancestral home 16 years earlier. Today, three of the original group, now seasoned filmmakers, revisit these people as they continue to struggle to put their tragic past behind them. The film explores their efforts to keep their values and traditions in balance with the realities of the 21st century.

Confronting the Past is an in-depth, three-part series examining the history of the "sixties scoop" -- aboriginal adoption in Canada.

Synopsis: The impacts of adoption are explored through the eyes of adoptees and their families. We meet the people who worked in Child Welfare Agencies in the 1960's and explore why so many children were placed outside of Canada.

The series is the first up-to-date history of the 'sixties scoop', including the current debates surrounding the adoption of aboriginal children to non-aboriginal parents. We look at the struggle to open adoption records and the dozens of pending lawsuits by adoptees who were placed in the United States. We also explore different experiences, different stories, of how several adoptees have adjusted to meeting their birth families.

See also Rajotte Productions Inc. for other documentaries by Coleen Rajotte. Over the years, Coleen has built her reputation covering social issues. Past topics have included aboriginal gangs and the legacy of residential schools and how it’s affecting youth. Coleen’s recent film about aboriginal youth suicide, Back to Pikangikum, was released early in 2004.