In October 2008, the Reel Youth Film Festival screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival to a sold out audience.  Many comments were written in response to the film Residential Truth : Unified Future, a film made by first nation youth from Urban Native Youth Association in Vancouver, BC as a part of a filmmaking program with Reel Youth.

This response came to us from a Grade 12 student in Surrey, BC.  Many Canadian students have had little exposure to the processes of colonization that occurred earlier this century in Canada:

In Residential Truth: Unified Future, the hardships and struggles faced by residential school survivors were revealed.  Various survivors and relatives of survivors spoke of the tremendous impact that the implementation of Residential Schools had on them both physically and emotionally.  Although I was slightly aware of the horrendous measures taken by the federal government to assure cultural assimilation, I was unaware of the role that the church played in the lives of the Natives.  I was also unaware of the depth of the problem initiated by the treatment of First Nations and Residential Schools and the lasting effect it had on future generations.  Families were completely torn and their culture was placed in disarray.  The sadness and anger that filled the survivors was what caught my attention.  They were visibly scarred from enduring years of abuse, yet they were incredibly strong and brave for still having the ability and will to stand up and educate youth of their shadowed past.