(May 4, 2016 – Toronto, ON) Northernstars Publisher Ralph Lucas, a former Montrealer, wrote this about John Walker’s film Quebec My Country Mon Pays: “It just could be one of the most important films made in Canada in the last decade. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Quebec election that brought René Lévesque and his Parti Québecois to power. Writer-producer-director John Walker, a former Montrealer, one of an estimated 500-thousand former citizens of La Belle Provence, has produced a film all of them and everyone else in the country should see. Titled Québec: My Country Mon Pays, the film documents a critical time in the formation of our modern nation. A time when bombs could and did go off in Montreal. A time when the federal government perceived what they called an ‘apprehended insurrection’ and the Canadian Army patrolled the streets of Montreal. Innocent civilians — no one was ever charged — were rounded up and jailed by local police and in response to a reporter’s question as to just how far the Prime Minister might go with the imposed War Measures Act, Pierre Elliot Trudeau said, ‘Just watch me.’ Québec: My Country Mon Pays should be required viewing by everyone in the country. This is a learned cinematic journey back in time, yet it is also a capsule of how things are today in Québec.”
It seemed only right that our first interview in a new video series we’re calling Shooting Stars should be with John Walker who sat down for a conversation with Ralph Lucas last Saturday. Québec: My Country Mon Pays will have its final Hot Docs screening on Sunday, May 8 at 3:45 at the Scotiabank Theatre.
