Walker, Playing FairAlanis Obomsawin, a documentary film maker for the National Film Board (NFB), called to ask if I would be interested in writing a short film script. It would be one of four short videos about racism at the elementary school level. I said sure. 
Walker is a boy in foster care. He befriends a stray dog. Jamie, a boy from his class, is curious about Walker, but also afraid. He’s heard bad things about Aboriginal people from his older brother. He’s also terrified of dogs. He helps Jamie overcome his fear of dogs and they become friends. Jamie’s older brother tries to end their friendship but with Walker’s support, Jamie stands up to him. As the director, Alanis found a little boy, Luis, who had never acted before. Since the project was about racism, some of the other characters had to be racist toward Luis’s character, Walker. In rehearsals Luis couldn’t understand why the older boys were being so mean to him. The other boys explained to him it was only pretend. NFB invited me to Montreal to watch the shooting. The dog trainer told me his dog could growl on command so I wrote that into my script. The Playing Fair series was and continues to be a great resource for teachers at the elementary levels in cultural awareness. Cast: Crew: Director, Alanis Obomsawin Don’t forget to have a look at the other stories in the Playing Fair series. They are all highly recommended!
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