Little Bird Review: A Must-Watch Canadian Story

The following is a review of the first two episodes of Little Bird. Mild spoilers ahead.

The “Sixties Scoop” was a dark period in Canadian history during which governments enacted policies that allowed child welfare to remove – or scoop up – indigenous children from their homes with the express purpose of adopting them out to white families. Despite the name, this period lasted from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, and estimates put the number of children at around 20,000. This, along with residential schools and other heinous programs and policies toward indigenous peoples, is part of Canada’s great shame. Little Bird – a new original limited series from Crave and APTN – is set to examine this period.

Set in both the late 1950s and the early 1980s, the story follows Bezhig Little Bird, a young girl (played by Keris Hope Hill) who is removed from her family in Saskatchewan at the age of five and adopted out to a Jewish family in Montreal where she becomes Esther Rosenblum (played by Darla Contois). Esther’s story begins with her wedding shower, in which she, at first glance, appears to have it all: a loving mother, a devoted fiancé, and a comfortable life. However, when she overhears her future mother-in-law speaking about the fact that she is adopted, she begins a journey to reclaim her lost childhood.

This story is intertwined with the story of five-year-old Behzig, who lives a simple life on a Saskatchewan reserve. Her mother, Patti Little Bird (Ellyn Jade), loves her children but maintains a vigilant eye. A survivor of the residential school system, she is wary of the authorities – and rightly so. She hides the children whenever police are nearby for fear of what might happen. One day when the children are playing, they attract the attention of a police car, and their world unravels.

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The speed and callousness with which Patti is assessed as an unfit mother is terrifying, and seeing how the child welfare officers Jeannie (Janet Kidder) and Adele (Alana Bale) weaponize Patti’s emotional state against her is base and cruel. The police react to the children’s father, Morris (Osawa Muskwa), in the exact same way we see indigenous people treated by police today: with dismissal and violence.

However, it is Contois who is the star of this show. Her portrayal of Esther is nuanced and empathetic. The character’s journey in the first episode – from thinking she might have it all to realizing she will never belong – is masterfully performed, almost entirely with body language and tone as she navigates a party to celebrate her happiness. It all ends on a look to the camera that will pierce your very soul.

Little Bird is a show that will break your heart. Both timelines, a young girl being ripped from her family and a young woman trying to reclaim her identity, are difficult to watch but equally important. The way Canada treats Indigenous people is a horrible part of our legacy and one we can ill afford to keep turning away from. In the last several years, Canadian indigenous storytelling has been on the rise, much of it grappling with our nation’s legacy. In this way, Little Bird joins films like Beans as must-watch titles for Canadian audiences, and for anyone living in a country with colonial origins.