Canada Videos - The Documentary Network

The Crude Gamble of Oil by Rail: Bomb Trains

Documentary.net staff — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 14:31:23 +0000

It’s estimated that 9 million barrels of crude oil are moving over the rail lines of North America at any given moment. Oil trains charging through Virginia, North Dakota, Alabama, and Canada’s Quebec, New Brunswick, and Alberta provinces have derailed and exploded, resulting in severe environmental damage and, in the case of Quebec, considerable human casualties. A continental oil boom and lack of pipeline infrastructure have forced unprecedented amounts of oil onto US and Canadian railroads. With 43 times more oil being hauled along US rail lines in 2013 than in 2005, communities across North America are bracing for another catastrophe. VICE News traveled to the Pacific Northwest to investigate the rapid expansion of oil-by-rail transport and speak with residents on the frontline of the battle over bomb trains. Follow producer Spencer Chumbley on Twitter: @spencerchumbley

Inside the Cannabis Factory

Documentary.net staff — Thu, 29 May 2014 16:14:44 +0000

New federal regulations in Canada make way for the large-scale legal production of marijuana. Hershey stopped producing chocolate in Smiths Falls, Ontario, six years ago. The work went to Mexico, but the factory remains, along with reminders of the glory days: A sign that once directed school buses delivering children for tours. A fading, theme-park-style entrance that marks what used to be the big attraction — a “Chocolate Shoppe” that sold about $4 million of broken candy and bulk bars a year. The once ever-present sweet smell of chocolate is gone, too. In the high-ceilinged warehouse, where stacks of Hershey’s bars and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups once awaited shipment, the nose now picks up a different odor: the woody, herbal aroma of 50,000 marijuana plants. Clinical, climate-controlled rooms with artificial sunlight house rows upon rows of plants at various stages of growth. In the “mother room,” horticulturalists use cuttings to start new plants. The “flowering rooms” are flooded with intense light 12 hours a day to nurture nearly grown plants in strains with vaguely aristocratic names like Argyle, Houndstooth and Twilling. by NY Times

Canada’s Toxic Chemical Valley

Documentary.net staff — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 17:28:35 +0000

The first thing you notice about Sarnia, Ontario, is the smell: a potent mix of gasoline, melting asphalt, and the occasional trace of rotten egg. Shortly after my arrival I already felt unpleasantly high and dizzy, like I wasn't getting enough air. Maybe this had something to do with the bouquet of smokestacks in the southern part of town that, all day every day, belch fumes and orange flares like something out of a Blade Runner-esque dystopia. Sarnia is home to more than 60 refineries and chemical plants that produce gasoline, synthetic rubbers, and other materials that the world's industries require to create the commercial products we know and love. The city's most prominent and profitable attraction is an area about the size of 100 city blocks known as the Chemical Valley, where 40 percent of Canada's chemical industry can be found packed together like a noxious megalopolis. According to a 2011 report by the World Health Organization, Sarnia's air is the most polluted air in Canada. There are more toxic air pollutants billowing out of smokestacks here than in all of the provinces of New Brunswick or Manitoba.

Asian Gangs

Documentary.net staff — Sat, 29 Jun 2013 05:43:18 +0000

Asian Gangs is short comedic documentary by Calum MacLeod & Lewis Bennett with cinematography by Benjamin Taft. A film about Lewis finding out his real roots - was he member of an Asian gang? It screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and has gone on to play at a number of other festivals including the Whistler Film Festival and Victoria Film Festival.

Canada’s War on Weed

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 03 May 2013 05:11:49 +0000

With a reported value of over six billion dollars, it's no secret that marijuana in British Columbia is big business. However, due to the recent legalization of weed in Washington and Colorado, the draconian crime laws pushed forward by the Canadian Conservative government's omnibus crime bill, and recent changes to medical marijuana regulations, the entire industry is suddenly facing an identity crisis. VICE Canada went west to talk to the people directly affected by these recent events: from the legalization activists and the large and small scale growers, to the illegal traffickers and law enforcement, we talked to the people on the front lines of the battle for control over one of Canada's most undervalued resource.

Living off land hour from Vancouver – Lasqueti

Documentary.net staff — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 18:58:09 +0000

Imagine an island so secluded there's no electricity, there are no paved roads and in many cases, no plumbing. That island - called Lasqueti - is home to 400 people and less than an hour away from Vancouver.16x9 traveled there to see what it's like to live off the grid.

The Battle for the Arctic

Documentary.net staff — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:23:04 +0000

The film looks at the potential environmental impact of resource extraction in the Arctic, and what that might mean for the people who live there. The UN has imposed a 2013 deadline for the submission of scientific claims to the Arctic seabed. It is the precursor to a resource boom which would see Canada, the US, Russia, Norway and Greenland all attempt to exploit the region's resources. These Arctic countries are desperately mapping out their territories so they can tap into the fossil fuels and minerals locked beneath the fast melting ice. And with global warming speeding up the melting of the Polar ice caps, potential shipping routes are opening up - raising concerns about oil spills, and control over these new passageways. Josh Rushing heads to the Far North to see first-hand how Arctic countries are responding to the potential bonanza.

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High (Marijuana Trade Industry)

Documentary.net staff — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 06:57:27 +0000

Ever wonder what British Columbia's most profitable industries are? Logging? Fishing? Tourism? Ever think to include marijuana? If you haven't, think again. No longer a hobby for the stereotypical hippie culture of the ‘60s, BC's illegal marijuana trade industry has evolved into an unstoppable business giant, dubbed by those involved as 'The Union'. Commanding upwards of $7 billion Canadian annually, The Union’s roots stretch far and wide. With up to 85% of all 'BC Bud' being exported to the United States, the BC marijuana trade has become an international issue with consequences that extend far beyond our borders. When record profits are to be made, who are the players, and when do their motives become questionable? - Why is marijuana illegal? - What health risks do we really face? - Does prohibition work? - What would happen if we taxed it? - Medicine, paper, fuel, textiles, food, etc. Are we missing something? Follow filmmaker Adam Scorgie as he dives head first into Canada's most socially acceptable illegal activity. Along the way, Adam demystifies the underground market and brings to light how such a large industry can function while remaining illegal. By interviewing experts from around the globe, including growers, clippers, police officers, criminologists, economists, medical doctors, politicians and pop culture icons, Scorgie examines the cause and effect nature of the business behind getting high. Nobody's innocent in this exploration of an industry that may be profiting more by being illegal. Join Adam Scorgie as he unravels the mystery of The Union. Film released in 2007

The Harpsichord Maker

Documentary.net staff — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:32:20 +0000

Brief feature on Craig Tomlinson, a harpsichord maker based in West Vancouver, Canada.

Les Raquetteurs

Documentary.net staff — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:12:56 +0000

This short documentary records the celebration and ritual surrounding a snowshoe competition in Sherbrooke in the late 1950s. The film marked the beginning of a new approach to reality in documentary. Today, Les raquetteurs is considered a precursor to the birth of direct cinema. In French with English subtitles.