View source for Seeking Salvation: A History of the Black Church in Canada

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'''Seeking Salvation: A History of the Black Church in Canada''' is a film directed by Phillip Daniels and produced by Travesty Films.

Montreal's Union United Church has long been one of Canada's great black churches, and fittingly is one of the denominations featured in director Phillip Daniels' award-winning documentary Seeking Salvation: A History of the Black Church in Canada.
The doc, which will be screened at the downtown NFB Cinema on Oct. 16, traces the history of the black church in Canada back to 1632, when Olivier LeJeune became the first slave in New France to be baptized. The screenplay was written by Canadian novelist Lawrence Hill (also the brother of singer-songwriter Dan Hill) and is narrated by Tonya Lee Williams (from The Young and the Restless) and Maurice Dean Wint (Cube).

"It's important to preserve our stories," Daniels told Hour this week. "It took us two years to make the film, from Halifax to Vancouver Island. My favourite thing about the movie is to see the transformation of people when they see the film. They start thinking of Canada differently."

Daniels wanted to bring black history to a wider audience but has noticed "a deeper emotional attachment" among black audiences.

"There are [also] a lot of Montreal stories in there, from 400 years ago to [Union United's former pastor] Reverend Darryl Gray and other leading members that have come out of that community," Daniels says.

In Montreal, Rev. Gray - whose new Imani Family and Full Gospel Church in NDG is packing in over 350 people every Sunday afternoon (and nearly half of them aged 35 and younger), says, "The black church 


has played a pivotal role in the development of the black community in Canada. It has been our spiritual and social centre, and an advocate for refugees and immigrants. I think Seeking Salvation is long overdue and finally gives credit to a long-standing institution in this country."



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