Tantoo Cardinal: Native Actress on Cinema's history of Discrimination.

On December 30th, 2009, Cardinal was made a Member of the Order of Canada “for her contributions to the growth and development of Aboriginal performing arts in Canada, as a screen and stage actress, and as a founding member of the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company.”

Racebending.com contributor Gabriel Canada interviewed Tantoo Cardinal over the phone in July 2010.

NOTE: The opinions espoused by the interviewees represent their viewpoints alone, and do not necessarily represent the views held by the staff of racebending.com

RACEBENDING.COM: You’ve said in the past, that you first started acting as an extension of your involvement in the political movement’s of the 1960’s. You have said you wanted to change the way our [Native American] history was told. Can you elaborate on this for our readers?

TANTOO CARDINAL: I came through a time when our history was not handled justly in the recording of events. It was just coming to terms with how we were being portrayed, how we were being treated. This was a time when the only real avenues of expression were political. This was before any art involvement. I always felt we were being maligned, and if only people could see how we are in the community–with our songs and dance, our stories, the way people express themselves–then they could know who we are.

RACEBENDING.COM: When you were starting out as an actress, the Canadian Content Policy was also coming in at the time. It has been singled out as having a huge impact on Native actors. What was it? How did it affect you?

TANTOO CARDINAL: It created a mandate for Canadian content in cinema. It made Canadian film makers who did Canadian stories use Canadian actors and provided funding for filmmakers to make these movies. In that same germ of thought there was an issue of personal pride–that maybe we should have Native peoples playing Native roles. It was kind of a pushback since America was really taking over much of our culture in Canada.

RACEBENDING.COM: Were there any actors or actresses you admired growing up, or that informed your portrayals throughout your career?

TANTOO CARDINAL: No. Certainly not actresses. There were no Indian women I could look at on screen. I guess my inspiration would be, you know when you see stellar actors like Audrey Hepburn playing an Indian woman. I felt I might not know about acting but hey, I know about being an Indian Woman. I’m an Indian!

RACEBENDING.COM: In watching your films again before this interview, one was very striking–Black Robe–having been widely criticized for its violent depictions of Native peoples.

TANTOO CARDINAL: Well, Black Robe was based on Church records. Our side of the story was not told, it was the Church’s perspective. Hopefully, there will be an opportunity to show our perspective, in our time in history.

RACEBENDING.COM: It was also a very three dimensional film. There was a mix of humor and sexuality that isn’t often found in Hollywood depictions of First Nation peoples. What do you think it will take to get more three dimensional roles like that for First Nations actors?

TANTOO CARDINAL: If we had the cash Black Robe had, with the filmmakers that have incubated and come out in these last few years, we could make a pretty dazzling movie that would tell our story.

RACEBENDING.COM: Speaking of big-budget depictions of First Nation peoples, there have been several high-profile examples, in recent years, of Hollywood “racebending” Native Peoples– by taking native characters from source material but casting white actors in their place. Most notably, this happened in The Last Airbender. What do you think it would take for Hollywood to give that same big budget to Native American film makers and actors?

TANTOO CARDINAL: It would take the world turning upside down.

RACEBENDING.COM: Was it the same for you starting out in the industry?

TANTOO CARDINAL: Racism and sexism have not been eradicated. When I started out, I was sitting in audition halls with white girls with all this brown makeup on and cheap turquoise jewelry. Somehow I made it in, thanks to a want for authenticity. Those struggles still persist, you know.

“Racism and sexism have not been eradicated. When I started out, I was sitting in audition halls with white girls with all this brown makeup on and cheap turquoise jewelry. Somehow I made it in, thanks to a want for authenticity.”

Someone asked me in my forties about being in my forties and how I felt with roles not available to women in their forties. Well, that’s the story of my career. Starting out, you see roles aren’t available. And then, all along the way, roles aren’t available. So it’s not a new element. It’s very frustrating for me to even watch movies because of that. There are many roles I feel I could have performed.

In America, however, they still see us [Native Americans] as dead. I don’t know what it’s going to take, but there is a serious denial element in American society. They don’t want to look at their potty training days. They tried to annihilate us. They destroyed our economic base at every opportunity, so I just sit back and watch now.

There has to be a major shakeup for us to be treated as equal human beings. Our stories, our characters, our being, has to be accepted as equal humanity to those who have the purse strings. Thank goodness we have allies, thanks goodness we have human beings who believe we’re human beings now.

There has to be a major shakeup for us to be treated as equal human beings. Our stories, our characters, our being, has to be accepted as equal humanity to those who have the purse strings.”

They don’t have any confidence they can make the money back with us. They just seem uninterested. I don’t know whether it’s guilt, or people thinking it’s just yesterday, I don’t know what the elements are. You’d have to talk to people who don’t consider us interesting or valuable.

There is also a situation where an adept filmmaker isn’t trusted with the budget unless a white filmmaker is alongside. I’d say that scenario was prevalent about fifteen years ago. It’s just a persistence among our artists that’s needed. You have to make it with peanuts and pop bottle budgets.

RACEBENDING.COM: There have been more than four thousand movies, over the course of the history of film, that feature First Nation peoples. With all of that out there, and the success of so many of those films–including your own that feature First Nation people so prominently–why do you think that fear of financial viability still exists?

TANTOO CARDINAL: I think It’s racism. You know, I played a lead in an independent film in Vermont. We had the hardest time just getting it in to screen at Sundance.

RACEBENDING.COM: It really is an incredible situation considering the films you have been in. They haven’t just had an impact on Native cinema, but on cinema as a whole. Black Robe won best Canadian film of the year, Dances with Wolves was nominated for seven Oscars, Legends of the Fall won for best cinematography and you still have to fight to get into Sundance. Just a few years later your film Smoke Signals would win the Audience Prize and Film Makers prize at the same festival. It’s an incredible success for these films, but that success hasn’t translated to wins for Native Actors themselves. Why is that?

TANTOO CARDINAL: Can you imagine, if we had all been white actors? What that would have done for our careers? You talk about a glass ceiling. We have a moon high ceiling. More than just a hundred years of cinema history, it’s four centuries of history. It has more to do with the respect of society as a whole.