Hanging out with the women of Mohawk Girls can turn a baby shower into a passionate event full of outbursts and honesty.
Offering a glimpse of life on a reserve, the third season of the half-hour comedy filmed in Kahnawake, a reserve south of Montreal, will air on APTN this fall.
The show’s characters aren't shy and tackle issues such as interracial romance and the marry-out, move-out debate head on.
The show’s director-producer Tracey Deer, who was born and raised in Kahnawake, said she’s hoping the show will spark a dialogue among her people.
“Is this really the way we want to go? Throwing away our own people, throwing away our own children? I hope it gives Canadians some perspective on why we are in the mess we are in,” she said.
That's where Amazing Race alumni, returning Mohawk Girls boyfriend and Montreal native Alain Chanoine comes in. Chanoine plays Leon, a love interest for one of the show’s characters.
“We talk about racism, segregation. From a female perspective, white, black, native [perspective],” he said.
It's rare for a TV series have this many strong female leads – the show focuses on the lives of four women who grew up on or have strong ties to the unidentified reserve.
“How often does a native woman get to be a lead on a TV series that is contemporary and comedy? That doesn't happen. I feel like I get sent on a lot of [jobs] where you have to wear buckskin or … you have to wear fur,” said Heather White, a Concordia grad who plays Caitlin.
Mohawk Girls provides viewers with a modern look at life on a reserve, unlike the portrayals that people usually see.
“We feel like Mohawk people and native people have really been represented in film and art in sort of a historical perspective, you know, buckskin and feathers or in a negative way or a heavy way with all the difficulty and corruption on the reserve,” said writer-producer Cynthia Knight.
