Turning Points: Muriel
Muriel is a residential school survivor. Taken with her sister from their childhood home, she suffered years of abuse and struggled to find herself afterward. Muriel shares how she discovered happiness again—for herself, her children, and grandchildren.
Muriel Betsina passed away in 2019, shortly after filming and editing of her story was finished. The piece was shared with her family, who gave permission and approval to release her story. Her son, Chief Ernest Betsina, also a storyteller in the series, said her legacy and story needed to be heard.
“Through my story there is a lot of healing. And I’m so happy about that. People listen. People have ears now. People have eyes now.”
Muriel Betsina
Turning Points is a series of eight short films about alcohol use, addiction, and healing in Yellowknife, directed by the storytellers themselves. An outcome of Peter Klein’s 2016 Wall Solutions project “Turning Points: An Empowerment Connection Project for Indigenous People with Alcohol Dependence”, the video production provided a platform for people from Indigenous communities across the Canadian Arctic to connect, share their experiences and tap into storytelling traditions that have been used to connect and heal people for centuries.
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