La Loche

In January 2016, a school shooting in the remote Canadian aboriginal community of La Loche, Saskatchewan took the lives of four students and injured seven others. In the aftermath, a caring teacher, worried about eight boys directly affected by the shooting, contacted a TV celebrity the students admired. She hoped that Survivormanstar Les Stroud might spend time with the students. LA LOCHE follows Stroud, the eight young Dene men, and several community and school elders on a wilderness adventure, in which they canoe down a 100-mile river path that their ancestors used to traverse. With one camera, a paddle and a desire to help, Stroud uses this trek to encourage the young men to open up and tell their own stories. They talk about their families, their town and the shooting, but more importantly, their hopes and dreams. Over the course of eight days, the cathartic journey through natural wilderness helps the teenagers confront their trauma, guiding them from fear and confusion to optimism and confidence.

Episode Duration: 56 minutes and 14 seconds

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NHPBS Over-the-Air Broadcast