Walpole Island filmmaker's spirit horse film debuts on CBC Gem for Indigenous Peoples Day

One of Derek Sands' first childhood memories is of playing in the front yard with his sister when his mother and aunt raced outside, scooped them up, and brought them indoors.

"The house was shaking," Sands said.

"And then I looked out the windows and it was like dust flying by, and I would see horse heads flying by in that dust."  

The moment marked Sands' earliest encounter with spirit horses, wild horses indigenous to North America that shared a close bond with some communities of Indigenous people.

"I hung on to that memory," he said.

Now, the filmmaker from Walpole Island is getting ready to release his documentary Return of the Spirit Horses June 21, National Indigenous Peoples Day, on CBC Gem.

Horses' story parallels Indigenous people's story, filmmaker says

The documentary follows him as he reconnects with the stories of his youth through the once nearly extinct horses, according to the promotional material for the film.

"Guided by his father, a residential school survivor of Walpole Island, and joined by Indigenous students learning from an elder, and community members, they unravel their history and the deep, personal bond they share with the horses, which once rode freely," the description reads.

Spirit horses were once as ubiquitous as buffalo and deer, Sands said.

His father told him stories about riding the horses to school. 

"There's levels of sacredness and the spirit horses are at the very top of being sacred," Sands told CBC.

But in the 1900s, the horses were hunted nearly to extinction, according to histories posted on the government of Ontario website and on the website of TJ Stables, a stable helping to revive them.  

By 1977, just four animals remained.  

The government deemed those animals a health risk and ordered them to be euthanized, but a group of Indigenous men rescued them and smuggled them to Minnesota where efforts to breed them began. 

"It's parallel to the people," Sands said.

"Like the Indigenous people went through residential schools and all these different really hard moments in our history. And so did the horses. … So I think I went in that direction more to show that connection." 

One of Sands's goals as a filmmaker is to preserve Indigenous language, culture, and stories, he said. 

And part of his reason for making his latest film was to inspire more interest in efforts to revitalize the horses. 

Ultimately, he said, he'd love to see them roaming free again, not simply living in stables. 

"The horses actually help heal communities and that would be … the goal too," he said.

"I would love to see them back on Walpole Island because they're amazing horses. … If one was here with us, you could walk up to it and pet it and … you feel different. It gives you a sense of peace. It's like medicine. ... So I think it would be a really good thing for them to come back home."