Filmmaker Barri Cohen leads part detective story, part social history in Unloved: Huronia's Forgotten Children as she uncovers the truth about Alfie and Louis, her two long-dead half-brothers. They were institutionalized at the infamous Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia in the 1950s, a now-closed hospital for intellectually disabled children, marked by a brutal history of patient abuse, neglect and cruelty. Their lives were cut short—with one brother buried in secret in an unmarked grave—but their tragic story stands as a microcosm of the Western world's callous treatment of disabled children and youth throughout the 20th century. In the wake of a successful class-action lawsuit, Cohen speaks to the families and survivors of Huronia, memorializing their pasts and recognizing their painful journeys towards recovery and redemption. A central question preoccupies Cohen throughout the film: how do we allow ourselves to dehumanize the most vulnerable people in our care?
Join director Barri Cohen and Patricia (Pat Seth), one of the co-litigants in the class action and a Huronia survivor/former resident, for a live Q&A at the Saturday, September 17, 1:00 p.m. screening.
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