The Doctrine of Recovery traces how Pope Alexander VI’s 1493 Doctrine of Discovery unleashed five centuries of dispossession and decimation on the Indigenous inhabitants of North America. Three generations of Tribal women, Casey Camp-Horinek, Crystle Lightning, and Juliet Langley Hayes, speak about the ongoing influence of the Doctrine and present a countervailing Doctrine of Recovery to rebalance the relationship with the Earth.
The film’s release coincided with Pope Francis’s July 2022 visit to Canada in the wake of a national reckoning over residential schools. World premiere at the Assembly of First Nations’ annual gathering in Vancouver. Pacific Northwest premiere at the Social Justice Film Festival in Seattle.