Blue Saltwater

Revenge turns a homecoming celebration into tragedy when fire kills the family of sixteen year old aboriginal Blue Saltwater, destroying his boyhood dreams and forcing his relocation from the pristine islands of Haida Gwaii to the St. Ignatius Residential School for Boys. Exiled and forgotten within this predatory cauldron of thugs and pedophiles, Blue executes a daring escape and reveals the abusive underworld of Brother Denny Boyle. A harrowing trip through the wild back-country of British Columbia leads Blue to Vancouver where he is overwhelmed by the rush and false glitter of the notorious downtown east-side, extinguishing his desire to return home and leading to his descent into addiction. A chance encounter with a remnant of his past brings rehabilitation and a journey by sail along the northwest coast to return Blue to his island home so that he may regain his ancestral birthright. Disaster strikes off the rocky shoals of Cape St. James and presents Blue with the ultimate challenge to his survival and the reclamation of the life that was stolen from him years before. 'Blue Saltwater' is an historical drama set in British Columbia in the late seventies that intertwines the mystic legends of Haida Gwaii with those of the Virgin of Guadalupe and traces the lives of two men-Blue Saltwater, a restless teenager from the Queen Charlotte Islands and Father Joe Murphy, a youthful priest from Ontario, whose destinies collide as they try to escape the social boundaries that bind them to lives of adversity. Set against the graphic brutality of the Indian Residential School System and the emergence of HIV, the story is especially relevant in this time of truth and reconciliation and brings a heroic face to the anonymous victims whose lives were torn apart by the misguided policies of the past.